Count de Monet: It is said that the people are revolting.
King Louis XVI: You said it! They stink on ice!
History of the World: Part I
An amazing thing happened during the counting of the Brexit votes in Great Britain. The early returns showed a comfortable lead for those who wished to remain in the European Union. The political establishment must have been breathing a sigh of relief...until the returns from the city of Sunderland, England were announced with a lopsided vote of 61% to leave which put that group ahead. Suddenly it was like the world turned upside down for the pro-EU people and a strong portent of what was to come...the ultimate leave victory.
As a result, many in the media began wondering what was "wrong" with the leave folks, particularly those of Sunderland who upset their glorious vision of a European superstate. Among those in the media seeking answers as to why Sunderland voted so strongly to leave was Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura in a New York Times article just oozing with disgusted condescension towards those voters who ruined her liberal globalist dreams:
Sunderland stunned the country when voters overwhelmingly opted to leave Europe in Thursday’s referendum, by 61 percent to 39 percent. It was a far higher vote for Britain’s exit than pollsters had predicted, and it was the first sign that Prime Minister David Cameron’s gamble on staying in the bloc had lost.
Sunderland’s citizens seem to have voted against their own interests. Not only has the city been a big recipient of European money, it is also the home of a Nissan car factory, Britain’s largest, and automobiles produced there are exported, duty free, to Europe. The plant, which absorbed workers from the dying shipyards after it opened 30 years ago, became a symbol of the benefits of European Union membership, and Nissan opposed the British exit.
Ugh! What's wrong with you people? Don't you even know what is best for you?
Sunderland’s decision was also a vote against the Labour Party, which pushed for Britain to remain in the union but is no longer seen by many voters in Sunderland as a champion of the working class. Instead, they and working-class voters across Britain are increasingly moving right over the issue of immigration, switching to the anti-Brussels, anti-immigrant U.K. Independence Party, which campaigned for the exit so Britain could control its borders.
Ah yes! No liberal article slamming the leave vote is complete without playing the old xenophobia card at least once.
In Sunderland, a city of 273,000 on the North Sea coast, there were few signs of “bregret” or “regrexit” — terms shared on social media to describe the pangs of remorse some felt as they watched billions of dollars get wiped off world markets.
How dare they not regret their stupid vote!
You can see just how much the Brexit vote sent Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura and other liberal journalists into a tailspin by taking a look at a sampling of her Twitter retweets:
Chin up, Britain. After the Tang dynasty fell it only took us 1100 years to regain global influence. You’ll be back in the saddle by 3116CE.
— The Relevant Organs (@relevantorgans) June 24, 2016
Seventy five percent of people under the age of 25 voted Remain. What a betrayal of them
— Gideon Rachman (@gideonrachman) June 24, 2016
It took the UK a couple of days to achieve a level of political dysfunction that took Lebanon decades to perfect.
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) June 27, 2016
We have no pictorial record yet of the look on Kimiko's face when the game changing Sunderland Brexit vote was announced but we can have a good idea of her attitude by viewing the startled reaction of the British official in the video below announcing those results. Pay close attention to the 1:06 mark when she looked as if she were choking on her own words announcing the lopsided leave victory as a wave of grief and despair instantly swept across her face. As with Kimiko, her world was truly turned upside down.
