British Independence From Fact

I've delayed writing about this issue for the same reason I never wrote anything concerning the EU Referendum itself: where do you start?

I could've written some think-piece about how the 'Remain' campaign was only making the disenfranchised even more cynical. David Cameron won both the Scottish Independence Referendum and the Electoral Reform Referendum by churning out doomsday scenarios to frighten voters off from breaking the status quo. It's only natural that the same tactic was adopted for the third UK referendum held under Cameron's government. The think-piece would have reflected how both 'Leave' and 'Remain' ultimately represents the worst of politics, and if it weren't for the fact that leaving the EU would completely destabilise Europe at a time when tensions are already far too high, I would just draw a penis on my ballot paper.

Ultimately, I would have concluded that if we voted to remain in the EU then the whole thing would have been a complete waste of four months - where parliament more or less did absolutely nothing whilst it tore itself apart over an obscure issue. Electoral reform would've completely changed how politics worked. The Labour and Conservative party wouldn't be able to relying on their status as major parties. They would have to ensure that every single member of the populace was treated with equal importance, because electoral reform would've made every single persons voice matter.

Leaving the EU, meanwhile, wouldn't fix anything. We'd still have our corrupt, broken democracy. We'd still have racism, we'd still have the largest gap between the rich and poor in the world, we'd still be meddling in the Middle East, we'd still be allied with the vilest rulers on this planet, we'd still be the most illiterate country in Europe, our public services will still be privatised to no positive effect - none of this would change. Leaving the EU would just leave us floating alone in an island with all these problems.

I didn't write this because you've seen this view all over. I would've had nothing to contribute to this debate, and would've only added my voice into a confused mess. So I stayed silent, partly out of decency, and partly out of disgust.

This was a mistake, given the result.

The previous referendums were won by the public bowing to fear. This time there was a rationality behind it. The EU was the status quo that this country has been built around. Without it, we would be nothing - and we are currently nothing. Hundreds of years ago, we created a British Empire because we were nothing. In the wake of the renaissance, the world was opening up to us. We'd almost mapped out all four corners of the globe, and now we'd done this we realised just how small we were. So we seized countries for our own.

The wars came and wiped our empire away. Left poor and behind the rest of the world, we joined the European Union. We sold our assets not just to Europe but all over the world, as everyone rapidly recovered from the fallout of World War 2. America has shipped supplies to us during the war, and after the war this continued; but instead of ammunition it was merely resources. Our biggest and only potent export is our financial sector; which itself is at the mercy of outside sources. In some ways its satisfying to watch us go from us invading other countries to us being under their control. We still rely on the wealth of others to fuel us; only now we must beg rather than steal.

But nationalism remains. In our continued delusion that Britannia rules the waves, we've created a post-fact world. The public looked at all rationality, at all the facts; and rejected it. Those who voted 'Leave' live in their own reality where depraved foreign invaders seek to undermine our sacred realm. They spout the same meaningless buzz-phrase: "TAKE BACK CONTROL" even though we already have control, and it's what we've been doing with said control that has caused societies ills. The EU didn't take your job. The EU didn't close your local library. The EU didn't make you wait three months for your operation. The EU didn't elect David Cameron. The EU didn't murder Jo Cox.

George Orwell feared a post-fact world also, but it was the malicious kind. It was the kind Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and to an extent Churchill used. The kind where fact is taken away from the proletariat in order to control them. We see this in the modern world, with China and Russia's censorship among many others. If you're in China and you write a blog-post that speaks against the establishment then your post will be invisible to everyone...except you. You will be isolated, and led to believe no-ones listening to you because you know nothing.

Today though, out post-fact world is in part the proletariat's fault. There's still Rupert Murdoch and various other newspaper moguls who all backed 'Leave' and all lied to the public. Though, the people who actually believed all 'Leave's talk about the NHS, Turkey, and 'United States Of Europe' (seriously?) frankly deserve to be lied to. Of course, the 'Leave' campaign all denies spouting this rubbish even though they wrote it on the side of a bus. They've tried to take down their website, but archivists have preserved it for historians to lament over their Goebellian propaganda.

Yet this is just the start. I've probably lost half of my Facebook friends list over them liking and sharing some ridiculous, unverified info-graphic. Both sides were filled with outlandish statements, wild theories, unsourced graphs, and old-fashioned bullshit. The entire country became awash with . I watched all the debate programmes, and I came out of each one feeling stupider. One side would spout figures, another side would spout contradicting figures. The whole thing would devolve into incoherent yelling and the audience applauding at random statements. Enraged members of the public would scream shrilly at garbling, besuited figures. I don't blame Jeremy Corbyn from keeping his distance.

So whilst 'Remain' indirectly fuelled this state, 'Leave' were the champions of it. Nigel Farage told us to "not listen to elderly men" when he himself is an elderly man flapping out rubbish with his fish-face. Michael Gove said that, not only should we ignore these so-called 'experts' but we should also ignore politicians. This happened every single time an expert warned about what would happen if we voted 'Leave.' They would all turn round and say "poppycock!" before going on a frothy-mouthed spiel about how the expert obviously has some bias and thus is lying. The irony that the 'Leave' campaigner is her/himself biased and therefore claims that the expert is biased is completely lost on them.

I think the most ridiculous argument is: "We've got through worse before." Well, yes. But I don't remember us voting for The Black Death. The 'Leave' campaign has tried to completely distance itself from the referendums result even though it's the reason we voted to leave; instead making it out that this unexpected crisis has hit us. And the public are falling for it. Chocolate has always been rationed. We've always been at war with Eurasia. Four legs good, two legs bad.

But the person the most to blame is the Conservative Government themselves - namely George Osborne.

I've said this before, yet it's worth repeating. George Osborne is evil. He's more or less the Prime Minister considering how much his hideous ideology has absorbed his party. There's no need for him to be PM when he can stand just behind the top figure and be the architect. Under his rule, England is now one of the most unequal nations on this planet - to the point where courts are claiming his austerity polices are a breach of human rights. He's achieved this by lying constantly. And it's not just lying. In one speech, he will often make two statements which directly contradict each-other. He will say that benefits will be cut in order to meet budget requirements, before claiming that the rich shall receive a tax break

He's also completely incompetent. He attempted to cut £15 million worth of disabled benefits whilst losing £20 billion in RBS shares. As senior members of his government use offshore funds to avoid millions in tax, he attempts to cut tax credits for societies poorest. He raised the minimum wage, citing it as a 'living wage' when it is no such thing since the wage will only be the amount he claimed to raise it by 2020 - by which time inflation will mean the wage is effectively the same as it was before. In fact, "by 2020" is his catchphrase. It's the asterix, the fine-print in every policy he announces.

I remember when it was "by 2015." George Osborne uses our countries debts as an excuse to strip societies most vulnerable and strengthen its most elite. He tells lie after lie after lie so eventually no-one knows what the truth is. Everyone argues amongst themselves, with no winner emerging. Meanwhile, Osborne steals from the poor and gives to the rich before denying it and confusing matters further.

Yet this hideous tactic has cathartically backfired on the Tories. Suddenly, when faced with a crisis, the populace refused to listen to their warnings. It's the 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf' of politics, and it ate David Cameron up.

At any other time, I would be giggling as David Cameron was driven out of power because he wanted to appease an extremist sector of his party, yet a trivial matter ended up exploding in his face. But it's those extremists who now hold the power. We're about to witness an already firmly right-wing government swing into the extreme right. This isn't the conclusion of post-fact. This isn't the end product. This is the foundation. A Britain independent from fact itself.