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Brexit
Original poster

Why are people being so utterly vile?

304 replies

WrongKindOfFace · 03/02/2019 20:10

Not on here, but online in general. I know tensions are running high, and people have very polarised viewpoints, but the level of vitriol and blatant racism is shocking. I’ve come to accept it as normal from the likes of the daily mail comments, but it’s even on Facebook - with their photo, name and place of work attached.

(And yes, before anyone says it, remainers can be pretty unpleasant calling leavers thick etc.)

OP posts:
prettybird · 05/02/2019 16:32

Indyref was indeed 55:45 based in part on promises of staying in the EU Hmm.

Despite pressure from SNP members, I don't think Nicola wants to hold another one until she is confident of 60:40 in favour of independence.

StoorieHoose · 05/02/2019 16:41

So we can see IndyRef2 in early April then when the shite hits the fan?

StoorieHoose · 05/02/2019 16:41

Thanks both for the clarification

1tisILeClerc · 05/02/2019 17:57

I find it interesting that almost all on this thread, and indeed on many threads are missing a vital point.
Until 29 March the UK IS the EU. Most on here are referring to the EU as 'them' and 'They' are against 'us'.
It is the isolationist thought process of too many in the UK that is setting the UK and EU apart.

PrismGuile · 05/02/2019 18:14

I used to know people in my uni town who voted leave but since moving I don't know any colleagues, friends or family who voted leave either. It's not hard to believe - in wealthy, liberal areas leave voters are v rare.

LittleSpace · 05/02/2019 18:18

Saw family in my town of birth and expressed my fears. It was all 'rubbish' to my concerns and life will be 'sunlit uplands'. I do hope they are correct. I would love to be wrong. Nobody would be happier but I can't help thinking they are playing with fire.

Think coastal seedy town. Majority leave voters.

DarAdal · 05/02/2019 19:14

Something that another poster wrote on different thread stayed with me.

'Not all leave voters are racist but all racists voted leave'.

The only leave voter I know is my Mum. 71 at the time of the vote. Mostly based her vote on immigration.

She says she is not racist but calls anyone non white 'our coloured brethren' and is highly critical of anyone not white British.

It's really hard to stay polite around this kind of attitude and I'm sad to think that this is probably how many people in her age group think and voted accordingly with no thought at all.

Thatsalovelycuppatea · 05/02/2019 19:23

Yes it js. I've stopped making comments even on local pages. People are very rude and I've even been sworn at. It is very shocking. Internet had generally changed people.

TheCounter · 05/02/2019 19:29

I've got far more interesting things to talk about when I get together with family.

They're all pretty intelligent individuals (compared to me) but I reckon if I brought up Brexit, I'd sense a little bit of them die inside before finding myself standing alone in an empty room.

TaimaandRanyasBestFriend · 05/02/2019 19:38

Despite pressure from SNP members, I don't think Nicola wants to hold another one until she is confident of 60:40 in favour of independence.

If I were her, I'd never have said a dicky bird about it all, because you never even have to pay out rope to people determined to economically and politically hang themselves. I'd let them go to the wall, a couple of hard Winters and then spring it, whilst I spent some serious time talking and negotiating.

frumpety · 05/02/2019 19:45

I don't talk about Brexit with my leave voting parents, I honestly don't have the energy, I am so disappointed in their short sightedness. Disappointed in their ability not to see the repercussions for my family and their friends, people who they purport to care about. Sad

LittleSpace · 05/02/2019 20:06

Ha! Try stopping my Dad. He loves the subject.

LittleSpace · 05/02/2019 20:07

I've repeatedly suggested not bringing politics into family get togethers as it cause trouble. So far I have failed.

frumpety · 05/02/2019 20:28

LittleSpace my Father tries his best to bring it up, but I quickly change the subject. I think he knows it will be shit for me and mine and for the people he calls friends, he just cannot bring himself to admit that he has played any part in it . I feel sorry for him , because fundamentally he is a good person, and its hard for him to recognise the harm he has caused by voting leave.
I feel awful saying this because he made me who I am. I love him, but can no longer respect him.

yolofish · 05/02/2019 20:31

I havent said anything vile (yet). However if Brexit means my DH cant get his imported chemotherapy drug then I will be in with all guns blazing, not just on his behalf but on behalf of everyone whose meds/food/livelihood are affected. This is the stupidest thing any country could do to itself and nothing will ever make me feel it is a good idea.

LittleSpace · 05/02/2019 20:43

I try shutting it down but he loves the subject, introduces it at all available opportunities and firmly maintains that he is right and I will see. My siblings are the same so I am slightly outnumbered.

Family get togethers have gone downhill.

InfiniteCurve · 05/02/2019 21:19

My two closest friends voted leave.One I know 100% isn't racist - she voted on economic grounds and concern over EU corruption.The other would probably deny it but their vote as far as I can see came out of xenophobia/racism and a free floating desire for sovereignty and "making Britain great again". My feeling is that that is deluded and essentially based on nothing concrete,but I accept they can believe what ever they want.In return,I got annoyance before the vote that I didn't change my mind faced with the arguments for "leave" they provided,and annoyance after the vote that I wasn't happy about the result.Because it was democracy and so I had to be happy about it - not just accepting,happy.
I love my friend but I'm still a bit miffed.

TaimaandRanyasBestFriend · 05/02/2019 21:28

Internet had generally changed people.

No, it hasn't. Xenophobia, misguided nostalgia and fascism has done that. Sad

MeganBacon · 05/02/2019 21:56

We discuss it openly at work and no-one is vile or even slightly objectionable. It's only on MN that I hear people sounding angry (I avoid social media like the plague though). It would be a real career stopper where I work to be critical of a colleague's political view. Coming on MN makes me realise I live in a bubble, although I suppose we all do to some extent.

Arnoldillo · 05/02/2019 22:34

I think people are outwardly polite in work and social situations, even when they think the other person is a bellend. This is true of a lot of things though, not just brexit.

LadyKalila · 06/02/2019 06:53

No, it hasn't. Xenophobia, misguided nostalgia and fascism has done that

GrinGrinGrin

GirlsBlouse17 · 06/02/2019 07:32

I don't know why people are surprised that so many voted to leave the EU. The media and governments throughout the past forty years have filled people's heads with negativity about the EU. The EU has never really had a chance as far as the UK has been concerned

1tisILeClerc · 06/02/2019 08:10

On the basis that the UK will be wanting tourists to come in the future, the wide media coverage of the UK being racist and 'knife crime' ridden will damage the UK significantly.
People who were considering going to the UK will be aware of Brexit and having coverage of crime and the 'hostile' environment' will put them off.

Peregrina · 06/02/2019 08:18

People have already been put off 1tis, and it won't matter how much Theresa May says the country is open for business. With hostile environments, citizens of nowhere, queue jumpers and so on, people will judge by what she does as well as what she says.

MattFreisWeatherReport · 06/02/2019 10:09

I got annoyance before the vote that I didn't change my mind faced with the arguments for "leave" they provided,and annoyance after the vote that I wasn't happy about the result.Because it was democracy and so I had to be happy about it - not just accepting,happy.

Yes, this is the behaviour I find so infantile. It's as if the leave victory wasn't actually about securing the UK's departure from the EU - which most leavers still can't coherently explain why they want - so much as about feeling important and clever for sticking it to the entire country, and then feeling miffed that they aren't being admired and praised for their cleverness.

It was a really stupid battleground to have picked for what has essentially become a class war, because what follows can only widen the poverty gap.

(And yes, I of all people understand that voting leave didn't fall along class lines, but that is how the most vocal leavers are depicting it - as a noble victory for the little man.)

Take back control ffs. Good luck with that.