To think you should have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the facts before being allowed to vote

[Bearbehind]

Ok, I appreciate this is purely hypothetical is it could never be enforced but, it does astound me when a proportion of the electorate, albeit hopefully small, are so clueless they come out with comments like I've seen this morning which included:-

-Looking forward to doing some online shopping for items from the USA as they'd be cheaper now the pound has dropped

-Being surprised that the markets have fallen following the vote to leave and not realising their vote would have that effect

-Thinking this decision might pave the way for Norway to hold a referendum to leave the EU too

It's bad enough we all have to filter through the outright lies, like the money saved on the EU which would go straight to the NHS, and the scarcity of facts but people making decisions when their basic understanding is so poor is downright scary.

gingerivy it doesn't matter if they voted to leave or remain.

It also doesn't matter if some of those searches were for situations that you describe, it does matter if a single one of those searches was by someone who'd already cast their vote and then decided to find out what it actually meant.

So what?!?! So what if people voted on a whim or uninformed or with different opinions? So what if they voted as a protest? So what if they spent weeks or months researching before they formed an opinion?

IT DOESN'T MATTER! This is not a requirement of voting.

You can piss and moan for years, and you will not change this.

It all sounds like a 4yo whinging "it's not fair" and it's getting tiresome.

Lol.
How would you set the criteria...exactly?

Do you actually know what democracy means OP?

Would you prefer us to live under a dictatorship?

It also doesn't matter if some of those searches were for situations that you describe, it does matter if a single one of those searches was by someone who'd already cast their vote and then decided to find out what it actually meant.

No it doesn't. You are wrong. There is no legal requirement that people educate themselves to any degree AT ALL prior to voting. And there never will be.

Look up democracy, voting rights, and so on. Educate yourself about that, and while you're at it, research what happens to a democratic country when the citizens completely upend democracy and tear the country apart over it. That's where you're headed.

mymame she would set it following her own little rules and have people do a test prior to voting

1. Do you agree with bear - no you can't vote
2. Do you have your own opinion on the eu - yes you can't vote

kittens I never said I wanted to decide who can vote- only that people should understand what they are voting on. That is not, or should not be, too much to ask.

You clearly were being goady when you said my reasons for voting was uninformed as, despite asking numerous times, you won't actually tell me why you think that.

The minute I want to talk about immigration I am a racist. the minute I want to talk about poverty its all about urban poverty not rural poverty

The irony here is of course that rural poverty was something specifically addressed by redistributing wealth through the EU- with Cornwall and Wales in particular being identified as very poor (poorest in Europe) and given huge amounts of money to build infrastructure (roads) and tourist destinations.

The UK government has never given a shit about rural areas, this redressed that balance.

I'm sorry but anyone in a poor rural area who thinks they will be better off under the UK goverment is sadly deluded. Also, these rural areas often have the least immigrants!

Kittens Shockingly, it seems that is exactly what a LOT of people who voted remain seem to want. And their inability to understand that others have seen the info and still want to leave is quite worrying.

bear your entire post is about deciding who should and shouldn't be allowed to vote even the title is stating that very specifically!

You haven't said why you think your reasons for voting are informed. I have just been asking why are you more informed than someone else.

m.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/4ppam6/genius_girl_explains_why_she_voted_to_leave_the_eu/

Mummymeister...still ok? Pff I don't want fools voting for mass change on shit like this.

And their inability to understand that others have seen the info and still want to leave is quite worrying.

And your inability to understand that I'm not referring to anyone who has seen the info and made their decision, whichever way, based on that is even more worrying.

Your thread title

AIBU to think you should have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the facts before being allowed to vote

It's not just Remainers who think Leavers are fools. Have many of you looked at the international coverage? The memes? The world thinks we're are idiots! (Except fascists like Marie Le Pen and the very special Donald Trump...) The Americans are loving this, Brits no longer have the authority to laugh at them for voting in George W Bush...

*we are

kittens you are seemingly incapable of backing up a statement you made but continually turn it back on me. I'm sure you'd have a bright future in politics.

Yes, I know what my title said and I stand by it. The only exclusion should be not having a basic understanding of whatever you are voting on, if that is too much to ask then it's a very sorry state of affairs.

Wedo my point is that these moments in our democracy would give us pause to think about our vote and what it means. I am not suggesting that those who voted Leave are voting for Nazism. I also made a comment tongue in cheek as I already pointed out. Nevertheless it might be useful looking forward if people think about what kind of democracy we want to be part of.Many people would argue that in fact The Uk doesn't actually have a system of democracy where every vote counts . So the question of democracy isn't just a simple one - even this exercise in democracy will most likely lead to an undemocratic outcome where a leader we did not choose will carry us through the most significant political even in our lifetime, or perhaps a coalition we didn't choose.

And your inability to understand that I'm not referring to anyone who has seen the info and made their decision, whichever way, based on that is even more worrying.

And you are gauging that how? By assuming that of course anyone that has seen the info will of course decide to vote Remain, so you assume that anyone who votes Leave has not seen the info.

Seriously. I am incapable of continuing this with you. I feel like I'm having a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

Ok so you wanted to know why I felt your decision was uninformed.

I have asked over and over again why do you think you are more informed and you haven't said.

The only thing you have said is the following in respond to someone asking you what the questions should be

the test could just say 'you do know this isn't just about tomatoes don't you?'

So if that is your entire argument about why your more informed then yes on the basis of the information you have provided I would say your pretty uninformed.

In addition you keep telling everybody that you are not wanting to stop anyone to vote, but you are also standing by your post title which clearly states you don't want to allow certain people to vote.

thewindinthepillows the EU money was misspent in those areas. people living there felt something was being done to them, parachuted in. They saw the photos in local papers with this or that business getting X million from the EU and couldn't see what difference it made. I have done some research about funding to Cornwall. One EU grants programme spent £400,000 per new job. shocking. it could have paid for a couple of years of a rural bus route. The UK does give a shit about rural areas because that's clearly where the votes are as shown by the turnout in the referendum.

Bear seriously how goady or thick can you be. I understand what I was voting for and I voted out.

Lots of people understood what they were voting for and some voted in and some voted out.

Lots of people thought they understood what they voted for and they voted in and they voted out.

The only way - THE ONLY WAY - you can determine what is "understanding" is if you start setting criteria. and if you set criteria then some people will meet it and some will fail.

and some will fail because they cant read or cant read English or it is written in unfamiliar terms.

and then you will be excluding some people - maybe even whole groups of people - from the democratic process.

and what happens then, when you exclude even a small number of people from the democratic process? either they riot or they stop contributing to a society which they have no opportunity to ever change. this is commonly known as anarchy.

why did the arab spring riots happen? because there were a number of people who felt that they had no voice.

Define a basic understanding. How do you intend to measure that?

FFS, this is going round in circles. It's hypothetical. I know it can't be done but I think there should be a way of avoiding the situation where a number of people only ask questions about 'what is the EU' or ''what is Brexit' after the vote is over.

Has anyone watched the link I posted yet?