Chapter 34 — I’m fed up of this Referendum.
I came, I saw and I want to go home.
I literally had a whole Chapter typed out when I stepped off the train in Manchester back from Barrow. But then on the bus journey home I started thinking about what I’d written and realised I didn’t like it. It wasn’t angry enough. So, commence angry Chapter.
This EU Referendum campaign has been an absolute catastrophe.
If anyone of you remember, I had a plan a few weeks back to put together an impartial guide to the EU Referendum. My aim was to attempt to actually educate people on which decision would be best for the UK, because the Remain and Leave Campaigns have done a horrendous job of that.
I tried to put together that guide, I really did. I made tables and lists and did loads of reading and watching, all to try and educate each and every one of you on the best option for the UK.
In all honesty though, after a while I saw no point in releasing that guide. So I scrapped it. All of it.
Why? Because every valid argument for leaving the EU can be cancelled out by an equally valid argument for remaining in the EU. A full set of these arguments would just leave you perched firmly on the fence and be a waste of everyone’s time.
No one knows what will happen if we leave the EU and no one knows what will happen if we remain in the EU. That’s a fact. Everyone can make statements as if they know what they’re talking about, but every statement is a prediction.
The whole thing is a completely pointless argument, and everyone in a position to educate knows this.
Which is why, I suspect, the majority of the media has turned this in to a battle of personalities.
If you vote to leave, you’re supporting Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.
If you vote to remain, you’re supporting David Cameron and George Osbourne.
This just makes me not want to vote at all. And I don’t think I’m the only one who feels that way.
If I vote for Johnson and Gove I’m supporting a Leave Campaign which has snowballed in to a racist train-wreck but is still somehow gaining momentum. If I vote for the Remain Campaign I’m supporting Cameron and Osbourne, who are so out of touch with British character that I could hit them across the face with a cup of tea and plate of crumpets and they’d still blame Labour for the mess on the floor.
IT’S ALL POINTLESS. THIS WHOLE CAMPAIGN IS POINTLESS.
If we leave, we’d probably be fine. If we stayed, we’d probably be fine.
Problem is, neither Campaign has wanted to mention this because it wouldn’t help them win. Which is fair enough I guess, but this is why politics can be utter bollocks. Each side is in it to win it, which means doing everything they can to scare the British public in to voting for their Campaign.
For the Leave Campaign, it’s worked, and that’s absolutely infuriating.
Now, I don’t mean to compare us to the Americans, but I’m going to compare us to the Americans.
As a population, we’ve let the Leave Campaign influence our opinion through fear-mongering. Donald Trump has done the exact same thing in the USA and I bet half of you are shaking your heads and tutting at those “stupid Americans.”
Well, I’ve got some bad news for you: we’re dumb too. The UK, during this referendum campaign, has shown just how dumb it actually is.
There has been no effort from most of the country to actually educate themselves on what’s best for the UK, because we expect to be told all of the facts on a big, non-biased piece of paper delivered to us through mail, email or Facebook message.
Unfortunately, politics doesn’t work like that. Instead, we get two sides of discussion, both biased and both very, very inept at what they’re trying to convince you to do.
That’s how politics works people.
And the media hasn’t helped one iota. On top of turning this in to a battle of personalities, it’s become incredibly more apparent over these past few months that every popular newspaper is either ridiculously biased, or ridiculously racist.
I mean, I was personally already of the opinion that the UK’s newspapers added less value to the country than Katie Price’s pinkie, but it’s always nice to be reminded that your opinion is a solid one. I mean, just look at this Daily Mail front page on Thursday. And you know what? That group you can see in the lorry were from Iraq and Kuwait, not Europe. Big difference. Thanks for adding even more fuel to the immigration fire, Daily Mail.
By the way, quick aside, if you read the Daily Mail and base your opinions on the words it publishes, you’re everything which is wrong with this country.
Back to the point at hand.
I wish the people in power had done a better job of educating us these past number of months, I genuinely do. Unfortunately, they haven’t, and their complete lack of ability to do so may cause the UK and its people a lot of unnecessary stress for a long time, whichever way we vote.
I think I’m going to vote to remain, but there is still a part of me which is pushing towards voting to leave. If you want me to create an image for you of exactly where I’m situated on the imaginary fence, I’ve leaned too far to the Remain side and now I’m dangling by my pants’ leg, unsure whether or not to just remove them and fall ungraciously on Remain soil.
Unfortunately, I only have about 36 hours to make a proper decision. I’m heading to Amsterdam on Monday and I’ll need to sort out my postal vote before I jet off so who knows, I might just continue to dangle and abstain from a referendum which has transcended in to some sort of Shakespearean tragic comedy.
Abstaining probably isn’t a good choice, though. I’d end up complaining about something in the future that occurred as the result of us staying in/leaving the EU and I’d have no leg to stand on.
Gotta vote when you get the chance y’all.
Just stop reading the fucking Daily Mail*. Please.
Everything Else…
*And The Sun, and The Daily Star, and The Express, and The Daily Mirror and basically anything which isn’t The Telegraph or The Guardian or some form of respected publication. But who am I kidding, quality journalism is dead.
Oh, and for this Chapter I made the gif of the day myself. It’s a real doozy.
Thanks for taking the time to read my writings!
If you have a Medium account and like my stuff, please be kind enough to give my post some love by clicking the little green heart. Even give me a follow if you’re that big of a fan.
Also, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram by clicking whichever word takes your fancy. If you hate clicking links, my username on both is EllMorrow.
