Brexit, we’re regularly reminded, is the will of the people. We had a referendum and the result was clear. Question the wisdom of the decision and you show yourself to be anti-democratic and out of touch, a member of a cosseted, globalist elite that fails to understand the concerns of ordinary folk.
Never mind that 48% of voters represents rather a large “elite” by any normal measure. Nor that the people most enthusiastically pushing this line – among them Nigel Farage, Rupert Murdoch and several senior politicians – are themselves both privileged and powerful. The attack lands, in part, because it contains a kernel of truth. Prominent remainers sometimes have spoken about leave voters in sneering, snobbish terms. There really is an unwillingness among some affluent, metropolitan Europhiles to acknowledge that material factors contributed to the result. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that showing contempt for mass democracy could have lasting social and political repercussions – potentially fuelling more extreme rightwing populism.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://ift.tt/2z8hOlX
Comments
Post a Comment