So, in about 24
hours (depending on when you read this for the first time) the Polling Stations
across the UK will be closed and the people will have exercised their right of
democracy to cast their votes in the EU Referendum.
Since the date of
the referendum was announced by the Prime Minister on Saturday 20th
February after his return from a summit with a deal on Britain’s future role
within the European Union (EU), my eyes have been opened to so many things in
the intervening 124 days; yes, it’s been that long.
You all know that I
can’t cast my own vote. I’ve been in
Spain for longer than the 15 year limit.
I don’t agree with that rule and I’m at a loss to understand why the
British government didn’t allow an amendment to the Referendum Bill. It would’ve meant changing the vital clause
by one or two words, would’ve stopped expensive legal challenges and, probably
would’ve given the government many more votes for the Remain camp in the
process. Someone will be kicking someone
somewhere if the final result is decided by less than a million votes. We shall know when we’re having our
breakfast on Friday morning!
You will know if you’ve
been following my posts on Facebook (I make no apology for the amount of them. I have to read many of yours that I have no
interest in! :-) ) that all
I have tried to do is to supply and link to information and some backgrounds
notes, to expose a lie or two with the facts and figures on BOTH sides of the
debate, and to help people who might not have the time or the interest to
research to come to their own decisions in this once in a generation event, rather
than get propaganda from sensationalist newspapers and TV media outlets with
their own differing agendas.
With the odd
exceptions among my Facebook friends, you have tolerated, contributed and
discussed with the – more or less - utmost of respect for each other’s views
and opinions. Those that took the
decision to unfriend me is their loss and says more about them than it does
what I and others were writing.
Where my eyes have
been well and truly opened over the past four months has been the level of
debate across social media. Rabid dogs
would’ve been more courteous to a cat compared to the vile, contemptible, vicious
and repulsive words I’ve read. I haven’t
escaped such noxious comments either...and all because my view or opinion,
always expressed in the most courteous way, differed from these hateful and
intolerant trolls. I was often left
ashamed to think that these were fellow British people. My plight wasn’t often helped when these
people discovered that I lived in Spain.
“Keep your opinions to yourself.
What’s it got to do with you living in your villa?” was possibly the
kindest that I would feel happy printing here.
I place the blame
for this firmly at the feet of the mainstream media, print, internet and TV,
who have pursued their own agendas for many years and in the process have severely
poisoned the minds of people who in reality probably had nothing between their
ears in the first place. My recent
posting which exposed the workings of Boris Johnson during his time as a
journalist proved this, when the newspapers allegedly refused to print anything
positive about the EU. I’m not
surprised. The following quote is taken from an article in the wake of the
murder of Jo Cox MP and the much criticised poster unveiled by Nigel Farage, but
could very easily apply to the media in general:
When
you encourage rage you cannot then feign surprise when people become enraged.
You cannot turn around and say, ‘Mate, you weren’t supposed to take it so seriously.
It’s just a game, just a ploy, a strategy for winning votes.’
When you shout BREAKING POINT over and
over again, you don’t get to be surprised when someone breaks. When you present
politics as a matter of life and death, as a question of national survival,
don’t be surprised if someone takes you at your word. You didn’t make them do
it, no, but you didn’t do much to stop it either.
Sometimes rhetoric has consequences.
If you spend days, weeks, months, years telling people they are under threat,
that their country has been stolen from them, that they have been betrayed and
sold down the river, that their birthright has been pilfered, that their
problem is they’re too slow to realise any of this is happening, that their
problem is they’re not sufficiently mad as hell, then at some point, in some
place, something or someone is going to snap. And then something terrible is
going to happen.
Stir
up debate, exaggerate the truth, get people arguing, light the blue touch paper
and then walk away not taking any of the blame for the consequences.
For
a while, it’s been the Daily Mail that is always associated with the politics
of hate. The one newspaper you daren’t
admit you read. Compared to the Daily
Express (especially the online version) the Mail is an angel and a Saint. Since the start of the EU Referendum
campaign, they have posted a conveyor belt of “news” on social media based on
hearsay, allegations, suppositions and interpretations which have done nothing
other than feed the appetite of hate they have themselves slowly drip fed over
the months and years attacking both the EU and politicians – David Cameron in
particular. It has been relenting. The public
comments both on their online version and the Facebook postings are jam packed
full of the vultures baying for blood who have believed every single word this increasingly
pathetic excuse of a rag prints. They really could convince their readership
that the Earth was flat, and don’t you dare try to prove it otherwise with
facts or a picture taken by Tim Peake from space. You are attacked from all sides quicker than flies
attack a dog turd on a summer’s day, and any comment against their policy is
often removed post haste.
I’ve
followed both sides of the debate on social media and if I had to be totally
honest, it’s about a 90% / 10% split.
Not on the main question itself, but in favour of the Leave camp in
respect of the foul, abusive language and personal attacks employed toward
those who disagree with them. They have
without doubt been xenophobic and racist to an incredible degree with an
unbelievable arrogance and intolerance to anyone with an opposite viewpoint,
and unable to respond when they are bombarded with real facts. Of course, the above doesn’t apply to
everyone who supports Leave, many who can justify their position with a passionate
and reasoned argument without needing to resort to toxic language. But they are few and far between.
This
unbelievable arrogance also encompasses the current worrying trend to dismiss
any advice or recommendations or opinions of “experts”. I’ve seen a lack of trust in anything uttered
or explained by experts and politicians alike.
‘They must all be in it together or in someone’s pay’, according to this
group of people I’ve christened BREXPERTS!
Know-it-all people that base everything they quote and “know” on what
they’ve read from other Brexperts or they’ve heard from someone. It’s obvious that none of them have taken the
time to research what is put in front of them for themselves. I’ve certainly found that my regular postings
to these Brexperts of “Could you kindly direct me to the source of this claim?”
are greeted with silence OR abuse. Never
with an answer! The latest has been only
this afternoon with someone claiming on Twitter that Sir Bobby Charlton has
come out in favour of Leave with the comment: “Put that in your pipe Beckham!” Banter to some, perhaps. Truth, that is
believed, to many others, who don’t look beyond the headlines.
The
strange political bedfellows that this EU Referendum has brought together will
itself have their consequences whatever the result on Friday morning. That will be the subject of a future blog.
My
final words on this debate are aimed at people that live in, own a property in,
or visit Spain for their holidays. Whatever
the result of the Referendum on Friday morning, I will respect that result as
the will of the people. The British
people will suffer the consequences of that result whichever way it goes. BUT, woe betide anyone with the Spanish
connections I’ve just mentioned that are sympathetic with or vote to Leave that
MIGHT or COULD be affected in a few years time and comes to me to complain
about this, that or the other. I won’t
listen. I WILL walk away from you.
A
little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
No knowledge is even more so.
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