I want to move to Iceland. Maybe New Zealand if I can’t do that.
4 Likes
What if Hillary wins? Some people may want to go to the UK.
3 Likes
If the whole point of brexit was to limit immigration I’d find it odd if they let in a bunch of Americans fleeing Trump anyway. But it’d be terrible choice given they’ve just leap with glee into their own president Trump moment.
1 Like
And if a huge influx of Australian aboriginals come into the UK, then what?
2 Likes
Then I will want to move to Iceland. Maybe New Zealand if I can’t do that.
A few months ago I would have asked if there was another country that trump supporters wanted to move to, but it’s too late for that.
Wouldn’t they want to move to Russia though. They seem to really like Putin.
6 Likes
unlikely. both freedom of speech and gun possession are regulated in UK (and this will not change drastically outside of the EU).
3 Likes
I don’t know how many of them actually know about Russia in any way. The vast majority I run into still think it’s a communist nation. They seem wholly unaware that the Soviet Union has collapsed, think the Berlin wall coming down was about something else. And think, really, that the cold war is still going exactly as it was in the 80s.
Those that are marginally better informed basically think all Russians live like Moscow nouveau riche, that Putin’s polls and electoral wins are legit, and so on.
If you point out that the average Russian is either desperately broke or desperately broke and unemployed. And that talking like we are right now would get a Russian dead or in prison. They just revert to blaming all the bad on non-existant communism and Putin’s numbers.
For a group so focused on voter fraud here they’re curiously unwilling to accept that it could happen in Russia.
4 Likes
So presumably we can expect this policy to be extended to:
- Antigua and Barbuda
- The Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Grenada
- Jamaica
- Papua New Guinea
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Solomon Islands
- Tuvalu
as we likewise share a monarch with them?
13 Likes
I guess it depends which issue is most important to them. Most likely less Mexicans in the UK.
Soooo, Johnson is proposing returning to the system that was in effect up to the 1980s or so? I’d be fine with that: since I’m Canadian, I’d be allowed in the UK and I’d be allowed to work sans visa. Isn’t that a good thing, even for Cory?
In any case, I came here to try to counter the elites’ constant, tiring premise that because Boris Johnson is a racist, it must follow that all Brexiters are racists. I begged to differ in comments here just after the vote, and I beg to differ now.
To quote a woman in Collyhurst interviewed by The Guardian’s John Harris: “If you’ve got no money, you vote out.” But then again, because these folk have no money, they’re easy, handy targets, and, bonus they can’t shoot back because they have no power.
In order to save myself a lot of time, I’ll post the last two paragraphs from Glenn Greenwald’s Brexit Is Only the Latest Proof of the Insularity and Failure of Western Establishment Institutions and I’m in complete agreement with Mr. Greenwald.
Brexit — despite all the harm it is likely to cause and all the malicious politicians it will empower — could have been a positive development. But that would require that elites (and their media outlets) react to the shock of this repudiation by spending some time reflecting on their own flaws, analyzing what they have done to contribute to such mass outrage and deprivation, in order to engage in course correction. Exactly the same potential opportunity was created by the Iraq debacle, the 2008 financial crisis, the rise of Trumpism and other anti-establishment movements: This is all compelling evidence that things have gone very wrong with those who wield the greatest power, that self-critique in elite circles is more vital than anything.
But, as usual, that’s exactly what they most refuse to do. Instead of acknowledging and addressing the fundamental flaws within themselves, they are devoting their energies to demonizing the victims of their corruption, all in order to delegitimize those grievances and thus relieve themselves of responsibility to meaningfully address them. That reaction only serves to bolster, if not vindicate, the animating perceptions that these elite institutions are hopelessly self-interested, toxic, and destructive and thus cannot be reformed but rather must be destroyed. That, in turn, only ensures there will be many more Brexits, and Trumps, in our collective future. [Emphasis mine.]
2 Likes
Well, I’d rather have the freedom to live and work in 28 countries in Europe than Canada, Australia and NZ, but that would be okay too. Except, of course, this is just what Boris Johnson wants. No suggestion that Canada, Australia and New Zealand want more Brits, and they can’t even negotiate it until after leaving the EU. The Brexiters have thrown away the first part, with no guarantee of the second (and I suspect a lot of them don’t want that either, they want no immigration).
(I acknowledge that my interest in EU membership and or this hypothetical Commonwealth one is the freedom (for me and my family) to not have to live in the UK, rather than concern over immigration into the UK…)
I see that the Fabian society of the Labour Party today is pushing for a hard Brexit clampdown on immigration, to try to claw back some votes. Guess that’ll work as well as this did:
1 Like
absolutely. it is just easier for people to cry racism, and ignore the fact that none of the British MPs would be unaware that Australia, Canada and NZ have racially diverse populations. someone would have to be willfully stupid to be unaware of it, and in fact the only willful ignorance displayed here is in the people screaming, knee jerk, “It is racism ! ! !”.
but it isn’t being done for the “race” we supposedly (in the minds only of the ignorant carpers ) share, it is being done for the “culture” we actually have had , and continue to share.
in fact the truth is, considering the past of our four countries, we have stood together in every endeavour the British Peoples have experienced, we have grown together past a dodgy joint history of colonialism and racism, and we are in actual fact, four of the best nations in the world when it comes to civilised behaviour, for all it suits the typical bleaters to mouth off about faults.
best nations in the world when it comes to civilised behaviour
Something like 80% of all rapes committed against aboriginal women are done by white men in Canada.
We haven’t grown past fuck all so shush your jibber jabber.
12 Likes
same as when they said that about Gore?
This year’s contest between giant douche and shit sandwich is unlike any other!
1 Like
citation?
4 Likes
An interesting point. And given the noise about independence in Scotland, and likelihood that North Ireland will at least try to follow suit there’s a decent chance that UK citizens might not even have free run of the British Isles sometime soon.
1 Like
Culturally, Australia, New Zealand and the UK have a great deal in common (maybe even Canada, don’t know never been there). There is nothing wrong with bolstering your culture by contact with like countries - I doesn’t necessarily make you a racist. Particularly if (as in the UK and even Australia) a good deal of the population seem to think they are losing their cultural identity.
There also doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of evidence that a multi-racial society works well (i.e. peaceful, sustainable, fair and equitable) - certainly not the US. In some ways it’s a giant post war experiment, that’s been sustained by more or less continuous economic growth. In the long run, it may or may not work out. (and speculating about it doesn’t make you a racist either).
1 Like
There are 53 nations in the commonwealth, representing 2.1 Billion people. Most of the 2.1 Billion people live in very poor countries. If we had an open door policy to the entire commonwealth, it would be quite ludicrous. We certainly could not cope with the resulting level of migration. Deciding against that kind of openness is in no way racist. With regard to Canada, Australia and New Zealand, these are countries we have very strong cultural and political ties with (5 eyes etc, not that I approve), so it makes sense to be more open to them. Perhaps far more important than cultural ties though are two critical factors.
- These countries have low populations.
- These countries are economically at the same level.
The combined result is that there would be no mass migration between any of these countries since there is no economic force to drive it. Mass economic migration is usually an indicator that the country of origin has serious economic problems; problems which are only exacerbated by the resulting brain-drain. It could be argued that it is not a good policy to form close ties with such basket-case economies in the first place. Perhaps this is all to complex though, in which case you can just stick to the reductive “RACISTS!” mantra.
1 Like
Johnson is the Foreign Secretary. ‘Brexit Minister’ would most accurately apply to David Davis
You can’t expect them to fact-check. This is Boing Boing for God’s sake. Next you will be expecting them to spell-check.
