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The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

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Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#91

Post by arrrg »

_9MOTHER9HORSE wrote: post #4
Analemma_ wrote: post #2

Here's a Leave fellow who says he just did it as a protest vote thinking it wouldn't actually pass. https://twitter.com/AdamWSweeney/status/746269140915208193 I don't know whether to laugh or cry. The most important international agreement in the UK's history torn up because people thought this was a Buzzfeed poll.

On the contrary, the fact the EU had enormous power over British people, yet barely anyone knew what it was, what it did, or why it was important, was a compelling reason for the UK to leave.

The EU is not other people. The UK has always held large power in controlling the EU. Obviously in concert with others, but such is the nature of cooperation.

This othering of the EU is really lazy. The EU was never some ominous foreign entity.

Plus, get better education if that's the problem. My civics teacher was quite adept at explaining the EU. For historic reasons there is some ugly cruft, but it's nevertheless not that hard to understand.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#92

Post by grive »

winterismute wrote: post #74
a-priori wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or, perhaps, it's a compelling reason why things like this shouldn't be decided by referendum.

Or even more, maybe a compelling reason for Britons to elect representatives in the government and EU parliament who could actually push the reforms the EU needs?

As if they knew what the EU needs.

Britain always pushed for more liberalization. See where it led them. They were able to push for what their GDP needed, alright.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#93

Post by mikeash »

cool_penguins wrote: post #50
simplyluke wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, we're talking about one of the largest/most functional nations in the history of the world not domestic abuse.

Most people in the US don't know how good they have it and what it means to be under a true abusive and police state.

I think a big chunk of Americans almost want it to be a police state, so they have something to fight against.

It makes me think of Sam Altman's recent article about Trump. He said he was taking some risk by writing that, and some commenters here praised his bravery in taking a public stand on this. It's ridiculous. Bravery would be a prominent techie taking a stand for Trump. He's not going to suffer any consequences for publishing that. Nobody's going to knock on his door and haul him off at 3AM, or deny him entrance into any organizations, or even shoot him dirty looks on the street.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#94

Post by mc32 »

turar wrote: post #76
mc32 wrote: post #9

Isn't that expected? People who voted for the establishment status quo want to know what might happen in the years to come now that the vote has gone against them. Voting to stay meant no change, therefore they knew more or less the outcome, but now that the outcome is opposite their votes, they want to look into the repercussions --this informs that it's likely they stay vote didn't investigate the alternative befor…

This doesn't explain "What is the EU?" being the second ranked search query.

It may be people in America or China want to know a little more about the EU now that the fear campaign is in full.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#95

Post by mikestew »

fomojola wrote: post #38
avs733 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can say with confidence that it might mean the government stays out of their medicare /s

Not sure if you're being facetious, but Medicare IS the government, you do realize this? Medicare isn't some magical, mythical creature that existed from the dawn of time and has always been there: it is explicitly a creation of the government ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States) )

Not sure if you're being facetious, but Medicare IS the government

And parent even used the sarcasm tag. :-) Parent doesn't need it explained, but some American citizens apparently do: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/prescription...

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#96

Post by Nelson69 »

a-priori wrote: post #14
_9MOTHER9HORSE wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, the fact the EU had enormous power over British people, yet barely anyone knew what it was, what it did, or why it was important, was a compelling reason for the UK to leave.

Or, perhaps, it's a compelling reason why things like this shouldn't be decided by referendum.

Well you can have another, can't you? Or is leaving the EU a one-way thing?

I'm sort of jealous. They had a referendum on Scottish independence and they honored the outcome. I'd love to have an up/down national vote on abortion, gay marriage, gun background checks.. At best here in the US, you're voting for a derivative, you're electing someone on the wish/hope that they support your issues if they get a chance or opportunity to of if they're willing to use political capital to actually propose the issues.. With something like abortion, it's at least 2 derivatives removed, you're voting for someone who will hopefully select a court justice (should they get to) that will align with your issues should the opportunity ever arise for them to make a judgement on it. And what's more perverse, there are a lot of single issue voters that take that multiple derivative issue situation as the only issue that matters.

It'd be an interesting experiment if nothing else.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#97

Post by capote »

Slaul wrote: post #67
capote wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gut feeling after reading the article I suppose? Would you really be surprised if many voters didn't know what they were voting for? Especially if the outcome is one agreed upon by most intellectuals to be the worse outcome.

No, I wouldn't be surprised at all. I was just curious, hopefully I did not come across as confrontational.

You didn't. All of this is based on implication and what meaning you draw from the information, so it's not such a solid thing.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#98

Post by rimantas »

api wrote: post #32

Pundits need to stop it with this "mock the unsophisticated yokels" click-baiting and trolling. Of course people are Googling about the EU after a major upset referendum about the EU. One reason "insane" anti-establishment positions like this are winning (even when they are insane) is because pundits stubbornly refuse to actually listen to peoples' reasons for supporting them. Instead they mock them as backwater idio…

The thing is—backwater idiots have a right to vote too.

Re: The British are Googling what the E.U. is, hours after voting to leave it

#99

Post by advertising »

mc32 wrote: post #9

Isn't that expected? People who voted for the establishment status quo want to know what might happen in the years to come now that the vote has gone against them. Voting to stay meant no change, therefore they knew more or less the outcome, but now that the outcome is opposite their votes, they want to look into the repercussions --this informs that it's likely they stay vote didn't investigate the alternative befor…

I don't think people who wanted to stay are now wondering what the EU is...
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