For democracy to function properly people need to be able to speak and debate, but it's impossible when the label of racist is thrown around so liberally. I remember being at a party/barbecue type thing in the run-up to the EU referendum in 2016. The topic came up and I, being too honest to pretend to support remain, stated that I was voting leave. A friend in my social circle from the Czech Republic was there. A really lovely guy. I remember feeling truly awful making the case against the EU in front of him. He was too polite to even join in the argument. I remember wanting him to join in so I could explain my reasoning to him, but instead I had to just go on the defensive against mainstream media parroting remainers. Though, of course, no one had coined the term remainer back then.
It was similar on Facebook. Posting stuff on there knowing full well that Polish friends would be reading. You knew it looked as though you didn't want them in your country. Though that's not what you meant at all. It was awkward. Even if you stated unequivocally that's not what you meant, you still knew it was going to feel like that from their point of view. I can totally understand why many leavers kept their faith hidden in the run-up to the referendum.
That's partly why the condescension and accusations of racism from the "liberal" media are so stinging. Not only did most people know what they were voting for, but many had difficult conversations like that in the run-up to the referendum. In spite of the social repercussions, because they believed it was the right thing to do. Offending people, sometimes friends, was bad, but the madness of the EU project was deemed worse.
Now, in the three years since the referendum, we've had to deal with the same thing only in cinema-scope. When we all just wanted to get on with our lives.
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