Britain's Suddenly Vanishing Racists
Do you recall how just last year Britain was being overwhelmed by racism?
The mainstream news media, particularly the center-left leaning media, insisted that just one thing, and only one thing, could explain the Brexit vote.
‘A frenzy of hatred’: how to understand Brexit racism
Brexit is racist
The Brexit debate has made Britain more racist
The uncomfortable question: Was the Brexit vote based on racism?
Of course it was based on racism! What else could it have possibly been based on except for irrational hate?
Oh sure, exit polls show that sovereignty, not immigration, was the single biggest reason for Brexit. But liberals know that all racists lie, don't they?
More importantly, being an opponent of open borders automatically qualifies you as a racist, because there is no possible nuance on this issue. Wealthy liberals know that this single data point defines everything about you as a person.
Plus, the most reliable indicator of the Brexit vote was class, but that only means poor white people are more racists (which liberals always suspected).
But for the most part, class was the deciding factor in the vote. This, for me, is the most breathtaking fact: of the 50 areas of Britain that have the highest number of people in social classes D and E — semi-skilled and unskilled workers and unemployed people — only three voted Remain. Three. That means 47 very poor areas, in unison, said no to the thing the establishment insisted they should say yes to.
This led to a full year of "tsk tsk'ing" by wealthy and comfortable white liberals while sadly shaking of heads in a condescending way, occasionally interrupted by angry rants at the racism of poor, working class whites. "Why, oh why, didn't they vote the way we told them to vote?"
And then the racists suddenly decided to stop being racist
In what has got to be a first in human history, millions upon millions of die-hard racists suddenly stopped being racist.
It's amazing!
Progressives vilified those who had the temerity to reject Brussels. Anyone who wanted to leave the EU was deemed to be a racist, a caveman, an irrational nationalist and even a drunk fool.However today – exactly one year later – after the performance of Jeremy Corbyn in the recent British election, progressives everywhere are excited and optimistic about the British voters. Some are even talking about a “soft” Brexit or even no Brexit. But does this mood swing among progressives – one year they see Hitler and the next they see Jesus – make sense? Has Britain changed so much in a year? Or are progressives completely misreading Britain’s electorate? Did all those immigrant-haters suddenly disappear or were they even there in the first place?
If the hatred of immigration was the driving force of the Brexit vote last year then it would have manifested itself again in this year’s general election. But it didn’t. On the contrary it disappeared from view. The only political party that made immigration a big issue in recent years – UKIP (the United Kingdom Independence Party) – was destroyed in the recent election. This suggests that immigration was and is a superficial issue amongst the British electorate.
Admittedly, that is curious.
But what else could the poor working class care about except for irrational hatred? It's not like they think about things and reason them out. Only the better people of the wealthier classes do that.
We could look at the data, which shows some anger at their economic conditions.But who cares about that, amirite?
We could, of course, ask them, but it's easier to judge them based on single data points. Very much like how Trump voters are all hopeless racists, but that would suddenly change if they vote for a neoliberal Democrat next time, like when they voted for Obama.
Thus there is only one possible conclusion that can be drawn from this:
Britain's poor white working class suddenly started listening to their betters (i.e. wealthy and comfortable liberals) and decided to stop being racists.
We should congratulate them for finally starting to see the light.
Now vote for a Blairite next time and we will forgive you.
After ridiculing Brexit and Corbyn the media – in the light of the results of the last year – now barely have any ground to stand on. That’s because the media represent the “politically correct neoliberal class” and nothing more. The battle lines are clear and solid for the people however. And they’re on the terrain of class rather than race.
Comments
The various "isms" aren't
The various "isms" aren't meant to foster actual discussion; they are cudgels.
Terms such as racism, sexism, misogyny, etc. are so watered down, so diluted that anything and everything can be applied to one of the above.
Did you reject Obama's expanding wars and slaughter of innocents? Racist
Did you reject Clinton's warmongering and wanting war with Russia? Sexist and Racist (how that is racist for a WHITE woman I still don't know).
Again, suddenly the rallying cries of racism and sexism vanish when they are targeted at Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, etc. No, it is ok to reject and insult them because, well, they are Republicans (duh).
According to Identity Politics(tm)
some black people called Bill Clinton "the first black president" (Lord knows why) so by extension, Hillary Clinton became black (Or maybe just blackish?). Under Identity Politics--in particular the DailyKos version--women have to support the female candidate; blacks have to support the black(ish) candidate, gays support the gay, Presbyterians support Presbyterian, the morbidly obese support the morbidly obese, and so on.
But it gets worse: men have to vote for the woman or become misogynist; likewise whites must support the blackish candidate or find themselves labeled racist (or white supremacist, or Bernie Bro, etc.). (Young people don't matter because "young people don't vote" and they only want free stuff anyway.)
Now in England, anti-immigrant hate gets directed towards Polish immigrants and folk from poorer European countries, as well as Pakistanis and other nonwhites--we in the US project our "best in the world" racism model on everyone else: immigrants = brown people from Mexico (and Central America, aka, honorary Mexicans) and countries we bomb. So clearly, all hatred in the UK must result from racism (that probably does apply to the UKIP--my guess).
My urban economics prof (from the UK) explained it to me: "race is America's obsession; class is Britain's obsession. Europe actually has more class mobility than the US, though we must deny that because American Exceptionalism. Even bringing up the idea will bring snippy accusations of White Privilege.
The recent UK election befuddled the hell out of the Democrats (the party of the Ten Percent). Jeremy Corbin earned a "Bernie Bro" label and thus the voters had to vote for Theresa May because . . . misogyny? I ignored those DK diaries. It threw them a screwball, at any rate. So close to an outright labor victory, and not "austerity vs. austerity lite" either. If you want, my state will renounce the whole 1776 thing as a bad idea and rejoin the Empire, giving enough Labour support to tip the scales . . . just kidding, of course, though I wish we would ditch D'umpland for Canada. And we already love the queen!
@SancheLlewellyn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--HRQ3ckYt8
Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa - Your Heart Is As Black As Night
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
We probably would be part of a big Canada
Slavery probably would have ended much sooner, without a civil war, "First Peoples" would have been treated much better and we'd all have health care. I don't know, are we better off that the American Revolution was won. People no longer have to pay the stupid tea tax, so there's that. Maybe there would be much less class mobility.
Beware the bullshit factories.
Racism is real enough.
The fact that talk of racism is used as a cudgel is one of the things keeping it going.
"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama
As for that post-Brexit Hate Crime Wave
link
I myself am so stupid
I can't tell that I don't have enough money to pay my doctor this month, no matter how many times I look in my wallet and at my bills.The only thing that really matters to me is my feelings and the likelihood someone is going to hurt them. That, and my fear that politicians will start considering my economic situation as something to be addressed. And that we won't have a war, a big war.
As I said I'm stupid; like most people.
Orwell: Where's the omelette?
Me too.
I must have lost my mathematical ability because everything that I buy except gasoline ($40-$50 per month) costs much more than last year, yet my government tells me that inflation doesn't exist so we can't get an SS COLA. Even though my sister's rent went up by 10% (it now consumes 100% of her SS, but she can't get Medicaid because her SS is $300 a year too high) and my property taxes just went from $5500 a year to $6500. And the restaurants I frequent have gone up at least 10%, the Subway daily special went from $3.00 to $3.50 ... But gasoline is down so that yuppies driving armored cars and monster trucks 50 miles to work are saving money, so we can't get an SS COLA.
And none of my grandsons have a job. (Whoops! Not true, one works part-time at Walmart who helped him apply for food stamps), but this is the greatest job market ever because anyone who doesn't have a job is a lazy bum that has voluntarily removed himself from the work force because unemployment is at a post-WW II low, according to the government.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
The elitist snob response to Brexit.
It was nauseating. I had friends who said EU membership was something that people shouldn't be allowed to vote for. Really? People shouldn't be allowed to vote for their fucking government?
There is a very disturbing disconnect between the urban, socially liberal elites and the rest of the country. Every time evidence of this disconnect emerges, the liberal elites scream racism. This delusion would be amusing if it didn't carry such serious consequences.
People with megaphones in the US are saying openly
(as opposed to simply doing things in "smoke-filled rooms" like creating the institution of super delegates) that fewer in the US should be allowed to vote and pointing to Trump as proof. These same people, btw, are outraged that Russia allegedly messed with the vote in 2016. Also, these same people conflate suffrage with democracy. In fact, they conflate almost everything American with democracy. https://caucus99percent.com/comment/272188#comment-272188
Worst example of that from pros I've witnessed so far: Andrea Mitchell exclaiming "Now, that's democracy!" as she watched President Obama shake hands with President Elect Trump on the White House steps. Well, second worst. The worst is referring to publishing truthful info about a Presidential nominee as subverting our democracy. https://caucus99percent.com/content/big-lie-russia-interfered-us-preside...
I haven't heard that yet
Other than opposition to open primaries because the Dems might actually bring more voters into the fold.
Millionaire Democrats don't have as much of a problem with D'ump because they won't get hurt, at least not personally. They have the resources to pull through and even profit from it. Bill Maher can boomersplain, "Now, now, you can't say 'Not My President' because he is your president." (Maybe your president; your ratings will go through the roof, but not mine.)
And so it goes. The One Percent gets richer; the Ten Percent hold on to what they've got, and the rest of us . . .
Are flushed down the toilet.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Trump will be good for the country.
the CEO of my company actually said that in a room full of employees. Tax relief, don't ya know, and "we'll invest more" when we get that tax relief because our taxes now are so, so, so unfair!
And he said this in a room full of employees, many of them women and immigrants. Talk about tone deaf, I found it amazing and it's a real good thing I watched that bullshit from home with no one around to hear me scream back at it. I didn't pay attention to how many heads nodded right along with him, no thanks, don't need to see that either.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Freedoms and flagwavers