If I hear it is the 'will of the people' one more time I am going to frigging scream...

[Soph0571]

All over the radio airwaves this weekend, idiots have been phoning into programmes with one chant. ‘It is the will of the people’ they cry as they support the burning down of democracy. ‘We voted to Brexit and the nasty people trying to stop us are mean’. To get their own way on Brexit it is very clear that these Brexiteers will literally destroy forever the current form of the oldest modern democracy on planet. They are trying to lock up the Mother of all Parliaments and throw away the key into a far right jungle of horror.

BUT this thing about the will of the people is complete bollocks.

Since when has a majority on important issues of national importance been right? I mean it happens occasionally – Ireland seems pretty good at this whole referendum thing – but in general history tells us that change generally happens in spite of the people not because of the will of the people.

Think about it:

If the Civil Rights Act had been put to referendum? Going to guess Jim Crow would still be alive and well.
If votes for women had been out to referendum? Going to guess that if we ladies were lucky, maybe those of us over 30 would now have the right to vote, 100 years later.
If gay marriage had been out to referendum? I think it would be tight, US no, UK maybe just yes…

You get my point, right? We vote in elections so that we have representatives to make decisions on our behalf. All of this bollocks about this one vote 3 years ago being the overriding ‘will of the people’. Just fucking ridiculous.
Hunker down chaps. The ‘will of the people’ is about to demonstrate how fucking stupid people can actually be…

‘Will of the People’??? More Like ‘Will of the Sheeple’.

[Wounded Bear]

1. Unless and until 100% of people vote, there is no real majority...

Sadly, most of our "democratic" decisions are decided by smaller and smaller slices of the electorate.

Historically, most "populist" movements involve far less than 50% of the populace.

Hell, our own Revolution was pulled off by about 30-35% of the actual citizenry.

[Firestorm49]

2. I've been trying to keep up with your situation.

What’s happening to you is obviously what’s happening here, in Italy, Brazil, Austria, and all around the world. It’s amazing how quickly the sour influence of one deranged leader, Donald Trump, can open up the cesspool of insanity we now witness world wide.

I fear the result of Brexit, with or without an exit agreement. I fear that Brexit will have significant negative world wide financial implications, as well as much hardship for those in Great Britain.

The momentum to create a world wide fascism won’t be stopped on a dime. It will take years, if we are so lucky. Best of luck to you, and to us for having elected a corrupt, deranged, and very compromised fanatic to the White House. Boris is just a Trump wanna-be.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. It's the will of the people who rigged the vote.

[Soph0571]

4. Heh

And the Russians

[Haggis for Breakfast]

8. YES !!!

My Scottish and Welsh families have been talking about this since before the vote was held. They all spoke of the manipulation of news and stories, the constant bombardment of slanted articles that did not seem to be "British" in nature. The daily flow of over-the-top social media posts was the last straw for them. There is a certain ebb and flow to posts and texts, FB back and forth that is normal, both in tone and volume and amount. Prior to there even being talk of an exit from the EU, there was a normal order to such things. Once the vote was proposed and up until the vote, the media (of all sorts) just exploded into a sheer wall of deafening cacophony of pro-exit opinion. It didn't make sense. And it didn't add up. It was as if every man, woman, child, dog and sheep in Britain had taken to the airwaves all day to champion separation.

After the vote, once people started digging into it, it became so clear. We all know that Putin's ultimate goal is the destabilization of every western democracy. He wants all of Europe weak and disorganized, driving wedges between people and fomenting rebellion between former allies, even within countries.

If the Russian interference in the American election of 2016 taught us anything, it should be that he has built a vast network of cyber surveillance to monitor news and developments, ready to intercept and disrupt with campaigns of disinformation and propaganda.

We need to be more vigilant than ever before about what we read and how we interpret news.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Magna Carta going out the window

They're selling the Liberal Ideal in the Fascist State

You have the right to movies and popcorn. Pay up.

[Jedi Guy]

6. If the Remain side had won and the Brexiteers were bellyaching about it, wouldn't you say the same?

If Remain had triumphed and the Brexit Brigade were moaning about it, would you not respond that it was the "will of the people" to remain in the EU?

And if, despite the fact that it was a non-binding referendum, Parliament damned the torpedoes and went full speed ahead for Brexit because they wanted to, would you not be saying that they were wrong, that it was the "will of the people" to remain in the EU?

I'm shamelessly playing devil's advocate here, because when a vote goes the way we want, it was the "will of the people." When it doesn't, well... yeah. I think Brexit is a catastrophe and its consequences will be felt for decades.

[Soph0571]

9. Nope

Cause the Brexiteers want to bring about economic Armageddon with a No deal cause the will of the people. It is a whole new world of unnecessary pain

[Jedi Guy]

10. That's not what I meant.

Quite apart from the details of the vote itself, when the side we favor is victorious, it's the will of the people. When the other side wins, it's not.

I see the same thinking with regard to criminal justice. When the verdict is the one we wanted, all is right with the world. When it's not, it's a travesty, a miscarriage of justice, etc.

[Perseus]

7. That one is hand in hand with "What the American people want"

Every time I hear that I scream.