As a social researcher I have always thought that it was important to get a sense of how all the different social groups think. With my partner Paul touring around Devon and Oxfordshire two weeks ago, we immediately had a sense of what was coming and we felt really scared at the implications. We felt scared because no one really had presented the UK population with what the consequences would be and we still do not know them.
Each one of us understands a small part of the implications of this "unwanted decision". The problem about the future is that no one is completely an expert about it, therefore we can try to design it in a way which amplifies what we perceive to be the positive characteristics in the present or more simplistically reducing the problems in the here and now.
This appears to have been the approach that we have chosen in the UK. I do not believe that there is no way back.
In this referendum there is, as is becoming clear, an element of fraud. People not only have not been informed properly but they have been misled, and overall the prime minister has called an advisory referendum to deal with a complex issue that citizens could never be expected to fully understand.
More and more people are now saying that they wanted to protest, to make their voice heard. This should not become a fight between Brussels and The United Kingdom. Phenomena can be understood in a variety of ways and it could well be that one of these, is that in fact the British people did not and do not want, the consequences deriving from this referendum but they simply wanted to change the current status quo.
The question posed to change the current unbearable reality, has been wrongly asked. If the question had been: how would you like your Government and the EU jointly creating a better society, today we would probably not be dealing with this mess.
As I listen to those who voted for LEAVE, something appears quite clear to me. This is a vote that has been strongly influenced by anger. An anger while expressed, and it is always healthy to express emotions, should not inflict on those who did express it a punishment, nor should the rest of the nation pay a price for those who suffered the most.
Anyone who studies system analysis knows that any system goes at the pace of its weakest link. Dividing our communities will not change the way we experience our very existence. We have not yet addressed the very problem affecting our society, we have just identified how people feel and have directed their anger towards a scapegoat. Living without the EU will not speed up the equality in this country nor lead to a more balanced division of wealth. Wages in the UK are amongst the lowest in western Europe when compared with the cost of living.
As this referendum does not appear to be the answer to how people feel and in fact their situation will worsen as consequence of this decision, one wonders who the next scapegoat will be. I am slightly frightened that in the near future we might experience aggressive social conflicts amongst minorities.
This is why I believe that compassion should be at the heart of the future decisions and this country should now find a way to understand what its citizens needs are and address them. It is the time to change and we cannot longer allow to choose buffoons to lead the future of this country.
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