Confused Conservatives

I sometimes feel sorry for my conservative fellow human beings. It seems they're becoming increasingly confused, bewildered, disconcerted as they're being left behind in an ever faster changing world. But then I'm confronted by the dangerous side of this mass-confusion, and sympathy is quickly replaced with alarm...

Do you remember the 2016 EU referendum in the United Kingdom? Maybe "Brexit" rings a bell. UK citizens were given the opportunity to vote for leaving or remaining in the EU. The result was to leave the EU by 52% to 48%. Right now, six years later, the UK still hasn't recovered from that decision and the aftermath revealed (for those who didn't want to see or admit it at the time) that the reasons for voting "leave" were based on a toxic mix of misunderstanding, misinformation and racism. It's no coincidence that Donald Trump was, and still is, very popular in the "leave" camp. It was the conservative party who took the lead in the leave-campaign with much of the same arguments Trump used for his victory in 2016; there was a lot of rhetoric of "taking back" the country for "UK natives" and closing the borders to non-white immigrants.

Anyhow, what makes me feel sorry for these "brexiteers" is the fact that they've fallen for the lies coming from the leave-campaign, and they're slowly starting to realize it. For years though, they were in adamant denial, and many still are. They were told that being part of the EU "opens up the floodgates if immigration," but now they see that leaving hasn't brought any change. They were told that leaving the EU would open up many opportunities for the UK to strike their own trade-deals with foreign countries, but now they see that their economy is in tatters. It's common sense: if you're a potential trade-partner, would you rather strike a deal with a union providing 450 million customers, or a single country with an estimated 67 million customers? The EU, setting aside for a moment all the anti-democratic arguments that can be made against it, is the single largest western trade-block. And the UK isn't part of it anymore.

And yeah, let's talk for a moment about the democracy related arguments for leaving the EU. Those I can understand because at first glance it does seem undemocratic for any country to be ruled in part from a city and politicians that are not in your own country. But then again, thinking it over for a few minutes should reveal that it doesn't make a damn difference; our current governments have completely and utterly lost touch with the citizenry they supposedly represent. They could just as well reside in Australia, so Brussels doesn't seem that bad at all. Six years later the "leave" voters finally understand this and aim their anger and confusion at their own conservative government, who haven't been able to deliver on any of the promises made.

Listening to these brexiteers being confronted with their own confused reasons to vote "leave" has been one of my guilty pleasures these past years. Many will say that they voted leave to get out from under the "dictatorial" EU rule, and finally wouldn't have to abide by EU laws and regulation anymore. But when asked what laws and regulations, they can't ever name any. And when pressed, it almost always turns out that they voted "leave" because they think there are too many immigrants, adding that it's not racism but concern for the employability for the natives. But when they're then pointed to the fact that without these immigrants certain jobs simply wouldn't get done, and that the natives simply refuse to apply for those jobs, they fall silent. I'm generalizing of course, but I believe you get what I'm saying here.

This is something that happens more and more; democratic societies making the wrong choice, choosing what they've been told to choose by leaders that don't give a damn about them. They're being lied to in a way that confirms their biases, blinding them to the fact that they will hurt themselves by following these leaders. Brexit is a good example, but maybe Trump is an even better example, which is why I've included the below linked video of a short interview with a die-hard Trump supporter, and the cognitive dissonance on display is stellar.

The interviewer asks: "You think that Trump is actually still in power right now?"

Trump supporter answers: "Uh huh. What do you think?"

Interviewer: "So you think Biden is not the current president right now?"

Maga: "No sir."

Interviewer: "No?"

"Maga: "No sir. Never believed it."

Interviewer: "So Trump is the current president right now?"

Maga: "Yes sir."

Interviewer: "So are you mad at Trump for the high gas prices?"

Maga: "No. No, it's not Trump's fault."

Interviewer: "Whose fault is it then?"

Maga: "It's Joe B-"

And he catches himself as he's about to contradict his own words... But he still continues to rationalize and explain his opinion after the interviewer keeps pushing him on this point. So much confusion, and it's hilarious to watch. But it's dangerous as well. These brexiteers and Trumpists see their world falling apart and don't know who to blame, so they blame whoever their populist strong men say they should blame. You know, the immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, feminists, Critical Race Theory, "wokeism"... All the easy targets who have been marginalized and are weak to begin with, but are represented as life-threateningly dangerous by the conservative populists who promise a return to the good old days when immigrants and women still knew their place... Nothing good can come out of this. It never has...

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