On Thursday June 23, the Leave side for Brexit prevailed: 52 per cent to 48 per cent. It seemed for a time as though the world had been turned upside down. Iâve danced about the edge of many a conversation claiming how itâs a victory for racism, Britain made the wrong choice, and voters were so horribly out-of-the-loop and misinformed. My own contributions have been virtually nonexistent.
Fact of the matter is that I wasnât very aware of the exact conditions of Brexit. I could no more list a lengthy column of âprosâ than I could âconsâ for Britain skipping ship. And for that reason, I was more than okay with my silence. Speaking ignorantly on a subject is one of the most dangerous things we can do, yet unfortunately seems to be a calling card of millennials. Millennials want to be a part of the discussion. We want to be involved. We want emotion. How loud has been the cry for the referendumâs result to be axed? But how many, honestly and truly, can speak to the impactâboth positive and negativeâof Brexit? How many can actually converse on the topic with more than the regurgitated backwash theyâve heard from a friend whoâs supposedly in the know?
Control of its [Britainâs] own borders (a point often too quickly buried under racist accusations to be debated) is just one detail affected by Brexit. In the National Post Rex Murphy touched on some of the issues with significantly less fanfare, âDo any of the Remain campaigners acknowledge the great file of complaints that has grown over the last decade about the EUâs style of governance, its increasing distance from any superintending authority other than its own, its absolute divorce from democratic responsibility and the furiously paternalistic and near-imperial manner in which it treats the representatives and citizens of its member states?â
Staunch members of the Remain camp are quick to point out that the EU accounts for 44 per cent of Britainâs exports; the fact that Britainâs EU exports have actually fallen 10 per cent since 2000 is breezed by. Further still, the EUâs hold on global GDP has dropped from 30 per cent in 1993 to 24 per cent in 2013âa figure that illustrates how the rest of the world is growing faster than the EU. In addition, EU trade with Britain isnât just going to go away. Germany, to use a top example, only exports to two other countries in the world more than to Britain. EU countries need Britain as much, if not more, than Britain needs them.
My conservative upbringings have left me with a tendency to think critically and to prefer the story of numbers, because while you can lie with statistics, not having the figures there in the first place renders it awfully difficult to produce hard evidence. But in this case, Iâm at a loss. Numbers would suggest Brexit is a good idea and the politicians who planned for the scenario are on to something; however, the aftermath has proved to be anything but clear. David Cameron resigned, expected. Boris Johnson withdrew from the Conservative leadership race after Michael Gove stepped in (and all but openly blackmailed Johnson)? Politics. Nigel Farage took his leave from UKIP after his âpolitical ambition has been achievedâ? Hasnât it just started? And now Theresa May, a Remain supporter, appears to have the inside edge. Even for politics, these waters are disturbingly murky.
Iâm definitely a broken record by this point, but make sure you do your own research before sounding off on current events. If we, the mis-/under- informed, are complaining about misinformed voters, arenât we just contributing to the problem?
Danke danke,
Eric Wilkins
