What the ever-loving fuck were you thinking?

[blamebrampton]

I know what it's like. I remember a couple of years back, spending weeks thinking 'Surely no-one could be stupid enough to vote for Tony Abbott?'

But the tragedy is that yes, they could, and the predictable disaster was even worse than we'd imagined.

What we learned from this is to never underestimate the lack of thought people can put into their vote, nor the stunning duplicity some political figures will practice in the service of their own self interest.

And while it is tempting to just look at the plummeting pound and adjust shopping and travelling plans, all the while cackling ruefully at the Leave voters who have been all over the news saying 'But I thought it was just a protest! I didn't think it would happen!' we should all learn from today.

I'm looking at you, Australia and the US. Ignore lies, ignore comedy, look to the social and economic futures of your countries and make your vote count rationally. And when it comes to economics, don't listen to anyone's smug words; look at the records, look at the numbers, look to the IMF and World Bank and your respective Treasuries, who are boring and more conservative than I would like, but who know the value of infrastructure and education.

I can't even be funny about any of this today. I have never seen such an appalling case of the older generations fucking the future of the young out of fear, self-interest and ignorance.

Comments

[germankitty]

I'm of the generation who voted yes to Brexit in the UK, and can only share your sentiment. My TV has been on since the polls closed last night, and what appalled me most is that barely an hour after the result was official, Nigel Farage said on live TV that one of the main campaign promises of the "Leave" faction -- that the 350 million pounds Britain is paying annually to the EU would be funnelled into the NHS instead -- was "a mistake" (verbatim) and (paraphrased) "was probably not feasible/going to happen".

Is it "honesty" if you admit that you've lied and profited from that lie?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm in the middle of a Federal election here and spending far too much time shouting 'Not true! Lie! Uncontextualised overstatement! False comparison!' but compared to the Brexit set, most Australian politicians look like models of probity and restraint, which is ridiculous because even with the ones I vote for half of them are bloody drongos.

The whole 'Oh, we can be just like Norway and Switzerland and get all the benefits and have to follow none of the rules and the EU will just have to do what we want for a change!' and I'm 'What, imaginary Switzerland and Norway? As opposed to the real ones who still have to satisfy EU regulatory demands, get some of the benefits but in no way all, and the ones they do get come at a price, and have ZERO SAY in how things operate?'

I'm just frothing.

I'm frothing at Cameron, too, who was such a smug, self-satisfied muppet that he gave no useful information to people who would have listened to him until long after they'd been convinced by the other chaps. And at Corbyn, who doesn't seem to have done much useful at all. I can't even blame a reasonable number of Leave voters, given the flat out idiocy and lies in large parts of the media, but I also find myself shouting 'OH COME ON! If Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and Rupert Murdoch all think something is a great idea, you can bet your last 10p that it will be a TERRIBLE idea.'

For crying out loud, we'd only JUST cleaned up after the last economic disaster England had a hand in. If Mr and Mrs Midlands were that put out by the whole Austerity thing, SURELY they should have agitated to jail a few bankers a la Iceland, rather than replaying the global economy tanking as an amateur production?

I'm going to bed, and hoping for dreams of Merkel laying Johnson out with a clean right hook.

[germankitty]

" I'm going to bed, and hoping for dreams of Merkel laying Johnson out with a clean right hook."

I'd pay to see that!!!

She's a physicist; shouldn't there be a way that Angie can get rid of these folks with science? Maybe feed them to that antimatter thingie in Switzerland?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

If Boris disappears, I'll be looking at CERN ;-)

[germankitty]

LOL!

[connorblond.livejournal.com]

Ah. As someone who lives in the same country as Merkel ... don't expect too much of her. That could be a mistake, too.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I find her up and down: great on some things, utterly lacking on others. But I also look at her sometimes and think 'You must just be dying to thump someone!' Watch her around Putin: I think she has a thing going on in her head where she imagines kicking him as a way to get through their interactions.

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

I honestly believed they would remain. I just didn't think people would believe the bullshit, you know? But I guess that's a case of hanging out with more liberal types and an example of the echo chamber of the internet... you surround yourself with like-mindeds. More fool me.

I'd like to think they're cherry-picking remorseful Leave voters who are saying that because HOW FUCKING STUPID can you be to say you voted for something but didn't think that the thing you voted for would happen? Do these people really not know how it works?

I want to hope that it will settle down and not be as bad as it seems right now. But I don't like the way the Right has owned this. I don't like it at all.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I heard it a lot with Abbott, too: 'I really hated Rudd, but I thought he would win, I just didn't want my vote to get him there.' And you end up standing there saying 'Look, I hear you, but for the love of tiny bunnies, could you not have just stood there and drawn the traditional cock and balls?'

I swear, when Farage made that crack about not a shot being fired, I was glad I was half a planet away, because I would have been arrested had I been in the room. Though I am small and nimble so might have got a hand to his throat first.

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

It's almost worse in this case -- they didn't even have to vote! It's a choice to go to a polling station. How could you not... I mean, I know there's always the whole 'oh, my vote won't count' but honestly. Gah.

when Farage made that crack about not a shot being fired, I was glad I was half a planet away

Grr, me too. What a fucking arse. She died A WEEK AGO. How can you be so stupidly thoughtless as to say something like this?

[mama-pyjama.livejournal.com]

I can't even begin to express how gutted I am at the result. What an embarrassing, long-term fuck-up. Forget the bankers, this is going to hang around our necks for a very, very long time. Child One is devastated - had hoped to study In Europe in a couple of years - that looks unlikely now.

I can't watch any more coverage of it. Boris for PM, Gove for chancellor, Farage's crowing in the foreground. I really just DO NOT UNDERSTAND how so many people can be so wilfully stupid and selfish. But emphasis on the stupid.

[connorblond.livejournal.com]

THIS!
Stupid, so, so stupid.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm just filled with grief for all my young friends and relatives. Not only will studying and working abroad be harder, all that EU money that went into British universities and research will be gone. And if anyone thinks Boris is going to fund education to a level to compensate, they're on crack or The Sun.

Stupid is the word. From the politicians who led the way for this we can add self-serving and duplicitous, but for everyone who failed to think through the consequences of their vote, it's just stupid.

Hugs to your young ones, especially Child One, and to you.

[capitu]

I remember a couple of years back, spending weeks thinking 'Surely no-one could be stupid enough to vote for ---'

This is something I ask myself constantly, and the answer is that yes. :(

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I was recently managing a major project with some of our Asian offices and I said offhand to one of our Malaysian people, 'You can't assume all Australians will ask the in-depth questions, look at our government.' She laughed and replied, 'Oh honey, look at OURS!'

Later we were in conference with our colleague from the Philippines and Malaysia lady recounted the conversation. Fillipino lady said nothing for a few seconds, then, 'I can't even talk about it, it's so upsetting!'

Which is why I have beome the person who says 'Read the manual! Look at the numbers! Listen to experts; they're not the elitists, the elitists are the billionaires and millionaires wanting your vote to make them money!'

It is not funny

[connorblond.livejournal.com]

Not funny at all. Unfortnately.
People can be so stupid. And most still don't understand that each and every vote counts.
This Brexit stuff - Europe will survive. Nevertheless, it is sad. And I hate to see it happen.

Re: It is not funny

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I've been pleased to see the EU govt say 'Fine, well off you fuck, then.' Though I hope they give enough time for people to debate through the implications of the 'revote' petition!

The people pleased by this are Putin, Trump , Murdoch and Farage. That tells you everything.

[vaysh]

I'm sitting in a café in Berlin with friends, frothing and raging about this whole thing.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

We have been doing the same half a world away. Tables nearby stopped and listened and apologised after but said they had been looking for a Brexit primer. So if I've done nothing else useful this weekend ...

[birdsofshore]

I'm just so sad and angry and frustrated and ASHAMED. What must the world think of us? Oh god. I feel like I've massively betrayed my children, by allowing this to happen. And it's not like we can blame the government or the bankers... the British PEOPLE have done this to themselves and it's cripplingly hideously bad.

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

My fear?
That I will be echoing these exact same sentiments about our election come November.
Ugh, I feel nauseated. :(

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

This!! This is my fear!!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

My one hope is that watching the pound tank will be enough to say to the American people 'Hmmm, we might not want to do that to ourselves …'

I certainly hope that some of my fellow voters in Australia are watching closely and realising that is is what happens when you let a Conservatvive party pander to base racism.

[mama-pyjama.livejournal.com]

This. And all this for what? The Leave campaign yesterday admitted that they would still be happy for freedom of movement for labour, so immigration apparently no longer an issue, Farage's saying that the EU contribution would be extra money for the NHS was a mistake, sovereignty handed over to big business and cronies. 24 hours on and I am even more upset.

When it is fascists, dictators and Trump who congratulate us, we have fucked up.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

The only thing that I was relieved about was that I am slightly too young to be in the bracket that screwed everyone.

It reminded me of nothing so much as the arc of Thatcherism: at first you could see that everyone wanted to have a jolly good whinge. Then as things got more serious, half the country started to go 'hang on, this could end very badly', but we were left to be carried over the cliff by the group who refused to see anything beyond their perceived short term self-interest: the same group of people who complain like hell when they are expected to contribute to the social compact but are the first to scream whenever they lose out.

As I have said elsewhere, the stupidest thing is that the country was JUST climbing out of austerity back to growth and now, instead of wishing they'd jailed the bankers who caused the GFC, they've decided to run GFC redux, but this time performed by amateurs. Muppets.

[emmacmf.livejournal.com]

I feel sick.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I am following with interest the petition for a do-over (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-petition-latest-eu-referendum-rules-change-force-second-vote-poll-government-a7102486.html). There is no legal obligation for the UK to actually leave after Thursday. But between a rational course of action and Boris's self interest, I fear the former is doomed.

[emmacmf.livejournal.com]

I've signed the petition, though I don't know if it will achieve anything. I just feel so angry that people ignored all the warnings (which are now coming to pass) and have acted so rashly because of misplaced anger at our own politicians.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

Here we had a weird neonazi comedy "protest" party in the 60s to 80s called the Farmer's Party and I trot them out to prove this to people and they basically only barely believe me and I don't blame them.

They were in parliament for TWENTY YEARS! And basically said the exact same things as all these clowns.

[spirillen.livejournal.com]

Devastating, am utterly, utterly gutted. And amazed by the number of people who used this as a protest, but didn't really want out- changing the powers that be is what we have a general election for! And how can anyone be surprised that the market is free fall- it will likely stabilise but how could you not expect that?

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

Watching the results come in last night, I kept thinking it was all a mistake. Brexit had a lot of votes, but that was just the early results and reflected a few areas and not the whole nation. But it didn't change. And then I woke up to just shock. If this were a book, I'd be peaking at the end to see how this all plays out for Britain and Europe down the road.

I'm in the US and fear for November and what our country may do.

[oddishly.livejournal.com]

A lot of my friends are talking about the chance of a second referendum (per EU turnout rules)--do you think that's possible or even desirable? I was watching the results come in last night with disbelief and sadness and seeing people in the UK wake up to it was heartbreaking. The only good side to the whole damn thing was Farage fucking off at long last (pipe dream, I know) but it's proven impossible to avoid all his crowing about how the British People Have Spoken and about what he "never actually said".

(Also--hello! I hope things are generally lovely with you, terrible British decision-making aside!)

[auntpurl.livejournal.com]

There are way more racists here than I thought there were.

[dharawal.livejournal.com]

as I said on twitter

"Britons have woken up with the worst case of #buyersremorse ever, even worse than the one we ended up with when we realised just how terrible #tonyabbot was"

[waterbird.livejournal.com]

Gutted here. So much talk right now about how/when/IF Article 50 will be triggered. I don't see how they can't do it -- there will be riots and worse, I think, if the people feel their voice is being ignored once again, not to mention global chaos. It's all so completely fucked up.

I heard some baby boomers talking in the queue for the bus yesterday, about how this is the biggest thing in their lifetime since they, quote: "missed the war". One mentioned Farage's backtracking on the NHS promise and the other guy said, "Well, everyone saw through that." Perhaps here in progressive North London, but sadly, not everyone everywhere else. So many people are really suffering and barely scraping by, and they are, unfortunately, the ones who are going to be hurt the worst by this. And the spike in xenophobia and hate language ... I fear for what's to come.

Last May, I went to bed the night of the general election fairly optimistic, only to wake to the horror of the Tory's clean majority. Thursday, I went to bed bracing myself for the worst. Now I am filled with dread about what the November election in the US will bring. Scary times.

[wordwave.livejournal.com]

Well, I can finally bear to comment on this foul disaster and its aftermath, even though I'm avoiding much of the news on the political party leadership battles. Before the vote I spoke long and loud to my peers about why we should remain, but so many were buying into the lies propagated by the leave campaign and their own xenophobia/racism.
It was depressing, but I still hoped. It was a false hope, even if my city actually voted by more than 60% to remain. I'm one of the older voters who will now be tarnished by the stupidity of the majority of my age group and those older than me. Common sense and compassion were sadly lacking.
It's the long term damage, and the exposure of so much hatred for those deemed different, that makes me so angry and depressed. Sorry, have to stop now; I'm not really ready to talk yet.