3 ms·
It was a dumb referendum because it pitted a specific, known option (remain in the EU) against a complete unknown. The unknown option won by cobbling together a
by zb 10y ago
It was a dumb referendum because it pitted a specific, known option (remain in the EU) against a complete unknown. The unknown option won by cobbling together a coalition of several different, mutually exclusive agendas (some of which were/are based on fantasies, like the EU giving the UK free access to the common market while choosing which regulations it would follow), thus guaranteeing that there's probably no conceivable exit deal that more than 20% of the country (certainly nowhere near 52%) would be happy with, and even more than 80% will be unhappy with the one that is eventually negotiated.
You don't have to be pro-EU to see this as a bad way to run a country (although it helps).
- mike_hearn 10y agoThe "complete unknown" is not actually unknown. Just look at any country that is not in the EU. The exact details of a relationship post-Brexit are impossible to know because the EU refuses to even contemplate such a possibility, let alone discuss it. That's a problem of their own creation however, and that attitude is exactly what has stoked the fires of euroscepticism across the continent. You can sometimes put off reality by denying it, but not forever.
- matroosberg 10y ago> The "complete unknown" is not actually unknown. [...] The exact details of a relationship post-Brexit are impossible to know. I'm confused. Do you agree or disagree with zb that the referendum pitted a well known against a complete unknown?
- mike_hearn 10y agoNot knowing every detail does not make something a "complete unknown".