Along with “when is ODHSNM
coming back?” and “what are you doing behind those bushes?”, the question I
have been asked most in recent months is “how should I vote in the EU
referendum?”
Long-time readers will recall that this blog has been on the
wrong side of every major political controversy of recent years – from proportional
representation, through Scottish
independence, to Albania’s
2011 Eurovision entry.
As such, the hordes of journalists, pundits and other halfwit
gobshites that make up “the media” have been clamouring (so far fruitlessly) to
elicit the views of Roger of Sicily – knowing, of course, that whatever he says
will be precisely that thing which fails to come to pass. Like the political
inverse of Paul
the psychic octopus.
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| My molluscular counterpart |
Well, before I give you your instructions, let me talk about
the two campaigns for a moment. Last year, I said that the 2015
general election campaign was depressing, but never have I seen a more
dismal spectacle than both sides of this EU referendum debate.
Remain appears not to have a positive case to put for EU
membership, or if they do they are afraid to make it, and so fall back on
increasingly laughable and outlandish claims about how terrible the
consequences of not voting for them will be.
Leave, in turn, seems to have gone beyond making any sort of
argument for its point of view and just wants to stamp its feet and shout about
how everything is unfair – like a surly five-year-old up long past his bedtime.
Both campaigns – like the Donald Trump phenomenon in the USA
– show how we are now in a post-factual political culture. I’m not claiming
that coinage – I got it from this
article, but it’s probably been around for ages. As Ronald Reagan said (or
maybe he didn’t) “facts
are stupid things”.
To the partisans of both sides, facts are only facts to the
extent that they support their particular point of view. Claims of fact that
contradict it are not simply mistaken – they are wilful, deliberate lies put
forth by the selfish (if not outright evil) opposition to manipulate you, you
poor innocent dupe.
There are good arguments to be made for staying in the EU.
And there are good arguments to be made for leaving the EU. Some of those
arguments - on both sides – are based on true facts about the world. Some of
them are based on value-judgments, which I don’t believe can ever be true or
false. I’m kinda old fashioned in believing that the world we live in is a mixture
of facts and values, that aren’t always compatible with one another.
There are good arguments on both sides of his referendum
debate, but no one appears to be making them. We seem to have reached a point
where every genuine point of disagreement devolves into “culture war”, which is
an infantile kind of politics. It comes from the same place as the ever-growing
enthusiasm for conspiracy theories – and that place is simply intellectual
laziness.
It’s laziness that’s the problem with “the public” – it’s
not stupidity.
Because it’s hard to deal with a situation where both sides
can be partly right and partly wrong, and you have to choose between options
that aren’t simply black and white, isn’t it? And it’s even harder to take
responsibility for your choice!
It’s a lot easier to say that you are right because your
heart is in the right place; that facts that don’t fit are lies; and that
people who disagree with you are not just wrong but also bad.
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| Not the answer |
Just like it’s a lot easier to say that everything is
controlled by corporations or the Jews or space lizards than it is to admit
that the world is complicated and maybe – just maybe – you don’t actually
understand all of it.
Just like it’s so much easier to say “they’re all the same”
than it is to listen to what the differences are and take the responsibility of
judging and justifying your judgement.
What depresses me the most is how this line of argument (if
you can call it that) has been taken up by ordinary people. My Facebook news
feed (for example) is full of people I otherwise like and respect, on both sides, making the
most ridiculous claims – not about the merits of their own opinions, but of the
malign intentions of anyone who holds the opposing view. Again and again, I see
the opinion-cart put in front of the fact-horse, without regard to the stable
door of complex, imperfect reality.
I’m as bad as any of you. I’m sitting here behind my ironic
facade – does he really mean it? Or is he joking? Who will be the first to pose the immortal question “U
OK hun?”
No, I’m not going to tell you how to vote. I don’t know how
I’m going to vote, and when I do, I will take responsibility for it. Just vote however you’re
going to vote for the right reasons. Don’t vote against anyone. Vote for
something.
