# A vote for Brexit shouldn't be a vote for bigotry, but it is. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 20, 2016, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893 "2016-06-20T16:33:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/141 "2016-06-26T00:31:00Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > History does not repeat, but it rhymes. so according to your logic, because the boy cries wolf, it means no wolf will ever come. Sad! Muslim immigration is one time the boy “crying wolf,” or in this case, person being against immigration of a certain group, is right. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/142 "2016-06-26T00:36:35Z")
> [@DerekMichaels00](#): > > so according to your logic, because the boy cries wolf, it means no wolf will ever come. > > Sad! Only sad to you, I do know that in the end there was a wolf, the lesson was not that the wolf was there but that the kid did lie to all the people in the town all those times before. And so it is with many of the current leaders that supported Brexit. They also used lies to make bigotry grow. It does not take away the fact that there might be some that we should keep an eye for, but it does not take away the fact that most of the time the ones using bigotry did lie to the British people. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/143 "2016-06-26T03:36:07Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > What you remember is at odds with reality. We had the Notting Hill race riots in 1958. We had Enoch Powell talking about the black man having the whip hand in 1968. We had to pass Race Relations Acts in 1965, 1976 and 1986. Hell, we had race riots in 1919. Immigration to the UK follows a pattern: > > . But what is true is that British voters didn’t consider it a top voting issue until recently. And so here we are. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/144 "2016-06-26T03:42:07Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > That’s a meaningless statement. If immigration should be unrestricted, then borders don’t really have much of a purpose. But if we agree that immigration should be regulated in some way, then the national interest and the interest of the natives are very reasonable things to prioritize when deciding how to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Salvor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Salvor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salvor)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/145 "2016-06-26T05:07:01Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Speaking from the left, I have never assumed that someone was “hostile towards gays”—regardless of his or her nominal membership in a religion—until he or she actually expressed hostility towards gays. I know, strange, right? It is strange to me, knowing what many devout religious people think and read about homosexuality in the bible. There are liberal churches and conservative churches, but I am damn sure if we polled a thousand bible believers and a thousand atheists, you’d find more people hostile to gays in the bible believing group. Strange? I say it makes perfect sense. Do I know if an individual devout christian is hostile to gays? No. Do I have very good reason to believe an individual devout christian is more \*likely \*to be hostile to gays? Yes. Should I use that increased likelihood to treat that individual differently before confirming we have some conflict? No. Should I take that kind of increased likelihood into account when it comes to the importation of hundreds of thousands if not millions of such people into my country? Absolutely, because these are precisely the scales where group statistics matter most, this is not about individuals. This is about a move that can actually change the character of the host society for good or ill. This is exactly the kind of thing people who live in a host society ought to have some say in and concern over. Again to bring in the Hated Israel, a country I am sure you all adore! Right of return. This is a demand for many Palestinians who pretend to care about two states as opposed to one state. Workable? Well, if Palestinians were like Kurds in their attitudes towards jews, maybe. IF they were like indians, maybe. But poll Palestinians, what are the statistical group attitudes towards jews? Now imagine allowing so many into the host nation that the Jewish population becomes a minority. What happens to those jews now? Sunshine and lollipops? Happy times? You don’t care? Crash and burn imperialist scum? The point is that these things matter a great deal, the effects could be harmless, positive, or devastating. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/146 "2016-06-26T14:08:18Z")
> [@Salvor](#): > > I don’t condone anyone ripping anything off anyones head, but I understand where the animus towards the muslim population comes from. Do you? Do you think it’s based on nothing but rank bigotry? Based on skin color? > > Do you think the native British population is hostile to asian buddhists in the same way they are towards muslims? Hindus? Zoroastrians? > > This is something that is dreadfully difficult to get into the heads of liberally minded people regarding negative stereotypes. A large chunk of them are not baseless, they are based in empirical observation. People have negative perceptions of muslims and Islam because of the behavior and beliefs of too many of its adherants. When that stops being the case, the negative perceptions and stereotypes will be repeated shown to be incorrect and will evaporate. > > The same is true for virtually all stereotypes with most people. I’m a mixed black guy in the US, I distinctly remember being watched when I went into a small dairy store as a child by the store owner to see if I was stealing. Was it fair or pleasant? No. Was it irritating? A bit, did I resent the store owner for it? No. > > Why? Because even as a child I was not a god damn child. I knew that plenty of kids that went into that store did steal and cut into their profits and livelihood. If watching some people more closely helps reduce theft, then it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. I was not a thief, let them watch me more closely and see nothing is getting taken. If this happens repeatedly, and it turns out that black people are no more likely, or even better, LESS likely to be committing crime, then the repeated fruitless scrutiny will be seen as not worth the time and effort. Conversely, if the scrutiny of some subgroups turns up MORE issues, then that stereotype will persist that some groups are more likely to be engaged in negative activity. > There is nothing fair about stereotypes, we have to fight to maintain a policy and attitude that leaks out from these real observations that we give individuals the benefit of the doubt even if we expect more or less from certain groups. It’s clear for many people that fight is lost and they start snatching things from peoples heads. But to the people that are members of a group that are the recipients of negative stereotypes, I have a message. > > When liberals shut down speech and try to sweep all talk of peoples negative perceptions of you under the rug, know they do NOT go away. They are alive and well. The one and ONLY way to remove those negative perceptions, is to show over time that the perceptions are WRONG. Every single time some muslim goes on a killing spree, shouting that allah is great as they fire bullets through peoples skulls, this darkens the perceptions of the entire group. IF you are angry at this reality, then the GREATEST hatred and RAGE you feel ought to be directed at the people who call themselves muslims, and are killing people IN YOUR NAME, with the sanction of Muhammad and Allah. THESE are the people that are by FAR the greatest source of negative perceptions of the so called bigots. Excellent post, **Salvor**. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/147 "2016-06-26T14:42:10Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Oh Gods. If you honestly interpret the words “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry” as “Everyone voting for Brexit is racist” then conversation is going to be a struggle. If you ignore any clarification I offer so you can pretend I mean something I don’t, conversation is stymied. If you tell me you don’t feel the need to read the words I write, the conversation is over. > > Claim victory and quit the field. And may the road rise to meet you. Let’s recap, shall we? [QUOTE=magellan01] And I still can’t see how you seem to KNOW the motivations of the people who want to break with the EU. Why is it ugly racism and not the more palatable explanation that octopus offered? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Stanislaus] If there’s something in there that suggests to you that I a) “KNOW” the motivations of people who want to break with the EU and b) “KNOW” that they’re racist, could you pull it out and quote it please? It will help me improve my communication skills if I can identify where the lack of clarity is. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=magellan01] You needn’t look ant further than at your thread title. [/QUOTE] And to refresh your memory, here it is: “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry, **but it is**.” (emphasis mine) You asked what words you wrote gave me the impression that you were doing as I claimed. I quoted you mack your own words that clearly support what I accused of of doing. And now you want to blame me for you YOU wrote. :rolleyes: Hey, heres an idea: How about you take responsibility for your own words? Or perhaps don’t ask questions when you might be unhappy with the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/148 "2016-06-26T21:50:11Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Let’s recap, shall we? > > And to refresh your memory, here it is: “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry, **but it is**.” (emphasis mine) > > You asked what words you wrote gave me the impression that you were doing as I claimed. I quoted you mack your own words that clearly support what I accused of of doing. And now you want to blame me for you YOU wrote. :rolleyes: > > Hey, heres an idea: How about you take responsibility for your own words? Or perhaps don’t ask questions when you might be unhappy with the answer. Oh Gods. If you honestly interpret the words “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry” as “Everyone voting for Brexit is racist” then conversation is going to be a struggle. If you ignore any clarification I offer so you can pretend I mean something I don’t, conversation is stymied. If you tell me you don’t feel the need to read the words I write, the conversation is over. Claim victory and quit the field. And may the road rise to meet you. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2016, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/149 "2016-06-26T22:12:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > That’s a meaningless statement. On one hand we have your proclamations of moral reality. On the other we have political reality which has borders and armies to protect those borders and to keep the other out. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/150 "2016-06-27T12:26:20Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > Oh Gods. If you honestly interpret the words “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry” as “Everyone voting for Brexit is racist” then conversation is going to be a struggle. If you ignore any clarification I offer so you can pretend I mean something I don’t, conversation is stymied. If you tell me you don’t feel the need to read the words I write, the conversation is over. > > Claim victory and quit the field. And may the road rise to meet you. Ha! So you’re defense is to defend that “I never said EVERYONE was racist”. Well, chum, I never said you said EVERYONE was racist. Really, you could look it up. So nice Strawman you’ve created there. Like I suggested, how about you start taking responsibility for what you write. And while you’re at it, dispense with the straw and offering defenses for argumements never made. :whiny voice: “I never said EVERYONE.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/151 "2016-06-27T13:46:46Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Ha! So you’re defense is to defend that “I never said EVERYONE was racist”. Well, chum, I never said you said EVERYONE was racist. Really, you could look it up. So nice Strawman you’ve created there. > > Like I suggested, how about you start taking responsibility for what you write. And while you’re at it, dispense with the straw and offering defenses for argumements never made. > > :whiny voice: “I never said EVERYONE.” > > :rolleyes: I don’t think you’re following your own argument here, still less mine. Are you now saying that you interpret “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry, but it is” as “I know for a fact that some unspecified proportion of votes for Brexit are a vote for bigotry and some aren’t?”. Because - although even a cursory reading of the OP would show that wasn’t remotely what I meant\* - that is an interpretation I am [quite happy to stand behind](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/areeq-chowdhury/eu-referendum_b_10431872.html). > [@](#): > > Some of the names and groups which are backing a Leave vote include the English Defence League; Britain First; the British National Party Hint: These are all explicitly - in fact, proudly - bigoted groups. So if you’re accusing me of thinking that some Brexit voters were bigots then - given that these bigots voted Brexit - you are, by some weird co-incidence, exactly right. Congratulations. \*I know you’ve got no intention of engaging with the OP, or any other posts I’ve made which might help clarify for you what I actually meant, so I mention this only in passing. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/152 "2016-06-27T14:03:17Z")
Here, for anyone else who’s interested, is why I did say a vote for Brexit would be taken as a vote for bigotry, despite the intentions of the voter: > [@Stanislaus](#): > > Because this is no longer just a referendum on membership of the EU. It’s turned into - it’s been deliberately made into, as a coldly calculated strategy - a referendum on Britain’s character. > > And if you vote Leave, in a grotesque injustice that twists and poisons your good intentions, your vote will be counted as support for bigotry, by the bigots. And that sucks. It really does. It’s a disgrace that we’ve come to this. But this is where we are. So if you’re on the fence, I’d ask you to consider that, while Britain’s relationship with the EU is important, there are some things that matter more. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > But nothing happens in a vacuum.This referendum is a major event in British politics, much, much bigger than general elections. It’s impact on our political culture has been enormous. And we have now got to the stage where the success of the Leave vote is, grotesquely, a measure of how convincing the British find racism. > > Here are, in my view, the consequences of a Leave vote: > > 1. Britain starts the process of leaving the EU. > 2. Far-right groups such as Britain First, the English Defence League, LibertyGP, and the English Democrats will believe that their ideas have widespread support. It is their rhetoric of “I want my country back” and foreigners coming for jobs, benefits and the NHS that mainstream politicians have been aping in this campaign, they will have a point. > 3. Mainstream rightwing politicians will respond to the success of this campaign by strengthening their own rhetoric and policies on immigration, thus reinforcing the idea that xenophobia is a) part of our culture and b) a votewinner > 4. Mainstream left-wing politicians will pander to the concerns of racists by abandoning pro-immigration stances as vote-losers and failing to challenge bigoted policies. > 5. Our political culture will become more fearful, more angry, more divisive as the ludicrous notion that we face some sort of existential threat is given credence it doesn’t deserve. I’m not cynical enough, because what I didn’t include in that was a rise in racial street harassment and violence. [Whereas in fact](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/eu-referendum-racism_uk_576fe161e4b08d2c56396075): > [@](#): > > [ul] > [li]“In utter shock: just been called p**i in my home town! Haven’t heard that word here since the 80s…!"[/li][li]“This weekend I and my family have witnessed 3 “when are you going home?” Racist incidents aimed at EU citizens here.”[/li][li]"Gloucester @Tesco: 'this is England, foreigners have 48 hours to f**k right off. Who is foreign here? Anyone foreign?'”[/li][li]"Neo-nazi stickers have gone up all around the Clyde and Glasgow Green in the last few days. "[/li][li]“Daughter tells me someone wrote “[Child’s name] go back to Romania” on the wall in the girls toilets at School today.”[/li][li]“Older woman on the 134 bus gleefully telling a young Polish woman and her baby to get off and get packing.Horrific.”[/li][li]“So less than 20 hrs after Brexit results announced, I have the pleasure of being called “a Paki c\*nt in a suit” by a homeless man.”[/li][li]“these cards [saying “Leave the UK, no more Polish vermin” have actually been put through letter boxes of Polish families in Huntingdon today.”[/li][li]Baroness Warsi has warned: [/li][quote] > "I’ve spent most of the weekend talking to organisations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime, and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted Leave, it’s time for you to leave.And they are saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good. This is what I said before the campaign - that long after the political bus moves on we leave problems on our street.” [li]“This evening my daughter left work in Birmingham and saw group of lads corner a Muslim girl shouting “Get out, we voted leave”.”[/li][li]“In the aftermath of #Brexit, neighbours we’ve never spoken to before confront us with, “Do you even speak English?””[/li][li]“Last night a Sikh radiographer colleague of mine was told by a patient “shouldn’t you be on a plane back to Pakistan? we voted you out”[/li][/ul]” [/quote] That’s just some of the quotes - do click the link for the pictures and videos documenting this. Or follow #PostRefRacism on Twitter for live, up to the minute updates. As a result of Brexit, bigots feel empowered in their bigotry. As if they thought that 52% of the country agreed with them. 52% don’t, of course. But the bigots think that. They believe that a vote for Brexit was a vote for their bigotry, and they’re acting in accordance with that belief. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/153 "2016-06-27T14:05:24Z")
Who knows what was on the mind of all the Brexit supporters? Some are already admitting they had no idea what they were voting for. Certainly some of the pro-Brexit _campaigning_ was racist/xenophobic. But, looking at the posting history of pro-Brexit Dopers, I’d have to say the bigotry factor can’t be ignored. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/154 "2016-06-27T15:29:56Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > I don’t think you’re following your own argument here, still less mine. Oh, I’m fine with my argument. You’re the one having trouble. Trying to claim that what you wrote doesn’t mean what the words say. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > Are you now saying that you interpret “A vote for Brexit shouldn’t be a vote for bigotry, but it is” as “I know for a fact that some unspecified proportion of votes for Brexit are a vote for bigotry and some aren’t?”. Because - although even a cursory reading of the OP would show that wasn’t remotely what I meant\* - that is an interpretation I am [quite happy to stand behind](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/areeq-chowdhury/eu-referendum_b_10431872.html). No. There is no doubt that “some unspecified proportion of votes fr Brexit are a vote for for bigotry”. And, yes, some aren’t My argument, which really shouldn’t be difficult to understand, as I quoted the part of your post that I found problematic, is that the summation of your whole post—found in the headline you created—assumes that that unspecified proportion of votes for Brexit that are IN FACT a vote for bigotry is so dominant (60%, 75%, 90%?) that your headline is a fair summation of the facts. It’s not. It’s only a fair summation IF you (as you seem happy to do) ascribe motivations to millions of people. On THAT I call bullshit. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > Hint: These are all explicitly - in fact, proudly - bigoted groups. So if you’re accusing me of thinking that some Brexit voters were bigots then - given that these bigots voted Brexit - you are, by some weird co-incidence, exactly right. Congratulations. You seem to have a hard time understanding words that are written and prefer to provide your own. Then you seem to get some perverse pleasure in assigning fault to others when 1) they take it at face value that you mean what you write, and 2) you substitute things they said for actual things they said. Hint for YOU: That’s not the way it works. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > \*I know you’ve got no intention of engaging with the OP, or any other posts I’ve made which might help clarify for you what I actually meant, so I mention this only in passing. More bullshit. Of course one can see that I actually did engage by asking you a question. Just because you didn’t like my question—and the answer, which is the headline of your post is true only in your own mind where you magically know the motivations of a solid majority of people that voted. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/155 "2016-06-27T15:51:38Z")
A vote for or against anything without any accompanying context is going to be interpreted by partisans of one view or another as “meaning” one thing or another. This is out of the control of the voter and inevitable. The best voters can do is understand this and weigh the potential consequences of their votes. If you do this and vote accordingly, then you really shouldn’t give a damn about how someone else is going to characterize it. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/156 "2016-06-27T16:22:23Z")
BBC reporter [racially abused today](https://twitter.com/sima_kotecha/status/747404962242633728) and there have been other incidents since the vote. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/157 "2016-06-27T16:49:56Z")
A [collection of front pages](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl9_kvnWYAABFBA.jpg:large) from a couple of newspapers that fed the anti-migrant attitude. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/158 "2016-06-27T19:00:45Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > A vote for or against anything without any accompanying context is going to be interpreted by partisans of one view or another as “meaning” one thing or another. This is out of the control of the voter and inevitable. The best voters can do is understand this and weigh the potential consequences of their votes. > > If you do this and vote accordingly, then you really shouldn’t give a damn about how someone else is going to characterize it. I agree with that. The OP is showing his biases. Of course there are people who had racist reasons for voting for Brexit. But even with them, I’d bet the vast majority of them had other reasons as well. For some maybe it was 90 %, for others maybe 10% And I’d say that there were also voted against Brexit for racist reasons, too. Those who want to put an end to a White majority as much as they can. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2016, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/159 "2016-06-27T19:03:04Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > A [collection of front pages](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cl9_kvnWYAABFBA.jpg:large) from a couple of newspapers that fed the anti-migrant attitude. Is it your opinion that all concerns about migrants coming in in large numbers is racist? Or even rac_ial?_ ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893/160 "2016-06-28T02:51:27Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Is it your opinion that all concerns about migrants coming in in large numbers is racist? Or even rac_ial?_ No, I agree with the assessments others have put forward here. There was clearly a racist edge to the Leave campaign, though, and its [repercussions are starting to be felt](http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/post-brexit-racist-attacks-soar-hate-crimes-reported-to-police-increase-57_uk_57714594e4b08d2c5639adcb). Police have said hate crime reports had risen by more than 50 per cent between Thursday and Sunday compared with the same period four weeks ago. Harriet Harman, former acting leader of the Labour Party, said: "“The leaders of the Brexit campaign have engendered an atmosphere where some people believe it is open season now for racism and xenophobia.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-vote-for-brexit-shouldnt-be-a-vote-for-bigotry-but-it-is/757893.md?page=9)