People I rather like have taken to social media to characterise me a racist, xenophobic, selfish, uneducated, old cretin. I may be a tad touchy but I feel slightly affronted by this description - a description which apparently applies unqualified to anybody one suspects of having voted Leave in last week's referendum.
Libby Purves did a fine job of castigating the hysterical left in her Times column yesterday. I'd give you the link but you can only view it if you subscribe to the Murdoch empire so I won't bother. I won't attempt to do again what she has already done so adroitly but I will just defend myself.
Racist? Please don't bandy this thing around. It is wounding and scurrilous. Some of my best friends etc. Same goes for xenophobic. A belief in the nation state does not exclude a nuanced internationalism. A European alliance will remain a sine qua non of peace but it does not have to be an undemocratic bloated technocracy.
Selfish? No, the selfish thing for lucky old me would be to deny my romantic attachment to democracy and not rock the economc boat. My theoretical net worth (such as it is) plummeted on Friday. The material franchise is not mine to give away.
Uneducated? Well, immodestly, two degrees and a professional qualification might suggest otherwise. I may of course be wrong but I do at least have the intellectual equipment and humilty to accept that others may not always agree with me. Indeed most of the time all the evidence is that most people don't share my views. I live with it, I don't wail and bleat and hurl unmediated abuse.
Old? Well yes, you've got me there. Cretin? Really not for me to judge but here's the thing: I got a vote and I used in the way that I thought best suited the perpetuating of representative democracy in a viable nation state. I judge that to be in the long term interests of generations to come and most particularly my own children. I did not do so lightly. I was not persuaded by the infantile antics of the main players in either campaign.
Stop insulting me please. You demean yourselves. I'm sorry we do not agree. These things happen - in a democracy.
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Well said YOUNG DAVY BOY! You tell em, whoever "they" may be. The small minded ignorant undemocratic twats! ( thought that was a bit stronger than cretin and therefore carry more weight!).
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