That man has destroyed a country to further his own ambition.
Nope. The people that voted for Brexit did that. He was just an accomplice.
Many of them voted that way because he lied to them. Enough to swing the result. Others have to share the blame, I agree, but he is the main culprit. I have no problem with those that campaigned for Brexit (or voted for it) because they believed in it, but he new it was a bad idea and campaigned for it anyway, just to further his own personal ambition.
Many, but not by any means all, but even then that is no excuse. (Just about) all politicians are only out for themselves, and they all lie: BoJo is no different, but he has unfortunately proved charismatic enough to sway the non-thinking classes. This is not his fault. If the voting population actually had a majority of people that actually thought before voting, he wouldn't have made a difference. Nothing he said (well, nothing that I can remember) was demonstrably or provably or even possibly true, but it was frequently what the great unwashed wanted to believe - even when they knew it to be false. This, I repeat, is not his fault, it is ours.
What is slightly chilling is that he remains charismatic, and a large proportion of the population would vote for him again - in that we are in trouble that is similar to that faced by our cousins on the left of the pond.
You appear to have a pretty bad case of Brexit Derangement Syndrome. I would suggest reading Goodwin's Values, Voices and Virtue, but I don't think that you could handle it.
I like semantics and linguistics and whatever other term you want to give for the nuance of language
I don't have any problem with 'the great unwashed'
I take it to be the collective noun for 'Joe Schmo'
I saw this definition:
"This expression is pejorative and refers to people who do not have much money, or who lack a formal education. It can also be used in a more open sense to mean the general public."
And I see that my understanding is more the second sense than the first sense
But the fact that the definition gives two slants means it's also wrong to target people for using it when they might be using it in the second sense, not the first
i.e. you cannot see it as disgusting if you're looking at the second sense
NB it obviously would be extremely insulting and completely incorrect to suggest that anyone who voted for Brexit lacks education. But to say that people were lied to, and that some people believed those lies (perfectly understandably) is not wrong.
PPS - it is generally unwise to assume that you are intellectually superior to someone simply because you disagree with them. I try to refrain from making that mistake.
When you refer to a large body of people as you did, it comes over very much that is excatly what you are doing.
This is a one-off story. It is not intended to make a point of any sort. After all, you can never make a point with just one story, it's meaningless. I'm just putting the story out there as what it is: a story which has some connection to the above.
In 2016 I lived in a small block of flats in Central London. The porter was called Jeff. He was a stellar guy, a 70 year-old bloke from Essex, we got on very well. We talked about Brexit, I knew he was voting for, he knew I was against. It wasn't a problem. We had conversations very much along the lines of:
Jeff: I'm voting for Brexit coz they're taking all our jobs away Me: But, if we get Brexit, there won't BE any jobs for them to take away
It was banter. We had a laugh. There was no intrinscially right or wrong answer. All fine.
The problem was Jeff had a villa in Spain. They'd had it for 20 years and it was him and his wife's pride and joy. They went there every year for a few months, their kids came out, and they were intending to retire there in 5-7 years.
Leaving the above general economic theorising to one side (), I said to Jeff:
But aren't you personally worried that Brexit might make things tricky with your villa and retiring?
And he said his wife was also really concerned but:
Jeff: I said to her it's no problem, they've told us that it'll be fine, nothing will change.
They? The government? The EU? The Spanish? The Daily Mail?
He wasn't to sure about the 'they' but he was very confident in what 'they had said.
I challenged him - Jeff, no one really knows what's going to happen, what sort of agreement we'll be in post-Brexit, if it happens. But it's got to at least RISK making things worse for you going to or moving to Spain, it's got to.
But nothing would change, he'd been told, and he was happy with that.
Fast forward to now and it's all gone pear-shaped. I don't know the ins and outs and wherefores but Jeff hasn't retired to Spain, it's really tricky/impossible, they can't even use it for holidays in the way they used to (bank account problems, I think, and something to do with health, not sure, he wasn't that lucid). But his wife has clinical depression, because of it.
So, I'm not for generalising based on one story. Make of it what you will.
-- Edited by Coup Droit on Tuesday 2nd of May 2023 11:01:54 AM
A Beeb report of arguably particular interest to Bob.
More so than you think SC. I actually know people that work in that town hall as it is very close to where I live. When I was trying to find contacts on the sports council in the town hall of San Fulgencio, a friend of mine (and captain of the cricket team I still help) with told me that his girlfriend's mum worked there. That would be Samantha from the article.
I just sent the link to him and he recognised her instantly.
A Beeb report of arguably particular interest to Bob.
More so than you think SC. I actually know people that work in that town hall as it is very close to where I live. When I was trying to find contacts on the sports council in the town hall of San Fulgencio, a friend of mine (and captain of the cricket team I still help) with told me that his girlfriend's mum worked there. That would be Samantha from the article.
I just sent the link to him and he recognised her instantly.
Small world eh ?
Certainly is, Bob. Something similar happened to me once, many moons ago. It was in the days when journalists at The Times were on strike & the paper was therefore not being published, so I was reduced to buying The Grauniad, having tried The Torygraph & been driven to distraction. One day, it published an interview with a professional (dentist? Can't remember) Latvian lady in Leeds who was heavily involved with a local women's charitable/volunteer organisation (I think the Soroptimists). I had an Australian penfriend whose parents had immigrated from Latvia after the Second World War. I'd met her when she visited London as part of the world tour so many young Aussies seem to make. During her time here, she met a chap from Leeds who followed her out to Oz after she went back & where they eventually got married. I cut out the article & sent it to her, thinking that she & Juris might be interested. Turned out she was his aunt! She eventually migrated to Oz herself & I had the pleasure of meeting her on my first visit to Melbourne in 1992. Quite a character!
A Beeb report of arguably particular interest to Bob.
More so than you think SC. I actually know people that work in that town hall as it is very close to where I live. When I was trying to find contacts on the sports council in the town hall of San Fulgencio, a friend of mine (and captain of the cricket team I still help) with told me that his girlfriend's mum worked there. That would be Samantha from the article.
I just sent the link to him and he recognised her instantly.
Small world eh ?
Certainly is, Bob. Something similar happened to me once, many moons ago. It was in the days when journalists at The Times were on strike & the paper was therefore not being published, so I was reduced to buying The Grauniad, having tried The Torygraph & been driven to distraction. One day, it published an interview with a professional (dentist? Can't remember) Latvian lady in Leeds who was heavily involved with a local women's charitable/volunteer organisation (I think the Soroptimists). I had an Australian penfriend whose parents had immigrated from Latvia after the Second World War. I'd met her when she visited London as part of the world tour so many young Aussies seem to make. During her time here, she met a chap from Leeds who followed her out to Oz after she went back & where they eventually got married. I cut out the article & sent it to her, thinking that she & Juris might be interested. Turned out she was his aunt! She eventually migrated to Oz herself & I had the pleasure of meeting her on my first visit to Melbourne in 1992. Quite a character!