Brexit – Myths, Lies & Facts
At the time of the referendum I was swinging backwards and forwards between leave and remain. In the end I voted remain. Why? Because, at that time, I simply did not have enough information to make an informed and educated decision, and therefore felt I should vote to remain as we were, at least for the time being.
Since then I have been looking into the EU and brexit. Have I changed my mind on how I voted? No. In fact I believe more strongly than before that the UK should remain in the EU. Is the EU perfect? Of course not, far from it, but I feel that the good points far out way the bad points.
I would think that, by now, everybody knows that the ‘big red bus’ was a lie, but those politicians now admit that it was probably that part of the campaign that won them the vote. I imagine that the majority also understand that there were many other lies and misinformation out there, but the problem is finding out the facts, as well as knowing who to believe (if anybody!). Politicians and the media have been lying to us for years, and it can be hard to sort the wheat from the chaff, but it’s not impossible. The trouble is that far too many people simply can’t be bothered.
In my research, as well as seeing out facts, I have tried to look at both sides of the argument, and joined many brexit groups on Facebook, some with a majority for leaving and some with a majority of remaining. I have to say that I get more factual information and resources from those who voted remain, and don’t really get anything from leavers, or Brexiteers as they are so called. Whenever I ask remainers a question they give me resources, but leavers just tend to shout, “we want our country back”, or similar, and then refuse to discuss what that actually means, nor refer me to their (or indeed any) sources.
Leavers have accused of not wanting to listen to both sides and I’m told not to believe everything I read, which I find very amusing, and sad, as I am the one researching the facts as well as reaching out, trying to ask and listen, while they refuse to either talk or listen. If they feel they made an informed decision then that’s great (it’s more than I did!)! But why not share that information with others?
Recently though, a friend did point me to a wikipedia article that gives an overview of the believed factors that contributed to the result. That has given me a bit of a start for my research anyway 🙂
The main reasons for those voting for leave appear to be (1) Sovereignty and (2) Immigration, which were the main issues campaigned by the ‘Leave’ campaign.
Rather than make this a VERY long post, I will write about each subject in separate articles.