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.
So, resident of the UK here, commented I think twice before, but rarely have anything actually useful to say.
I need a sodding drink.
And to everyone else who reads these or comments here. No matter where you’re from, I have a sneaking suspicion your country is about to take a bit of a pounding because of this clusterf**k.
I am so sorry that the UK didn’t stop this here. I’ve heard talk about non-binding referendums and Parliamentary rejection, but I have my doubts.
Sorry everyone.
*walks off and pulls out a bottle of vodka*
several, even.
Well, shit. I’m so sorry, UKers.
@ David
I think you’ve really misrepresented what this referendum was about and the result. It’s true some noisy racists tried to make this about immigration. Don’t forget though that EU migration is mainly about white people. There were some red herrings about refugees but that has little to nothing to do with the EU. Refugees are dealt with under international treaties that have nothing to do with the EU.
Ironically the remain campaign’s tactic of just saying “we’re right and anyone who disagrees is stupid and/or evil” seems to have been a factor in swinging the vote to Brexit. This was recognised last week and the remain campaign tried to change tactic, but then the hiatus after the killing of Jo Cox meant they didn’t have enough time.
The left wing case for Brexit has always been stronger than the right wing one and the biggest leave votes came from traditional Labour Party areas.
It’s also worth noting perhaps that last week Operation Black Vote had the BME remain vote at only 55%, which is not much different from what polling showed was the trend generally; so it’s disingenuous to suggest this referendum was all about race.
By saying that it is you’re just buying into the mentality of the zealots in your article.
This vote was as much a rejection of a political elite by a population that feels a real disconnect with politics and politicians generally.
Being reminded that Ann Coulter still exists.
Did not need this today.
Wherever you are, please let this remind you of two things. Firstly, complacency is not an option. Second, voting really really matters, a lot more than commenting and liking things online.
All of this. All of goddamn this. Voter turnout was at like 70% nationwide. I do wonder how the chips would have fallen if it had been 100%
Normally, the people who opt not to vote are those who really don’t care. They’re the ones who are the least informed and the most persuaded by emotive appeals.
In other words, it may have been worse if we’d had 100% turnout.
Still, my opinion on the matter is not a happy one.
Fair point, yeah. I know at least one relative who didn’t because she felt uncomfortable making an uninformed vote, although admitted Remain was better.
She regrets that now. I suspect there’s at least a few more like her in this country somewhere. But your take is probably the more accurate one, sadly.
Alan, maybe I’ve oversimplified or misrepresented or misunderstood some of the issues here, but this vote — and what it is likely to trigger inside and outside of the UK — scares me.
It’s clearly giving a giant boost in morale to a lot of the worst people in the world, and not just those on Twitter. In the UK, Farage is basically the only “leave” person out there making speeches; he’s turned himself into THE face of the “leave” side.
Geert Wilders is calling for the netherlands to have their own EU referendum. Marine le Pen is overjoyed.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/24/european-far-right-hails-britains-brexit-vote-marine-le-pen
And, well, maybe I’m a globalist/liberal/whatever, but I don’t think it’s going to be good economically for ordinary Brits.
Combined with the rise of Trump this seems like really bad news.
Re: opting out of voting
I think there may also have been an element where people genuinely either thought it was too fine a call to actually vote one way or the other or were happy to leave it to people who did have a strong opinion and go along with the democratic choice.
I was pretty much on the fence myself. I was an indifferent out because of some issues with the technocratic way the EU operates but no problem with the actual policies. In the end I paired off with a mate who was an unenthusiastic remain. Neither of us wanted to give succuor to the Farage camp but he also wasn’t keen on supporting a neo liberal agenda. So we both agreed not to vote and went to the beach.
The Trump fans might be laughing now, but they may soon find themselves in for a very rude awakening.
“I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy….He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life.” -Donald Trump on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
@ David
For various constitutional/legal issues the leaders of the official leave/remain campaigns agreed not to make any public comment until after David Cameron makes his speech; and he can’t do that until after the official result.
Farage isn’t part of the official campaign, so not bound by that, so unfortunately he’s got centre stage at the moment.
@ David
Just missed the edit window but they’re literally announcing the official result now, so expect Cameron to speak shortly (he has to speak before they open the markets) and then the official leave people.
I’m just going to remind the white supremacists/male supremacists one more time (although I’m certain it won’t be the last time):
The Nazis lost. Your boy Hitler lost. Died by his own hand. Germany was rubble.
The Ku Klux Klan lost. Black people have won some important rights. There are more to come. Black Lives Matter is going strong. Sorry, not sorry, losers!
Apartheid lost. Luckily, there was a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. You losers really lucked out with that one!
People don’t like you. When push comes to shove, we’ll fight you. We’ve got nothing to lose!
Britain will have to pay a similar amount to the current membership fee in order to gain access to EU markets, while being subject to the same open labour markets.
That and it’s given a platform to some rather ugly elements within the movement. So what has this achieved for the average Brit?
Alan, ah, CNN (which I’ve had on in the background for the lst few hours) didn’t make that clear about the official leave/remain leaders.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36615028
@ David
In all fairness I doubt if there are many English people nerdy enough to read The Referendum Act, the Representation of the People Act, and Erskine May, so CNN can perhaps be forgiven 🙂
Alan, I’m pretty sure you’re just flat out wrong. Everything I’ve seen coming out of those ‘traditional Labour areas’ so far has said that the voters wanted to send a message to Labour about immigration (and a lot of Labour higher ups seem prepared to listen). There’s nothing at all to suggest that this was a sudden surge of left-wing anti-EU feeling.
I agree that the Remain campaign was shamefully poorly run, and that the British electorate as a whole is very disillusioned with politics and the political elite. But judging by the last general election, people who felt disillusioned with the political elite voted for a far right wing party over a far left wing party by a three to one margin. And UKIP’s overriding issue has always been immigration and associated racist dogwhistles.
I also think we should be really careful not to underplay British racism. Britain is a racist society. Its racism is different from US racism, or Australian racism, or French racism (etc etc) but it’s very present and very deeply entrenched, and it’s irresponsible and damaging to pretend otherwise. One of UKIP’s posters literally looked like Nazi propaganda. In that context, I think it’s pretty disingenuous to bring up the Black British vote as proof this was ‘not all about race’.
(People commenting with sympathy – thank you from this random internet stranger. I have had a really horrible night, and the only good thing has been people like you reminding me that I’m not alone.)
I’m reading all this stuff about UK and it seems the pound and Euro have drops a few cents while the USD has risen a few cents, so, I mean, while Yahoo! News says Britain will probably enter a recession, at least the US is sitting a bit prettier.
Thanks, Britain.
I don’t like the term “disaster”, in no small part because it remove agency from britons by seeing they voted the “wrong” way. It’s similar to how french were berated with the refusal of an european treaty. Democracy isn’t a way to check if people have the good opinion.
While the vote wasn’t certain, the reality was that Europa as a polical entitie is currently a zombie, without true direction nor inspiration. Trying to integrate 30 country before doing a better integration proved a failure ; maybe the removal of the UK will either be enough of a shock to motivate politicians to actually sell the UE ; or maybe it will allow a smaller group of country to actually be a real federation.
@ handsome jack
Might be a good time to do a bit of currency dealing in the next few days but the effect will be temporary.
The international financial markets assumed last night that it would be a remain win, so they bought sterling derivatives on long expecting to cash in this morning. Then when it went the other way they got caught out so there’s a frantic rush to settle all those contracts. Lots of sterling on the markets so simple supply and demand pushes the price down for a bit. They’d actually be better off hanging on to their options but a lot of financial institutions have rules against holding open positions overnight.
Some more BBC News http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36616018
Perhaps Britain can apply to join the EU in some 15 years’ time when the majority of the Leave voters will have died from old age.
I’m sure United Ireland and Independent Scotland would be happy to welcome them in. 😉