As a member of the EU, Britain is involved in, and committed to, multiple capital projects that cost billions of pounds. From most of these programmes the UK gains many benefits, such as regional development funds and large capital projects like hospitals and schools. The present programme that covers such things apparently lasts until 2023, and Britain has financial responsibilities towards such projects in common with all the other 27 member nations. A major part of the Brexit negotiations is involved with both the EU and Britain attempting to come to some kind of agreement as to what Britain owes the EU for its part in, and its responsibilities for, these programmes. The dominant narrative in the UK is that the EU are blackmailing Britain for triggering Article 50 and daring to leave them. I watch news programmes of reporters questioning people on the streets of Britain on this issue and it never ceases to amaze me how ignorant the British, or perhaps I should say the English, are on such fundamental matters. Almost to a man and woman, they respond by telling the reporter quite bluntly that we should simply walk away and pay nothing as this money only goes one way and we gain nothing from it, that it is simply unfair and we are being robbed. But more importantly from the perspective of democracy and governance this is the dominant narrative being propagandised by the government, the Tory Party and the right-wing press; it is barefaced lying and disinformation of the highest order. I should point out here that British national news organisations such as the BBC and ITV almost never interview people from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland on such matters, the only views we are presented with are those from the streets of English towns and cities. That is why, to people from other nations tuning in to British TV and reading the British national papers, Britain appears to be so insular and nationalistic.
However, I do not accept for one moment that such public ignorance is either excusable or acceptable. If Britain is anything, it is the information capital of the world. The British have the greatest choice of media and divergent viewpoints available to them in the world, yet they still prefer the poisonous propaganda and lies spewed out daily by the Mail and the Express. It is a choice they make. What is happening is that the large parts of the British media appear to be in some kind of collusion to misinform the public on all matters pertaining to the EU and our relationship to it, and the British, particularly the English, love it. The Tories have not yet managed to establish their desired ability to control all media output and so this situation has not yet reached a kind of totalitarian propaganda exercise because many people are aware of the issues, but in order to sift through the propaganda and seek a sense of reality you require to work at it and consult widely, and most people are simply too lazy to do that. What is of particular concern is that even when the facts are explained to them, the average Brexit supporting, foreigner hating citizen simply ignores the facts, preferring the lie because its suits their racist and bigoted view of reality.
We see a similar phenomenon in the US with respect to the 45. I saw an interview on CNN where a 45 supporter told us that he would believe the 45 before he would believe Jesus Christ. This is not only a cause for great sorrow, but also for great alarm. Bob Dylan told us not to follow leaders and beware of parking meters, but people on both sides of the Atlantic are increasingly prepared to ignore lying and demonstrable insanity and incompetence as long as they are being fed a daily diet of information that fits with their prejudices. The Daily Mail survived in Britain, despite being an enthusiastic pre-war supporter of Hitler and National Socialism, so we must logically assume that a goodly number of people in this nation did so as well, and that such support survived the war. This would explain the modern rise of fascism in our nations as parents and grandparents passed on such ideas to their offspring and they have been lying dormant waiting for the right conditions to nurture them. None of this excuses our leaders and our media organisations. But, once again I alert you to the real culprit, a dominant ideology that encourages and applauds greed, hatred and complete selfishness. That is how the hatemongers and bigots flourish and are bold enough to emerge from the sewers. They are encouraged by the hatemongers and bigots who occupy the highest positions in our society and enthusiastically promote this hideous ideology. You have been warned
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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