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Fishing boat for Brexit. |
It’s time to get over the shock. The EU
Referendum was four months ago. For the sake of our country we now need to work
together to create a confident, secure and vibrant society capable of adjusting
to transformation. This is not happening at present as too many are
enthusiastically trying to scupper or stall the implementation of Brexit: via
political manoeuvres, the corporate media, social media and through the courts.
I do have some empathy for the hurt experienced by Remain voters: it’s like
following your football team the whole way through the cup competition only to
be hammered in the final by a team of lower ranking.
What I find most
telling in the aftermath of the EU Referendum was the scale of the genuine
shock at the result. A feeling of devastation at the result was to be expected
from whichever team lost. But the fact
that millions of enthusiastic Remain voters were shocked as well as being
devastated needs to be addressed.
Groupshock is perhaps a new word: it is an extension of, and a consequence of, groupthink. Groupshock was particularly prevalent in London,
Scotland and Northern Ireland:
the main regions where a majority voted Remain.
The Remain campaign
was primarily fuelled and financed by leaders of the Westminster Establishment
(using public money) and vigorously supported by the EU, governments of
individual EU states and the vast majority of other world leaders. They were
joined in their Remain campaign by a host of other interdependent corporate
bedfellows from the domains of banking, law, corporate media, multi-national
corporations and the industries of university, arts, science, and global
charity etc.
To increase chances of
success the above outfits then engaged “experts” to promote their cause. It is
likely that another consequence of the EU Referendum will be the now necessary
updating of the dictionary definition of the word expert. The word expert
used to relate solely to a person who had expertise in a particular field. To
qualify for the title of expert today
you actually need to be engaged by a government or corporate sponsor. Experts are only experts when they have vested interests in some establishment at
heart. The same experts who have, and
still are prophesying post-Brexit doom failed to warn us in advance of the
global recession of 2008.
Long before that big recession some of us
simple folk, who would later go on to vote Leave, were convinced that the
housing market would soon collapse. But the experts
were actively enticing us to enter the negative equity club right up to the
last minute. They now expect us to believe them when they tell us that
remaining subservient to the EU is good for us. I’m not saying that experts no longer have value. On the
contrary, they are indeed a precious source of earthly enlightenment and
understanding. We now know that what they tell us is, “good for us” can be
understood as: possibly good for them and probably bad for us.
Celebrities were also
engaged to persuade the uneducated masses that obedience or devotion to the
institution can reap benefits, even for the masses. Not too sure how well that
worked out for the cause of Remain though.
So with all this
bombardment of propaganda from lofty corporate bodies, their experts and their celebs, we can
begin to understand why so many were shocked at the referendum result. But I would like to further explore the root causes of this widespread groupshock and
therefore it is necessary to examine the breakdown of those who voted Remain.
Enthusiastic Remain
voters have analysed and broadcasted afar what they believed constituted a
Leave voter. The believed Leave voters were largely uneducated, stupid,
ignorant, senile, racist, Europe-haters.
But I’ve not come across any such analysis of Remain voters, so here’s
my attempt at that.
I reckon there were three basic types of Remain
voters.
Group A:
Those anti-United Kingdom: the New Left.
Curiously many of the above would align
themselves with socialism and the Left: the very groups who have persistently
railed against the EU regime and their corporate lobbyists. Their call was
always a clarion call for workers to unite in opposition to the excesses of
that regime. Until very recently, that
is.
Many from the
traditional Left did stick to their long-held beliefs and voted Leave. These
included members of Labour, Communist Party, Workers Party and the People
Before Profit Party in Northern
Ireland. But, like the definition of expert,
the definition of socialism and the Left is also going through transformation.
I’ll call it New Left to distinguish it from the old traditional Left and the
old New Labour, which wasn’t really all that Left at all.
The New Left perhaps
sees more opportunity for their political goals and personal ambitions within
that EU regime and under its complex cover of excessive bureaucracy? Or could
it be more related to their belief in global open borders and unrestricted
freedom of movement: their opposition to sovereignty for nation states? Initially there would seem to be a bit of a
conflict here as they will recognise the EU has been moving towards a
federal-style super nation state: with open borders being restricted to only
those chosen few smaller states within that super state. But I suppose though, the
recent migrant crisis within the EU offers opportunity for their global vision? I’m no expert: I’m only guessing. But regardless, their aspirations
need to be understood, acknowledged and respected within a new sovereign UK.
Group B. Those Inextricably Linked to EU Regime.
This group includes
leading politicians, civil servants, regional government bosses and corporate
bosses of big business, banks, media, charities, the arts, and universities:
middle and senior management of all the above. Careers, salaries, pensions are
all wrapped up in the current system particularly within the Public Sector. So
who could blame their devout loyalty?
They differ from Group A in that they are more prevalent within the
Conservative Party, the Liberals and among the old New Labour Blairites.
Like Group A, nothing
is going to change the opinion or aspirations of many people in this group
anytime soon.
Group C. Those Once Undecided.
Among this group were
those sceptical of the EU but believing that the problems could best be sorted
by remaining part of it. The prime
consideration of those in this group was not political but what was best for
their financial security and well being: for themselves and future generations.
In the end they
decided the safest option for their circumstances was to vote Remain. This is not to suggest that many people in
this category were also not shocked, devastated and frightened by the result. I
have many friends in this category and I have been very respectful
of their concerns. I fully understand
their rationale and their anxiety. It’s just that I see things differently and
firmly believe that by escaping EU rule their futures will be more secure: enhanced
with new opportunity. There would be no point in me writing this piece if it
wasn’t for the existence of this Group C.
I accept that my
attempt at dissecting Remain voters is by no means full proof. Some Remain
voters may well not see themselves fitting in neatly to any of my three
groupings. I’m no expert. I’m just trying to figure it out.
One thing that does
seem to link the majority of Remain voters is university education. University
education was once for only the small minority of the population who were
academically gifted, but it seems that now almost half of the overall
population have been through the university system or are currently in it. They
are being trained, or were trained, to not only be competent and successful
within their field of expertise but also trained how to perform and comply with
the system. It is a massive industry, interdependent with all aspects of
government and big business: the central hub in a sophisticated entanglement of
global corporate powers. It is the industry that determines if someone has been
adequately trained to work in their field or not. It sorts out the haves from the have nots. It naturally follows then that many students, once
renowned for instigating change, now want to maintain the status quo.
This is not a wild
swipe at university per se. We need universities to train our professionals: it
is just that the industry it has become needs to be understood for what it is.
University means more
than just determining vocations: it determines the social group to which you
belong. It also determines who your friends and followers are on social media
and this starts to explain the groupshock
of many Remain voters. It seems they simply were not adequately exposed to
comprehensive, rational viewpoints outside of their social or social media
group. They were genuinely totally
shocked.
If nearly everyone on your social media site is
in agreement with you it is easy to have delusions of being in a secure bubble
protected from malevolent lesser beings: of being part of a supreme infallible
mutual appreciation society. They had their communal hymn sheet and were very
content singing along in harmony with their friends and colleagues of their New
Age congregation.
I was dumped by several social media friends and followers over Brexit and I expect to lose a few more when they
read this.
A recent common
proclamation has been, “nearly everyone I know voted Remain”. This statement is
delivered with a sense of pride: asserting their claim to be part of the new
certified enlightened elite. If they don’t really know many Leave voters, is it
any wonder they are misunderstanding their motivations for voting Leave?
I had various reasons for Voting Leave as I
outlined in Why I will Vote on June 19th 2016. There is no point in rehashing the various reasons as nothing has
happened to change my mind on any of the issues to date. You will notice however
that I highlighted my dominant reason as being related to sovereignty.
Rather than being
shocked on the morning of June 24th, I was instead greatly
relieved. The feeling of relief was
actually overwhelming as against all the odds, according to the media, the
majority of British people had voted to hold the establishment to account. This
was actually a courageous thing, especially for those who openly campaigned for
Brexit. This has set Orwell’s Big Brother scenario back for at least a few more
decades. Big Brother has to be one big angry man with a vengeance right now.
We shouldn’t underestimate the short term
risks for those who dare to challenge Big Brother, dare to challenge authority,
dare to address abuse of power or merely dare try to work in a specific field
without the relevant university certificate of approval. Those who dare will
often find that servants of the establishment will, under the cover of
darkness, erect brick walls and dangerous pitfalls along their chosen path. I
know a lot about this: I could write a book about it. And I probably will.
My overwhelming relief
at the result was somewhat stifled when I found out that a majority of people
in Northern Ireland
had voted Remain: trading traditional quests for freedom for the perceived
security and riches reaped from compliance to the establishment.
In fairness to Northern Ireland voters, we also had to deal
with the repeated threat from the establishment that Brexit would necessitate a
hard border across the island
of Ireland: a hard border
that they claimed would undoubtedly result in a resuming of traditional hostilities. Was
this just calculated spin or calculated lies? Regardless, this line is still
being spun on a daily basis even though there is no remote possibility of a new
hard border. It's just wishful thinking and curiously this time around it has nothing to do with Ulster Unionism. As the recent Nobel Laureate once said,
" the times they are a changing". They certainly are.
" the times they are a changing". They certainly are.
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No going back to this. |
In the world of politics
and media it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between truth,
lies, creative spin and blatant deceptive spin. It was interesting that
regardless of what side of the referendum debate we were on, it was always the
other side who were spouting lies and spin.
For weeks after the referendum it seemed to be
a deeply held belief among the groupshocked that the main reason for the result
was that Leave campaigners had lied and tricked the uneducated masses into
voting Leave. I’m not too sure what all the lies were that they believe
influenced me, but one stood out as it was plastered all over my Twitter page
by Remain enthusiasts. It related to writings on the side of a bus that they
interpreted as a claim that following Brexit £350 million per day could be
saved and spent on the NHS instead.
Whatever the exact
wording was and what it was supposed to mean had no relevance to how I voted.
The notion of £350 million a day is something beyond the scope of my
comprehension. My tiny wee Brexit brain just cannot cope with such advanced
mathematical theorising. I would go as far as to say that I don’t believe one
single person voted Leave as a result of the writings on a bus. The nature of
the stereotypical Brexit mentality is that we have a natural aversion to buying
anything we see advertised on TV, billboards or busses. For us it was the
writing on the wall (for the EU) that was crucial, not the writing on the bus.
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I have natural aversion to buying anything advertised on a bus. |
It is also extremely
likely, considering the impassioned hyped highlighting of this now notorious
bus, that many undecided voters actually chose to vote Remain as a consequence
of the bus. The Remain campaigners deserve to be complimented on their polished
promotional strategies but I do think it’s now time to drop the bus story.
It is also time to get
over the Brexit vote. It is time for all of us to start thinking positively for
our future. I hate to sound preachy but positive thinking does breed confidence
and positive outcome.
It no longer matters
if it was a stupid decision or not. It
doesn’t matter if you believe that the majority of Brits are mere imbecile
xenophobic peasants who shouldn’t be allowed to vote as they have no
understanding of the real world. The fact is that in spite of faults and
imperfections of British government we are still a democratic country and we
were given the opportunity to vote for our future on June 23rd. The majority of us voted to regain our
sovereignty. We voted for the basic right to be able to hold our locally
elected politicians and law makers to account.
We now need to
demonstrate to the wider world that we as an independent nation have the self
confidence, the skills, the services, the social consciousness and the human
values to be significant trading partners, friends and allies with our European
neighbours and the world out beyond. I’m
personally looking forward to the opportunity for increased mutual
collaboration with the Republic
of Ireland. I had previously predicted this would be one
of the positive developments that Brexit could facilitate.
So please stop the
daily vitriol, obstructions, protests, threats and legal challenges. This is becoming very draining and damaging
for our economy: it is fomenting social division. Let’s get on with creatively and collectively
rising to the challenges ahead. If we do we can create an historic exciting new
transition for us all and for the future generations. Yes and all even includes you lot in Groups A
and B.
I can appreciate that
it is the responsibility of those of you involved in politics to actively
challenge and scrutinise our government. This is essential in any democracy but
can be done without exacerbating internal division and damaging the image of
our country. There are too many groups, fuelled by shock and anger at the
Brexit vote, currently out to wreck our country. For many Remainers it seems
their need to demonstrate they were right, and Leavers wrong, is paramount. Someone has obviously pressed a communal self-destruct
button and hopefully the same someone will switch it off soon so that the
bigger picture can be considered.
Those of us who are
not members of a political party should presently give encouragement to our
government who are promising to deliver a positive Brexit for the good of all
concerned. Our new prime minister has
been making all the right noises but she must decide whether to definitively
deliver the democratic wish of the people or follow in the red-carpeted corporate
footsteps of her predecessors. And we shouldn’t be under any illusion that some
of her colleagues in government will continue prioritising corporate lobbyists
in their pursuit of personal gain.
This is no easy
position for any prime minister to be in. In a world where the global corporate
roosters rule the roost they will be playing every sleazy trick, in every book
in their extensive corporate fowl library, to solidify their positions of
wealth and power at the top of the big global midden. And I’m not even going to
mention pigs at the trough.
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Corporate rooster ruling the roost. |
Theresa May exudes
confidence, strength, knowledge and determination: essential traits for a
nation’s leader. However, the recent Westminster
decision to approve the French built, Chinese owned Hinkley Point nuclear power
potentially catastrophic monstrosity, as endorsed by experts, is a classic example of the powerful clout of global corporations.
This is the nature of global corporate power she is up against, although any
economical or environmental fallout from Hinkley will probably only manifest
several years down the road. Should she
fail to deliver Brexit the political fallout would be immediate and on a scale
unprecedented.
She is a politician but we should give her the
benefit of any doubt for now as significant public support will be essential
for her to deliver what she promises. Theresa May just might, maybe, be the
first prime minister in a very long time that the history books will record as
being for the people.
We all now have the
choice of whether to desperately cling to the sinking EU ship - well okay, the
floundering EU fishing trawler off the coast of Cornwall - or become active crew members aboard
this exciting new voyage of world wide exploration. We can collectively create an exciting new future for ourselves, our neighbours and the next generation - regardless of politics, religion, colour or creed. We can do this once we get over groupshock and stop pandering to ploys of experts.
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