Well, this is a bit of a shock. The UK has voted to leave the EU — a victory for the forces of racism and unreason that could mean disaster for the UK economy and the EU as a whole. The pound is crashing; markets are poised to plunge.
So naturally the internet’s worst people are thrilled. Let’s start with a literal Anime Nazi before moving on to some more familiar names.
https://twitter.com/iloveluluco/status/746193892484120576
https://twitter.com/iloveluluco/status/746197447664230400
https://twitter.com/MatthewHeimbach/status/746192464789151745
https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/746183657606418433
https://twitter.com/Cernovich/status/746197245817565187
Trump's going to win too, you know. #Brexit pic.twitter.com/HCHHW7tAqo
— Milo Yiannopoulos (@Nero) June 24, 2016
Fuck the global economy. We have to save our civilisation.
— Milo Yiannopoulos (@Nero) June 24, 2016
Sorry about it, (((Soros))) pic.twitter.com/6IOuvreNVT
— Milo Yiannopoulos (@Nero) June 24, 2016
https://twitter.com/MikeMa_/status/746188180756500480
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/746201340309704704
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/746189310915796997
https://twitter.com/GamerGate4Life/status/746198340866441217
https://twitter.com/villainial/status/746195435987963905
https://twitter.com/Q1776/status/746192575954984960
https://twitter.com/Q1776/status/746193500983590914
https://twitter.com/JoKaiGonZo/status/746187559563206657
https://twitter.com/prowhitesunite/status/746204706691702784
https://twitter.com/Ricky_Vaughn99/status/746191933979009024
https://twitter.com/EnochProle/status/746200584601010176
Meme magic is real lads. Praise Kek and Rule Britannia .
— VDARE (@vdare) June 24, 2016
And there will be many more even worse than these in the days to come.
The weirdest hot take of the night so far?
Ann Coulter cheering the plunge everyone expects when European markets open:
The good news keeps rolling in! https://t.co/ty4NS6sdVA
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) June 24, 2016
EDITED TO ADD: Hail to the Gynocracy has also been watching the reactions of white nationalists to the #Brexit win.
Here are a couple of the creepiest tweets I missed:
Lovely.
http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/What-Excuse-me-Say-what-GIF.gif
Mainstream as in loud minority or mainstream as in mainstream?
@ handsome jack
It was like one of those momentary big issues that everyone seizes on for a bit; before the next story comes along.
There were a few high profile cases of people heading out to join ISIS, and then a few returnees. The families said there should be a procedure to stop that happening and the general public agreed. But from different perspectives. The families worried that their kids were just naive and the public worried they were some sort of potential fifth column.
In reality, whilst a few people did get caught up with ISIS properly (see ‘Jihadi John’ for example) most of them did seem just to be caught up with the glamour. When they examined the luggage of some schoolgirls who’d headed out there they were just taking spare underwear and leg wax. That’s hardly Bin Laden territory.
Alan:
I started thinking about it shortly before I got this far reading the thread.
Frankly I’m scared at the prospect that the UK might be stuck (not)leaving for years, with associated political and economical instability, with everyone hating the Britons for causing it and the Britons being at each others throats over it. Just go already.
So long, and thanks for all the fish & chips.
@ arctic ape
As someone who has dual nationality (British/Irish) I’m in the enviable position of being able to yell at myself.
Cyberwulf: I’m reading the EU response as non-monolithic. Some want Britain to GTFO, some want Britain to decide quickly, some unconditionally want Britain to stick around. It’s a big super-country, people don’t all agree with each other.
It is however a complete and total cluster duck (as autocorrect puts it).
@Alan
Let me get this straight: Boris has been orchestrating and promoting a gross act of vandalism against the British and EU economy, with all the associated global fallout and unpleasantness, not because he misguidedly thought it was best for Britain but simply to advance his career? And that makes him somehow *better* than Trump? Personally, I’m not at all reassured and can just imagine a broadcast from no 10 with him announcing an unplanned nuclear war.
@ richard
Pretty much. Now though Cameron has got his revenge by not serving the notice (as he said he would) and leaving it to the next PM. So the Tory leadership is now a poisoned chalice. There is no way out for Boris now. There’s quite good meme going round of Boris and Gove. “You take the leadership”, “No, after you”, “You touched it last” etc. Current betting is Theresa May will get the gig. I’m not so sure about that. I suspect there’s a lot of back room dealing going on with the EU to find a face saving solution for everyone. My best guess is that Junkers will be the sacrificial lamb. It’s an easy sell to the UK and the eurosceptics in the other states that the problem is with EU the institution, not EU the entity. Junckers represents everything that’s wrong in that regard (bullying, not taking no for an answer, not following own rules etc). Get shut of him (Tusk may also go, but it might be prudent to actually have hi as replacement. Good politics with the accession states and the Putin situation)
Ideally they’ll do that within the three months, then whoever is new Tory leader calls a general election with not serving the notice as a manifesto commitment on the grounds all the problems with the EU have been addressed.
@Axecalibur
Yeah, it makes sense. That’s why direct democracy should probably never be a thing. Asking people opinion in matters they aren’t experts in, but have strong emotional reactions to (to be fair, in Brexit’s case they were on both sides) is a path to disaster.
Then again, politicians should be such experts, but in practice, how often are they, really? Distrust of the political establishment is what adds fuel to the until-recently fringe groups. I’d have hoped that seeing the horrible “hardcore” xenophobic people who support them them would give a pause to most people who vote for them because they feel ignored and disconnected from mainstream politicians, but apparently it isn’t so…
Then again, how long can you keep voting for the devil you know because the other guy is worse? It’s demoralizing.
I feel it’s a big part of why such groups are “boiling over”.
@Scildfreja
I know, I know. Honestly, my own reactions to Brexit (and current political tendencies) are emotional and simplistic (as I certainly lack in-depth knowledge about Britain’s situation). I also tend to gravitate to people who say what I want to believe; and treat what they say as true until proven otherwise, while I treat my political opponents the other way around.
I don’t feel enlightened, certainly. And yet… I just can’t honestly treat them and us as exactly equal. Maybe it’s because, looking back at history, I feel like our views end up justified most of the time. Maybe because many of us are capable of doubting ourselves to a degree I’m yet to see from most right-wingers.
But doesn’t it just perpetuate the problem I’ve spoken of earlier? It probably does and I lack the intelligence of will to somehow get out of this paradox. Which is why I don’t try being a politician.
@GrumpyOld SocialJusticeMangina
Damn right. Damn right.
Though if I may add: I thing the right-wing has a much easier job than left-wing in this regard (regardless of whether the left does a hash job of it). People are naturally inclined to fear the unknown. Right-wingers just need to nod and validate the feelings people already gravitate to.
To convince them that they shouldn’t be afraid of otherness and should be accepting instead is much harder – especially because there are risks involved.
@Ocean
What I’m about to rant isn’t aimed at you. We’re cool ?
Fuck off with that bullshit. The greatest of all worldly indignations: societal responsibility. Oh, Heavens! It’s so sad your vote matters, and it affects other people. Look at this shit! Nobody even thought of the North. There are people in Murica, ‘lefties’ presumably, who’ll vote Trump out of protest. Eat shit! 218m Black people, Latinxs, Mideasterners, women, LGBT+, etc. (and plenty of white dudes too) will suffer, but hey, you don’t have to feel demoralized. That pesky right to vote. How rough your life must be. If you can’t handle the pressure of thinking of others before making major decisions, I hear the citizenry of North fucking Korea would be chuffed to take those votes off your hands. Fuck! /rant over
Again, sorry bout that. Needed to be said *phew*
Saw footage (shot by a terrified bystander) of one of the post-brexit-vote rash of racist incidents. Horrible and frightening.
And then I was just told about a response to brexit from Romania – an offer to “adopt” all the 48% Remainians.
Just want to express my heartfelt thanks to the Romanian “adopters” for such a sweet, humorous, civilised response at a time when we are having an outbreak of some of the worst vile, ugly behaviour I can remember.
(PS obviously I get that it’s poking fun, but it’s poking fun in the right spirit – it’s nice to see somebody (a newspaper, if I have that right) making a joke where the punchline is generosity rather than the opposite)
Sorry for being late to the thread, i read the comments and there were some things I couldn’t help noticing:
@LinuxLea regarding Greece
…from Germany… They borrowed your money to buy stuff from you. And didn’t some people there go to jail for giving bribes for the sale of those subs?
It seems quite hypocritical of Germany to complain about that especially.
@Ohlmann
What the flying fuck? Ignoring Turkey right now because I’m very ignorant about it, do you mind telling me what is so different about a Polish, French or German person?
Brexit. Lots of people coming out of the woodwork with their preconceptions and outright racism showing.
Rule of thumb though: if Farage, LePen and the rest of the neofascists are happy about something at the same time, it can’t be good.