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In the Aftermath Of Brexit, Brits Google About Irish Passport, Meaning Of EU, and Why it All Happened
As the world makes peace with the news that the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union, people in the UK are increasingly trying to figure out what this means. Google noted on Twitter late Thursday that "What is the EU?" was the second top UK question on the EU since the news broke, with "Why did Britain leave the EU?" being the first. The questions also speak volume about the awareness of the issue among them. Understandably, some people also resorted to the search engine to look for Irish passports. "Getting an Irish passport" keywords saw a 100% surge.
Since Britain left Europe... does that mean it's a continent now?
Scotland seems to want to stay in the EU:
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling...
Will the Kingdoms become Ununited, as Jasper Fforde shows:
http://www.jasperfforde.com/dr...
Are you sure that's not an euphemism for for something immoral and/or illegal?
#DeleteChrome
Maybe those in power really do know what they're doing.
In this case, I don't think they did. Cameron gambled that he could appease his Eurosceptic Tories with this referendum, not really believing that it would ever pass. It was a major miscalculation.
They're not searching for "what is the super bowl". Wait, did I have to explain that?
Voters rightfully want to control their country's own destiny without having to cater to some international rule-making body a thousand miles away....
Actually it's 199.26 miles genius ... now go get a snickers and stop being such a drama queen.
rule-making body a thousand miles away ... look on a Map? Bruessels and Strassbourg are not thousands of miles away from London.
Cough cough
same about the World Trade Organization. Why are THEY making decisions for Americans?
Erm? Because they are basically run by American Mega Corporations and their cronies?
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Except Switzerland and Norway are in the EEA for trade advantages, are subject to all the freedom of movement rules and other policies of the EU absorbed into it (5000+), pay significant fees to Brussels anyway, and simply have no representation. EU membership is better.
Negotiations have already started. Not Article 50 negotiations, of course. Only the UK can invoke those. But as far as the 27 EU member states are concerned, the UK is overstaying its welcome from today onwards. They UK can legally stay as long as it wants, but politically it will be treated like a stranger.
It is already clear that if the UK wants continued access to the single market, it will basically have to accept all the things that voters hoped to get rid off with their "leave" vote, and get no say in the future decisions of the EU. Pay dues to the EU? Check. Grant foreigners freedom of movement? Check. Follow EU rules on marketability of products? Check. Get to vote on any of those rules? Nope. Some people are still delusional about this. They think the UK will get special treatment because at the moment it imports more from the EU than it exports to the EU, implying that the EU needs the UK market more than the UK needs the EU market. But that's a flawed argument. Almost half the exports of the UK are sold on the European market, but only 14% of the EU exports are sold in the UK.
Turnout was almost 73% of eligible voters. That's a very large number.
Aside from all the nonsense this election cycle, the sentiment in the world is the same among working-class people in the west - that the political elites have abandoned them. They are angry about immigration depressing wages, and they are angry about globalism wiping out jobs altogether.
These two things have been ignored by politicians for so long now, that people angry enough to elect idiots like Johnson and Trump in order to effect change.
They've made their own bed.
From TFA:
"What is the EU?" and "What happens if we leave the EU?" The former was the second top UK question on the EU after the results were officially announced.
Seriously, shouldn't they have been asking this before they voted?
It's mostly anecdotal at this point but there already seems to be a lot of buyers remorse. Thoughts on the possibility they'll have a follow-up "are you really sure?" referendum or at least an election where one of the parties campaigns on ignoring the result.
I stole this Sig
I feel the same about the World Trade Organization. Why are THEY making decisions for Americans?
The WTO is the successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This was an attempt to set international institutions in place to regulate international trade in order to make it easier to get trade moving. It was an attempt to provide an international framework in which countries could sort out their differences on trade matters peacefully without resorting to trade wars, protectionism, and to prevent a repeat of the same economic conditions that ultimately led to two world wars.
Does that answer your question?
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Voters rightfully want to control their country's own destiny without having to cater to some international rule-making body a thousand miles away. I feel the same about the World Trade Organization. Why are THEY making decisions for Americans?
People rightfully want to control their own destiny without having to cater to some rule-making body 10 miles away. Why is CITY HALL making decisions for me?
The answer is: Because it's a good idea to give up some control in exchange for better relations with your neighbors, and a neutral third party who can adjudicate disputes and define structures that pre-emptively eliminate them.
Obviously, it's important that you have a say in the rule-making body, but the UK did have a say in the EU's operations, and Americans do have a say in the WTO. And clearly, if the association with the rulemaking body in question is doing you more harm than good, then leave. But leaving just because you want to feel empowered is stupid, as is arbitrarily drawing the necessary boundary of control at the national level.
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Are you in the UK? Do you know what happens here? Do you know what the damnable muslims have done? They rape our women, they demand concessions like zero pork products in schools, which also means English children are forbidden to bring their own lunch with pork. No one is allowed to speak up against islam, but those days ended yesterday. A nice, healthy nationalism will emerge, where the English are in charge of their own destiny. No more taking in the sodden camel jockeys, who have paid nothing into the system, but live off the dole, take housing meant for the English, did I mention rape our women. buy old monument chapels and churches and use them for the Godforsaken worship of their false god, allah and his child-raping prophet, mohammed. Fuck them. This is England -- a white, northern European country that deserves to set her own agenda, not one of globalism from Belgium. Look at the EU. Immigration has destroyed the EU in the last couple of years. It's unsafe to walk so many cities now. muslim men demand no beer be sold within their sight, even though this is Europe, not Turdistan. Fuck the muslims. They have done more to ruin England and Europe in just a few years. Call me a bigot. This is England! You want to come here? Assimilate. Speak English, keep your head down, cause zero trouble, leave our women alone. This is England.
Swap out Jews for Muslims and you've got a rant there that Hitler would have been proud of. Only took 70 years, but of course most of the people alive when this kind of fascist nationalism grew into power in the 30s are dead now anyway, so no one really remembers anymore.
I'm always amazed by Socialists/Globalists complaining about socialism failing. It's ALWAYS someone else's fault.
Maybe it's time to re-evaluate your college theory/fantasies?
You need to look up the word socialism. Just throwing that word randomly at things you do not like just makes you look stupid.
They are angry about immigration depressing wages, and they are angry about globalism wiping out jobs altogether.
And sadly because they are "too tired of listening to experts", they'll never know there is very little truth to that.
This was an advisory referendum only, with no force of law. The United Kingdom is not obligated to leave the EU.
Yes, a pro-separation change in government will soon take place. However, the more forcefully that the new government pushes for a full departure, the more forcefully Scotland and Northern Ireland will attempt to disentangle themselves from the United Kingdom.
Northern Ireland in particular might see a real increase in sectarian violence if EU separation is not handled with great care, so internal security and continental policy will become even deeper-entwined. These forces will certainly blunt immediate impulses towards separation.
The EU bureaucracy has allowed a large, hostile contingent to form in several European nations. Perhaps now an inward gaze, compelled by credible criticism, can form a more perfect union.
Actually, this is great information for America. We get to observe what happens when a stable western country with a large economy makes a drastic change driven mainly by xenophobia. Maybe the British economy crashes, maybe its all roses. All we have to do is watch...
(many probably won't watch)
Except for the fact that Jews weren't actually raping women and otherwise controlling and terrorizing the German public. Trying to equate the Muslim invasion of Europe with Jews in 1930's Germany is obvious antisemitism.
The creation a low-paying, 16-hours/day, 7-days/week job in Vietnam doesn't mean jack shit to somebody who used to have a moderately well-paying, 8-hours/day, 5-days/week job working at a factory in the UK or the US. There wasn't a net win globally; the third-worlder isn't all that much better off than before, and may actually be much worse off if they went from an agricultural job they had some control over their destiny to a dismal factory job where they have no control at all. Meanwhile, the first-worlders are much worse off, being unemployed and often unable to find employment due to widespread economic destruction affecting entire regions and even countries. The only ones benefiting are a very small ownership class reaping all of the benefits, who thanks to their political connections and ability to bypass taxation systems have tended to avoid contributing back much to society at large. Then there's the spin-off effect from the destruction of middle class jobs. Eliminating one middle-class job may make one ownership-class individual wealthier, but it also makes numerous other middle-class individuals much worse off economically now that they've lost much of the business of the other middle-class employee who lost his job.
People in the UK and the US are now voting based on their own personal experiences with globalization, with immigration, and with free trade. These experiences have been devastating. It's no wonder they've had enough, and are doing what they can to get some major changes going on.
The EU is just enjoying its growing pains. The US had a similar, but far less civilized, debate about the same thing from 1860-1864. The "slavery" thing was a mere sideshow. The issue of states' rights was the main question, and more specifically, whether states had the rights to secede. Apparently the EU allows that without a fight. The US does not, but fought a very bloody war to make that determination.
Or its ignorant propagandized young people people who are still hopeful they are going to get something out of the 'promise of the eu' who don't realize that globalism while makes for nice feel good politics is really the underlying force behind the death of middle class and the expand wealth gap.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Those very same people voted overwhelmingly to remain in EEC in 1975 referendum after UK joined in 1973. Now they want out because they don't think it is still a good idea.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Turnout was almost 73% of eligible voters. That's a very large number.
That means 27% of people of voting age didn't bother to vote, and I'm quite willing to bet that this non-voting group was skewed towards the younger end of the spectrum. (#)
Thus, it's probably fair to say that if enough of those non-voters *had* actually bothered to vote, the result would have gone moderately but clearly the other way.
As it stands, this is all academic now. But let's bear these people in mind- those who had a reasonable opportunity to vote, but didn't bother- because they have no right- not now, not in ten, twenty, forty years time, not ever- to complain about the consequences of this decision or anything remotely related to it.
You didn't vote? Then you voted Leave. End of story. STFU.
(#) This is almost always true, but it's quite clear in this case that older voters were not only more anti-EU and likely to support Leave, but also more actively cared about it than younger voters' tendency to be more pro-EU but generally passive. An illustration of how those older voters skewed the debate was the endless stream of newspaper letters, commenters on Radio 4 et al explaining that "I voted for a common *market* in 1975, blah blah blah". To put this into perspective, anyone old enough to have had a vote in 1975 would have to be almost sixty at the very least today. Yes, those people making the most noise about Europe are those already approaching- if not well into- retirement age, with their careers behind them and a "Back to the 50s" post-war mentality. Yet the consequences of their choice will dictate the future of a 19-year-old student long after they die off in 15-30 years time.
Still, if that student couldn't be bothered to vote anyway, he can STFU too.
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the third-worlder isn't all that much better off than before, and may actually be much worse off if they went from an agricultural job they had some control over their destiny to a dismal factory job where they have no control at all
This is a first world perspective. Control and quality of life are not concerns until subsistence is no longer a concern.
the third-worlder isn't all that much better off than before, and may actually be much worse off if they went from an agricultural job they had some control over their destiny to a dismal factory job where they have no control at all
Why did they switch from the former to the latter then? (And if it wasn't their own choice, what forced them to do it? Honest question, not rhetorical).
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the third-worlder isn't all that much better off than before
Utter nonsense. Go look at some statistics on standards of living in various third world nations.
Oh, wait, that would require listening to experts. Never mind, go back to your echo chamber.
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Just wait. In fifty yeas it will be better for everyone.
I suspected that Putin is funding many of the nationalist right wing groups in Europe. In other words, he likes stirring the shit. Brexit doesn't benefit the UK or Europe or even the US. It doesn't help when austerity is punishing the working class all across Europe and their voices are being ignored. It makes them easy marks for nationalist and right wing groups and con men. As the UK begins to negotiate its exit the EU will play hardball because if they make concessions, other countries might bolt too. A disunited Europe is exactly what Putin craves for. And if the US chooses the wrong president, it won't be their to help hold Europe together.
On a separate but related note: Texas secessionists are smart enough to understand what Brexit is and have been emboldened by it. Expect to hear more about Texit if Hillary becomes president.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
unless we fix our own xenophobic problems by ourselves, the world will be looking at the UK and USA for examples of what happens when you let xenophobia take over the country.
As opposed to examples of what happens when you let aliens take over the country? Or could we just ask the American Indians that question? Or see what happened to the Romans in the fifth century?
You are comparing military conquests with Hispanics migrating to the US or refugees migrating to the UK? Once Hispanics or Syrian refugees start killing tens of thousands of Americans or Brits per year, and setting up their own governments after conquering cities, your comparison would hold some weight. Until then it is xenophobic nonsense.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke