Jo Cox
Only one week ago my husband noticed that he was seeing a lot of Leave-supporters campaigning in the streets, but none of the Remain-side. "Why is this?", he asked. I told him that Yorkshire is very strongly on the side of Leave, according to the polls, and he asked back "Are you saying no one supports the Remain-side here? That can't be true." I answered that No, I believe there are plenty of Yorkers who will vote Remain, even if they're in the minority, but the Leave side is so aggressive and intolerant that probably they are afraid to campaign here.
I can't believe that I posted my magic-ball predictions on the outcome of the EU referendum only one day before the death of Jo Cox and I very much wished my answer to my husband's questions had not been proven right in such a terminal way.
Today I'm a lot more pessimistic than I was two days ago, and I think that not fear but hatred will win the referendum. Even if it were true that it is better for anyone involved that the UK leaves the EU, I'm sure it is not for this reason. Fear was a bad enough reason to vote for Remain, Hatred is a heinous one to vote for Leave.
I worry that the long lasting consequences of this ugly debate will not be the UK leaving the EU, but the long-lasting hatred and xenophobia the Leave-side campaign has fuelled. I haven't forgotten the benefit-tourism campaign used by this government as an excuse to considerably decrease the benefit funding for British citizens. I haven't forgotten the nasty experience I suffered at the height of it, when every asshole (pardon my French, but it's totally justified here) saw foreign people living in the UK as thieves and swindlers. I wish those bastards in Westminster (you must really pardon my French, but I still think it's totally justified here) would take into account that feeding hatred and xenophobia has a real impact on people's lives, and more dramatically on their deaths.
I can't believe that I posted my magic-ball predictions on the outcome of the EU referendum only one day before the death of Jo Cox and I very much wished my answer to my husband's questions had not been proven right in such a terminal way.
Today I'm a lot more pessimistic than I was two days ago, and I think that not fear but hatred will win the referendum. Even if it were true that it is better for anyone involved that the UK leaves the EU, I'm sure it is not for this reason. Fear was a bad enough reason to vote for Remain, Hatred is a heinous one to vote for Leave.
I worry that the long lasting consequences of this ugly debate will not be the UK leaving the EU, but the long-lasting hatred and xenophobia the Leave-side campaign has fuelled. I haven't forgotten the benefit-tourism campaign used by this government as an excuse to considerably decrease the benefit funding for British citizens. I haven't forgotten the nasty experience I suffered at the height of it, when every asshole (pardon my French, but it's totally justified here) saw foreign people living in the UK as thieves and swindlers. I wish those bastards in Westminster (you must really pardon my French, but I still think it's totally justified here) would take into account that feeding hatred and xenophobia has a real impact on people's lives, and more dramatically on their deaths.
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