Brexit post incoming, though this is more a meta-commentary in that it's not about the outcome of the referendum itself, but about how some people have been commenting about the outcomes of the referendum. Also, given how long the ensuing discussions seem to go on, based off seeing similar things on others' Facebook Walls, I can't guarantee that I'll reply to any potential comments made about the following about this blog post, though constructive criticism and corrects are very much welcome, as always:
Since the results of the #EUref and the #Brexit result on Friday, I've seen/heard a lot of people from the Remain camp that are upset and angry (understandably so, imo) making broad sweeping statements about Leave voters. I'd say this is very much understandable, but certainly not justifiable. I don't think it can be denied that a significant portion (whether it's a relatively small or large fraction) of Leave voters hold racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, etc. views, but making the unsubstantiated claim that "All" or even "Most" Leave voters hold such views is potentially a very dangerous statement to throw around so casually and without moderation. I know the difference between saying "All" and "Some" may seem like just a word, but that difference can wrongly characterise entire cross-sections of society as a consequence, which can in turn have very significant and serious ramifications. As a Muslim male, born in Britain, from Bangladeshi parents, currently involved in science, I can recall numerous experiences where people have been prejudiced towards me, be it mildly or extremely, and in all cases it's been unpleasant and made my Life more difficult for me - I only say this in case anybody doubted my claim that there can be ramifications, which seems rather plausible.
Yes, like I said, many Remain voters (and even some Leave voters) may be upset/angry about the outcome of the referendum. Yes, there has been (and sadly, continues to be, it seems) a sharp rise in racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, etc. activities since the referendum result, and I don't doubt at all that there is a link between the two. However, to go from that apparent fact to claiming "All racists, xenophobes, Islamaphobes, etc. now consider their views legitimised because of the Leave voters (by way of the voting result)." seems a bit much. I imagine there's a bunch of said people out there who are well aware that their discriminatory sentiments are still not legal, justifiable, or any other definition of legitimacy that one may invoke, which is why they still implement those discriminatory sentiments in an anonymous manner (i.e. the anti-Polish cards distributed in Huntingdon). On the other hand, there definitely does seem to be many people now who do feel their discriminatory views have been 'legitimised' by the referendum result (can't find the article now, incidentally, but there's an image of somebody wearing a T-shirt with the statement "Results are in; now leave our country." or words to that effect). However, to place the blame for the occurrence of such acts on all Leave voters seems pretty unfair, as I imagine a significant portion of them voted Leave without any intention/desire for such things to happen (and I know a few who did who do not condone these sorts of acts that we've been seeing over the last week).
Sure, it could be claimed that "You should have foreseen this happening when you voted Leave and it was your failure to do so and so it's your fault that this is happening.", but that assumes that all of us are/were informed well-enough about this whole referendum in the first place and also capable of predicting all the outcomes we've been witnessing so far. Though that begs [at least] two questions (which aren't new or anything):
- Have any of us felt that we really knew the whole situation and foresaw all the outcomes we have so far (I don't mean just the economy being hit or the rise of various hate-crimes, but say even the identity crises and emotional loss many people have claimed to have felt from the Remain 'camp')? Maybe. All of us? No. Is it justified then to expect all who voted to have been well-informed enough about the situation and able to predict the outcomes of the referendum whichever way it went? Frankly speaking, I don't think I can currently say; this is one of the issues with democracy - everybody has a say but does everybody actually know what they're saying (to the point where arguments are understood and justified)? Though speaking of democracy...
- Was it "correct" for the general public to be the ones to decide upon whether the UK should remain or leave in the EU, rather than, say, a panel of relative experts or even the elected MPs of the UK (as many people have been saying)? Note: I should probably say "sort of decide", given that the referendum isn't legally binding, but ignoring it would make the country seem to have double-standards with regards to the idea of democracy, amongst various other issues. Regarding elected MPs deciding, this is a slightly controversial/annoying one for me, at least, because I've seen many people complaining before about MPs not reflecting the views of the British public on numerous occasions, so whatever the outcome would be if MPs decided, there would be significant portions of the electorate/public feeling misrepresented by their government (though nothing seems to be new there...) which may lead to civil unrest and whatnot. Plus, if MPs were accurately reflecting/representing the views of their constituencies, we'd have the same outcome as we do now, I guess (I'm a little unsure of this, so please do correct me if I'm wrong), though whether or not more than the apparent 72.2% of the electorate would get involved in contacting their respective MPs would happen if it were up to MPs is, at the very least, debatable (I imagine less would be involved since it could then be seen as "Somebody else's decision."). However, if a panel of experts, then I'm pretty sure the outcome of their decision would be Remain. Again, we'd still probably have a lot of public outcries and civil unrest. So maybe by leaving it to the UK's electorate was the 'safest' option for the government to be relatively free of any responsibility about the votes (maybe not, though - I'm not claiming to be a qualified authority in these things), as wrong as I think that decision would be.
Going back to the topic at hand, though - of broad sweeping statements being irrationally made - it's unfair, imo, to blame all Leave voters for all the hate-crimes we're seeing happen. I'm not disputing or underplaying the rise in such crimes and the causal link at least some of them have with the Leave result (or the fact that there are/were those who voted Leave because of racist, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, etc. beliefs/sentiments), but I am trying to moderate my own views given that a lot of my social media feeds seem to be filled with people overplaying such things, and I'm hoping that this serves as a reminder for others to do the same if they aren't already. (By "moderate", I don't necessarily mean 'dumbing down' views that may seem relatively strong compared to the status quo, I just mean taking as much as possible into consideration and processing that information fairly and logically so that we hold well-informed and well-reasoned opinions...so I guess basically just trying to be as rational as possible.)
The situation looks pretty bad for not just the UK, but the EU, and the rest of the world (given how interconnected we are, not just economically, but culturally, politically, socially, etc.), and I really hope the UK can somehow legitimately remain in the EU. I emphasise "legitimately" as if the government would try to remain illegally (that's not to say I think the government is innocent...), but I mean this more for the public/Remain voters that I've seen pointing out issues with the result and questioning its legitimacy who are only doing so because the result wasn't what they wanted i.e. because of double-standards. Bear in mind this isn't saying all Remain voters pointing out issues with the result and questioning its legitimacy necessarily hold double-standards about democracy (which would be ironic and hypocritical given my motivation for writing this). On a related note, I was pretty apprehensive about the petition to hold a second referendum for this very reason ("Would doing so mean I held a double-standard regarding democracy?"), but this post from an old friend of mine convinced me otherwise.
Anywho, I think I'm going to leave it there. The [context-free] TL;DR - whatever happens, keep as well-informed and well-reasoned views as possible so that any of our words or actions can be honestly justified by ourselves, and if we have nothing good to say, say nothing at all!