Remain’s Ageism Following the Brexit EU Referendum is Vile

The breakdown of civility after the EU referendum would fill books’ worth of articles. But surely the most disgusting part of the matter is the vicious ageism shown by the middle-aged to the elderly.

The bien-pensant left and their fellow-travellers among wet Conservatives, the Remain alliance – Lib Dems, Clarke-ite Tories and Blairite Labour – represented the 48%. The 52% represented the Thatcher alliance – working class Labour voters plus high free-market Tories; Dennis Skinner and Jacob Rees-Mogg on one platform.

Eager to find a traditional enemy for their loss, Remain turned their fire on ‘old, white’ people. They pointed out that most young people who voted, voted Remain. These were not young people themselves, who spend their time on Instagram and Snapchat, and not posting on Twitter. The abuse of the older generation came from middle-aged luvvies purporting to speak for the young against the old.

In so doing, they committed ageism in both directions. In passing, they discriminated against British youth who – overwhelmingly – did not want to stay in the EU. Three quarters of the eligible young electorate chose not to vote or voted Leave. The Remaniacs, and I use a derogative term advisedly in this instance, are wilfully interpreting their sovereign choice not to be arsed as support for Remain. It wasn’t. Young people who wanted to Remain in the EU, a tiny minority, voted for that. The rest didn’t.

But these same middle aged pillocks were very angry at the old folks who did vote Leave, men and women of years and wisdom, who have seen the country before and after the EU, who may have voted in the first referendum when your middle-aged 45 year old author was four.  And the ageism that seeped from them was shocking and indeed disgusting. @SkipLicker spoke for millions when he tweeted:

Those bloody old people voting to leave. What have they ever done for Europe? #Brexit pic.twitter.com/Y5e5Tk7BpM

— Skip Licker (@SkipLicker) June 25, 2016

So surely I am exaggerating? See for yourself!

Pat Glass MP at a Durham rally for Remain:

“Don’t speak to your grandfather, we know the problem are older white men.”

Labour’s Alastair Campbell:

Great stuff. Young people saying they will not take this ridiculous decision by older people lying down pic.twitter.com/SvdWe6vGKu

— Alastair Campbell (@campbellclaret) June 28, 2016

International politicians were just as sneering:

This is it: Old England has deprived young Britain of its European future. pic.twitter.com/DnRxkTRKR6

— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) June 24, 2016

And police confiscated this sign at #MarchForEurope:

But there are too many to cherry-pick. How about these tweets, all found by clicking on this link:

most of the folks that voted for #brexit will be dead within 25 years. 75% of 18-30 voted stay. The old & dying sticking it to the young – @DJMightyMike

The lesson of Brexit for young people here should be to go out and vote and not let xenophobic old people determine your future. – @LakeviewRunner

once again we have an example in which old people make a really bad decision and ruin young people’s future. #Brexit – @JusticesMarano

#Brexit vote so unfair. Millions of young millennials had their future decided by a generation stuck in old, outdated, exclusionary logic. – @Its_King_James

Patrick de Vries Retweeted Tancredi Palmeri