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.
@ Crys T
If you are trying to say that the EU referendum was a result of some kind of opressive regime in the UK then again you miss my point. Again this is exaggeration. Even in democracy, the opposing sides will lile, its what they do. Tell meyour glasses are not so much rose for you to miss that fact?
I am saying that this hysteria does not help. It also cheapens the suffering of the people who have died in true opressive regimes and true undemocratic manners.
Jo Cox died, but we can name her. She is one. And only one. Killed for politcial reason but not by her government. Now name me the names of those killed since Euromidan, in Euromidan by their own government. THAT is an opressive regime, THAT is based on lies. That is something worth hysteria and sadness. It is going on still now. Your jurnalist don’t disappear if they disagree. Your government does not hire thugs to beat the protestors or imprison its political opponants.
In december 2013 I was on a ship in Hong Kong, the cheif engineer says to me that he is going home and after he sees his daughters in odesa he will go direct to Kiev for the protests. I had to stay on that ship unitl January but when I got home and saw what was already happening my only thought was ‘did he die?’ I waited a long time, now I know he was okay. But not before things got worse, worse than I ever though things could get in modern times.
You can vote without fear of death. You can vote the way you want and know it will be counted that way. And yes, even morons can vote as we see with this result.
I mean no disrespect to you personally, what I want to make clear is this exaggeration helps no one. It makes us look like fools and also makes these people on twitter and reeddit and so on very happy. ‘Shitlib tears’.
For what its worth I would have voted to stay if I was in UK. I would not throw away something that people on the otherside think is good enough to worth dying for to be a part of.
Ugh. I stayed up to find the results; I woke up this morning to see the sterling in the tank and the crowing of racist assholes (even though I know that not everyone on the Leave side is a racist asshole).
Half of my family is English, from Somerset. The fear-mongering about the NHS losing money has been a huge influence on elderly voters… and it’s all a gigantic lie. Farange even admitted it, pretty much immediately.
I’m absolutely nauseous over it today. I’ve written before that the left has been rising and gaining strength; the right is as well, and that’s ugly. Also read about Putin saying that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are “targets of interest” for Russia” yesterday. Those are NATO states.
I’m happy at least that my country has promised to continue to support and interact with both the EU and an exited Britain. We’re way over here across the ocean and aren’t a huge economy, but I’ve always wanted Canada to gain stronger economic ties to Europe.
Sigh. Maybe if I bury myself in my work it’ll all go away for awhile.
http://i.imgur.com/djTuIN6.gif
@Alan,
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36618317
The right wing party here in Germany receives massive support (including money) from Putin.
Sometimes I’m really sorry lethal punishment even for high treason has been abolished here.
Unless of course, Russia attacks our allies, in which case I hope they will be rounded up and shot.
They always have rallies were they vow to “exterminate” the perverts, and by now I wouldn’t mind “exterminating” them (I’m trans, so this is kind of a personal threat)
@ scildfreja.
Yeah, it’s interesting to compare what Junker and the other commissioners are saying with what’s coming from the national leaders; especially Merkel. The EU staff are very keen on making an example, but the national leaders are taking a much more ‘lets not be too hasty’ approach.
I suppose that reflects their different remits and interests. The commissioners have to stick up for the EU as an institution and the leaders have to look at what’s actually in their national interests. It seems to be the technocrats saying ‘bugger off’ and the businesses saying ‘we can work something out’. Britain is the EU’s biggest customer and the second largest economy (still, amazingly). In the end self interest will govern the dealings rather than ideology. We buy a lot of German cars etc. and no one wants to see protectionism.
The UK won’t even consider delivering that notice until after the German and French elections; and I doubt if any of the major EU nations will have any problem with that.
I’ll put any money on the flowing scenario:
New German, French and UK Govts huddle together and thrash out deal (they have an interest in keeping the EU together and not encouraging further euro scepticism so that’s an incentive to address some of the issues about the way it’s run)
UK govt calls general election under provisions in Fixed Terms Act.
Tories and Labour both have manifesto commitment to not present S.50 notice. UKIP stands on platform to present it.
Tories or Labour win; notice gets thrown away.
@Alan, I hope you’re right! But to be frank, I think the damage has been done. This has bolstered the terrible elements out there, and they’re only going to keep going now that they think they have popular support. Even if Britain stays, the fascist right is still going to swell and get louder. In the case of Britain staying, it’ll be worse still, in fact, because they can – rightly – claim that the government isn’t following through with the will of the people.
It’s just messy and awful, any way I look at it. I’m glad you have a better opinion of it than I do, and I really hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see anything good coming out of this.
@ scildfreja
I’ve been analysing my reaction to suggestions that the Brexit vote must be the result of racism. I did consider if I was falling into an ‘argument ad incredulity’ situation. Both finding it difficult to, and more importantly not wanting to, believe half my fellow citizens were racist.
I do think most Brexit voters had noble motives.
So what gets to me about highlighting the racists’ victory gloating, isn’t from embarrassment or denial, it’s the fact that it endorses their view that they have majority support. If we say it’s all about racism then that gives them ammo to say “16 million people voted for us!”
I want to be “No they didn’t, you’re just parasites, leeching on the genuine concerns of decent people”
That’s why I think it’s so important for the official leave campaign to differentiate themselves from Farage’s unofficial campaign and then quarantine Farage or at least make it clear he’s toxic and no-one wants anything to do with him.
@Scildfreja & Alan,
I think I would call what Alen said, ‘wishful thinking’. It’s what I did before result. I thought the british people wouldn’t let it happen. They’re sensible, right? Never underestimate the power of morons, or the fear of U-turn.
For all I said about not fear mongering, fiddling underhand tactics to get around the referendum results will damage things much more long term and undermine the importance of all referendums in the future. When scotland voted to stay, everyone was happy. Thait is their descision. An ’emotinal’ one too, like the way they are saying about EU referendum too. You don’t like the result, I get that. Me neither but the world is bigger than us and just our place in it. You cannot hope for some special loop hole to ride in and save the day. This is done. The british people spoke. Like fucking idiots. But they spoke all the same.
It is more important that this referendum holds and that your people keep their voice.
@ valentine
That should have been Cameron’s resignation speech.
I probably am engaging in some wishful thinking, but I take comfort in that a lot of people who’ll be involved in the decision making share the same wishes, so I honestly do think that’ll be the outcome. If the S.50 option is put at a general election then that addresses the democracy concerns.
ETA: you’ll understand better than most how Putin may take advantage of a splintered EU so I think security concerns will be as much a part of the back room dealings as economic and political ones. Obviously NATO still exists but I don’t think the EU will want to lose their biggest (by a country mile) armed forces.
@Alan
I take comfort from the fact at least that bastard is resigning. October can’t come fast enough.
As for his speach, he better keep his hands off anything resembling wit and just gtfo.
Can I just point out that concern about mass immigration is not itself racist. In fact many of the people with this concern were themselves from ethnic minorities. If you get a large number of people arriving suddenly in one place, you get competition for jobs and housing, falling wages and pressure on social services. That was certainly the perspective of many who voted Leave, and the left wing did themselves a massive disservice by ignoring those concerns.
I’m generally optimistic about people too – I think that the actual racists are a vocal minority. A dangerous vocal minority, though, and that’s the problem. When you let them get the things that they want – for whatever reason – they get louder, and more dangerous. I hate to draw parallels to WWII, but to my understanding a lot of the German people gave the Nazis power not because they hated Jews, but because they wanted a strong, independent country again. Good people, wanting something good, can still accomplish things that are incredibly bad, for the best of intentions.
You’re right that they’re parasites, leeching off of the real concerns of good people. But that’s what they do, and they’re really good at it. Brexit has fatted the parasites with blood, and shown them that their strategies can work. That’s not something I want them to learn.
I have no time for anyone who dislikes technocracy. It’s just a term for “people who are good at things doing those things.” That’s a good thing, surely?
There’s a notion of admirable amateurism which perenially embeds itself in the human mind, but I hope every adult has learned to overcome it. Expertise is to be valued and to be consulted on its area, not discarded because it clashes with the knee-jerk position of those who have focused on other areas.
A long time ago, when Britain was the imperial hegemon, they behaved a lot like the EU, rigging and regulating their global markets to suit their own interests. Now they’re splitting cause they don’t like the “globalists” running the show. The irony is too funny.
Speaking of the “globalists” thing, these right wingers sure like to cherry pick their criticisms. Most of them worship the Austrian school of economics, but hate economic globalization. So they want strong national borders, and unregulated free markets? A strong nation state border generally implies strong regulation, so what exactly is gonna be regulated here? Oh yeah, the population, but not the market. So capital can operate as it pleases, but population movements will be controlled? Yeah, we’ll kick out all the people we hate and then everything will be great again, and business will invest in our nation cause the taxes will be low and the minimum wage will be abolished and the unions outlawed (goddamn socialists!) and the “globalists” will have been defeated. Take that you leftist losers! We win! Nothing vague or simplistic about this plan at all!
@Scildfreja
I can vouch for that about Nazi Germany. My grandma used to have this story of her and my grandfather when they were young in germany, and they thought Hitler would be good for the country, they thought he would help the people. Fucking disgusting really.
@ scildfreja
Ironically I think the remain campaign really played into the racists hands. They did their ‘you’re stupid/evil’ thing. But then they also made a commitment to reduce the number of migrants; and actually put figures on it. That just played into the unofficial leave camp’s hand as it lent weight to their claim that immigration was a problem.
Ironically the official leave camp made no promises about migrant numbers and said that they couldn’t even state that there would be a reduction; just that after Brexit immigration would be a matter for domestic government.
Just a reminder of some of the things people were seeing on a daily basis:
And this one, which can’t possibly be too Freudian:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/05/01/article-2618288-1D80455300000578-566_634x435.jpg
Shit, I’ve had enough today. Here’s hoping for a brighter tomorrow. Wait, that sounds familiar…
@LinuxLea Death wishes, even for awful people, are against the comments policy here. Pkesse read it.
@ EJ
Obviously that’s true in the strict dictionary definition sense, but I’m sure you’re aware of how, in political theory, it’s come to mean a particular type of authoritarian elitism.
Tell you what you might like though, Isaac Asimov wrote a series of YA books (under a pen name I can’t remember) about “Lucky Starr: Space Ranger”. The books are areally good and they’re based around a very positive portrayal of technocratic government (“The Council of Science”). Well worth checking out, especially as they’re mystery stories where the smoking gun is always some astronomy fact. Perfect for you.
(I bet you’d know where to look if someone had left something in a normal orbit)
I took this screen cap from an article from Al Jazeera:
http://i.imgur.com/B1bePkZ.png
It’s pretty horrible.
The article is here if you want to see the original comments.
This clearly doesn’t represent everyone that supports Brexit, but there definitely seems to be a lot of disgusting people that do support it. If you’re a decent human being and you believe or support something only to find that such overt racists are frothing at the mouth in support of the same thing…then maybe you should just take a moment to reevaluate your position.
@Croi
Yes, you may
Here’s the problem. Define “mass” immigration. Put a number on it. Just a ballpark figure. What I’m asking is… what’s the acceptable, not mass amount of immigration? Now ask the Great British public the same question. What do you think they’ll say? Will they have an answer?
Decrying immigration is not inherently racist, but it most assuredly comes from a racist place. ‘Build a wall, make em pay for it’ and ‘Breaking Point’ speak to something in people. Something that only feels and doesn’t really think
Women working did the same things migrant workers are being blamed for, but we’ve accepted the former. We expect the government or the markets or providence to deal with the problems inherent in a doubling of the workforce. Some people are still salty about their boss being a chick, but we’ve all decided that guy’s not to be taken seriously
Of all the causes of workforce saturation and entitlement drain, why choose immigrants? Not the market cycle, not interest rates, not shit luck. Why immigrants?
So, by all means, let’s not ignore the concerns. But let’s 1st ask the question: ‘what does mass mean?’
TLDR: No, not inherently racist. That said, you’ll forgive me giving that shit the side eye, I hope 🙂
Edit: paragraphs
My gosh, @guest, the white cliffs are very well endowed D:
I’ve never gotten English newspapers and the very clear, very loud, very clearly biased headlines. I don’t generally buy papers or read them anymore, but I still see them here in Canada. Even our yellowest of rags would quail to put those sorts of things on the cover. Even when Parliament was attacked by a gunman awhile ago (and got clonked by the Sergeant), there wasn’t any headlines about border control or secret Muslims or whatever.
@Valentine, thank you for the anecdote; it’s sort of what I figured. My heart goes out to you and your grandparents for it. Fear can make people do scary things.
You’re right, too, @Alan; Remain played it poorly. I don’t know if you can really “appease” the racist alt-right at all, nor if you should. It just gives them more fuel. I’m not surprised that the Leave camp wasn’t specific about any details, though. They push ideals and emotions, so talking about actual policies and numbers will push their voters out of that emotional headspace.
@Scildfreja I’m not the only one who sees a black dick penetrating a white ass.
@ scildfreja
The official leave campaign were in a strange place as their only mandate was to put forward the case for leaving but not any actual policies beyond that as it was then for parliament/government to decide what deal they wanted to argue for.
Constitutionally that’s a really weird position as the bulk of parliament, including the prime minister who’s the only person who can serve the notice, were firmly in the remain camp. Surreal.
And no, you never can, nor should you, ever appease racists. You can educate people as to the reality of a situation and/or address any underlying issues that may lead to racism, but you never pander to actual racism itself.