Brexit at Breakfast

So this morning with my first cup of coffee, I started reading through a bunch of social media postings of some of the hate filled stories in the UK, post “Brexit”, and couldn’t finish. So much strident “justified” racism. We have only gotten a taste of this new “justified hate” in America with people feeling justified confronting people that “didn’t look right” going into a public bathroom, not to mention of course the “everyday hate” we have become numb to. But it feels closer looking at what is going on across the pond.

I am part of the great American Mixing Pot with my origins tracing back to multiple mostly european countries. I still have fond memories of my grandmother cooking Polish stuffed cabbage and mixed feeling that my grandfather’s name was changed from Karl to Carl to better fit in when he came to America. Today I’m pretty certain that my father would be spit on if he walked down the streets of London today because he “didn’t look right”. Why not when adults think they are justified screaming at little children “Go home!” when they were born there.

I’m lucky. I was born in America long enough ago that no one would call me an “Anchor Baby” and when you are born white with blond hair and blue eyes you get a free pass here. While I am a “Liberal Elitist Yankee” to the south and midwest of America, put on a little southern drawl and keep my progressive mouth shut and I pass. Don’t like America, I’m Canadian. I’ve done it, it’s easy for me, just like changing a name from Karl to Carl.

When I tell people why Virtual Reality is going to succeed the reason they don’t like to hear is that many people’s actual realities are terrible and they will want to escape. And don’t get me wrong the racism, sexism, homophobia and all the rest of the hate are in Virtual Reality too. However it’s easier to “pass” if you want to, and ban, block and mute it away if you need to. It’s a safe place when the real place you are stuck in suddenly isn’t.

I’m not going to get into the issues of globalization or how “Brexit” will sort itself out, it’s above my pay grade. However if you think that “foreign” family down the road is more to blame for your problems than a multi-Billionaire that is worth more than your entire neighborhood and everyone you have ever met, you many want to think a little harder.