Posted by araucaria
(here)
The notion of the EU as lobster-pot is a massive oversimplification and too Manichean to bear serious scrutiny. If you insist on using Icke’s formula, it works both ways, and in more ways than one: a) it works on both sides of an argument, and b) it works in a non-conspiratorial sense as well. Life is full of problems arising – not necessarily created by anyone, and not necessarily with mischievous intent; such problems produce a reaction, and call for a solution. It’s called problem-solving. Often when someone is the cause of the problem (eg criminals, or children), the solution comes from a different quarter (the law, or the parents).
a) First, arguably the biggest example is the Brexit situation itself. In this view, Tory Eurosceptics led by Johnson created a problem: holding a referendum that no one really needed. The public reaction after demonizing the EU was a small Leave majority. And the solution is a poor/no deal Brexit. It has been such a laborious process precisely because too many people have been seeing it as a patently Ickean manoeuvre, although they would not describe it in those terms.
b) Here is the non-conspiratorial view: for decades Tory Eurosceptics led by Johnson created a problem with Europe (Daily Telegraph columns about straight bananas and all that nonsense), leading to a referendum that no one really needed except the Tories themselves; the reaction has led to a huge debate after, not before, the referendum. That was the problem. Like never before, the public has taken a huge interest in this aspect of community life, and particularly in the activity of parliamentarians and discovering the difficulties they face. The fact that the debate is still not over is testimony to the long-term deficit in such active democracy. What has been going on for three years has been a healthy eye-opener for many people. They now know that instead of the EU being the foreign bogeyman, their own MPs, government and Prime Minister are not all working with their interests at heart. This is a much more powerful and empowering discovery because it also includes the understanding that to some extent the same goes for Brussels and Europe and elsewhere. The world has a leadership crisis. Only when one has understood both these things can one avoid the next pitfall, namely exchanging the European model for the much worse American one. As Keir Starmer explained on Saturday, the only reason for diverging from Europe is in order to lower standards, simply because you don’t need to leave if you want to raise standards, you can do that now.
If you are going to talk about lobster-pots, you need to realize that there are a multitude of them; I think what we are seeing is a great many lobsters wising up to what is going on: the entire world is a highly dangerous place and we need to stick together. On the other hand, if conspiracy theorists focus just on this one issue, they fail to see how the huge American global corporations and/or deep state – which always used to be the major enemy – stand to make a huge killing. Hence they are fighting against their own proclaimed interests, working to achieve what they fear most. The immediate positive solution would therefore seem to be to have another referendum to see where the recent burst of serious debate and reflection has led people. Whatever the outcome, the referendum would carry additional weight for taking place after, not before, the debate. A confirmatory referendum would be addressing a more mature electorate. A vote to Leave would mean something very different and more enlightened than it did back in 2016. The same goes for a Remain vote. And either way, this would mean something different from backing the current deal being rushed through Parliament, which in light of the above, and – regardless of its content, merely with regard to the method being used – imposes a negative solution: another lobster-pot if you will.
Re: The UK Brexit vote to leave the EU
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