You don't have to be pro-EU to be worried about the Tory Brexit shambles

Ever since David Cameron's ridiculously rushed EU referendum debate last year I've faced near constant accusations that because I have serious concerns about the social and economic damage of a shambolic Tory Brexit, that I must therefore be pro-EU.

The regularity of these kinds of accusations just go to show how absolutist "black vs white" political tribalism is incredibly popular these days.

An awful lot of people simply don't want political commentators with nuanced opinions. They want political commentators who either comfort them by reinforcing their own opinions, or political commentators who they can hate for contradicting their beliefs. 

Since I've been doing Another Angry Voice I've probably written more critical analysis of the EU than 99% of Brexit supporters, yet an awful lot of Brexiters hate me and crudely traduce my work as pro-EU because I'm unwilling to share their blind optimism about a Brexit administered by a bunch of brazen incompetents like Theresa May, the disgraced Liam Fox, Boris Johnson, and David Davis (a man who was recently described by an AAV reader as "a walking facepalm").

My position on Brexit has been consistent since well before the referendum. The EU undeniably has a lot of faults (like all major institutions do), but quitting and giving the hard-right fringe of the Tory party the opportunity to redesign the UK according to their completely bonkers ideology was always going to be a classic case of "out of the frying pan, into the fire", especially for the poorer regions that benefit so much from EU Structural Adjustment Funds.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter how many times a person tries to explain that you don't have to be rabidly pro-EU to have concerns about the absolute shambles the Tories are making of Brexit, the baying Brexiter enforced optimism mob will always try to shout them down as "traitor", "sore loser", "whinger", "pro-EU", "remoaner" ...

This kind of tribalistic abuse is an inevitable consequence when politics gets dumbed down to such an extent that so many people these days willingly buy into "black vs white" political absolutism.

All I can say is don't allow yourself to be intimidated. My guess is that a significant proportion of the abusive Brexiter enforced optimism mob are intent on shouting down anyone with concerns about the unfolding Tory Brexit shambles because they're terribly afraid that the people raising concerns are actually right. They're afraid that that their wildly optimistic Brexit fantasy is gradually developing into a chaotic Tory nightmare.

They're desperate to shout down anyone who questions the abilities of the Tory Brexiteers not because they're confident that Brexit is going to be a marvellous success, but because they're terribly afraid of admitting to themselves that the whole thing is developing into an absolute bloody shambles.

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