Bingo. Had a ‘discussion’ with a guy I see regularly a few months back (play golf with a large group - they would mostly consider themselves very conservative). He seemed to want me to “pick head’s or tails” - a coin had 2 sides argument.
When I pointed out that a coin in fact has 3-sides and without the middle the coin is no more…he just walked away, not wanting to hear anything else. I couldn’t “confirm” his facts and would not “affirm” (To declare support for or belief in) his beliefs, which I think is what he really wanted.
There’s nothing new happening. I recall the 1960’s and, while I wasn’t yet of voting age, I couldn’t comprehend why people were doing such things, at all levels and across all spectrums.
“Real people” in that sense are those who were directly and adversely affected by Britain’s EU membership. Those people existed, certainly. And I have empathy for them. But most people in these popular battles who scream and stomp and shout, both for and against, don’t actually have a dog in the fight. They only stand alongside an ideological line in the sand which says, “you are required to feel this way” and so they do. I have zero empathy for those people, real though they might be.*
*Those last lines are not addressing brexit specifically, but any popular change that picks winners and losers.
Purely my own feeling here of course, but its not mutually exclusive per say, but it becomes so if you feel Europeans are one people.
Besides, Europa is the continent we live on, so yes, we are all Europeans in that sense, but the way the term Europeans is most often used is by pointing to citizens of the EU or Schengen rather.
I see the EU more as a corp like entity where people of different nations try to work together for the benefit of all.
That said, I do feel Brussel needs to be kept in check. I don’t accept it as an all ruling entity that should dictate what happens on domestic affairs too much.
As long as it stays a ‘higher management’ kind of setup I am happy.
I don’t feel the EU is a cultural thing at all.
So, again, I am a dutch citizen living in my own country which is part of the EU and Europa.
