Here we can all be heard for a little while. Part 3

Pyxis

Happy Birthday, Georgie!



. . . .

Waves_and_Smiles

Ooooh, double birthday! Happy Brithday's Georgie and Ono!!!

Pyxis

Penguin reply to Georgie and Lambyr........

Georgie, I do understand your concern about being lumped in with a group. I, too, am finding it annoying in the extreme that, being in the older half of the demographic, I am hearing that "I" have deprived the younger half of their future, when in fact, the opposite was true! Unfortunately, as ever, the voices that shout the loudest on the media are not those with the moderate, tolerant view.
I am positive that no-one on here thinks that you are a racist because of your voting preference. :A
I hope you have a really lovely day!


Lambyr, I really, really understand. Since yesterday morning, I have felt as if I were in a very strange, foreign country, with a strange ideology, and one which is alien and disconcerting in the extreme. I, too, don't know where I am any more.
I actually feel physically ill. The rather severe depression I was engulfed in before, due to family things, is worse, but in a way I don't actually recognise, which is scary, as I don't know what it is.

I think a period of quiet reflection is in order, over the summer, and beyond if necessary. As with any great shock/life change, it is inadvisable to make major decisions whilst in such a state of shock. :A
We all hold out our hands to you, you know.

dandy-candy

Happy birthday to those celebrating today!

I'm going to try and have a media blackout today. I have a cardi to re knit (it came out too big :mad: ) so I will stick on a few DVDs and do that today. I spent most of yesterday in my bed, but apparently so did a sneaky mossie and I now have 3 HUGE bites :eek:

I hope everyone has a calm day, you are welcome to spend it hiding in my bubble (especially if you bring chocolate )

Pyxis

dandy-candy wrote: »

Happy birthday to those celebrating today!

I'm going to try and have a media blackout today. I have a cardi to re knit (it came out too big :mad: ) so I will stick on a few DVDs and do that today. I spent most of yesterday in my bed, but apparently so did a sneaky mossie and I now have 3 HUGE bites :eek:

I hope everyone has a calm day, you are welcome to spend it hiding in my bubble (especially if you bring chocolate )

Yes, I'm going back into my bubble again in a minute, too.

seven-day-weekend

Penguin to Lambyr:

I voted Leave, for various reasons. I am neither racist not homophobic. Neither are my friends, who also voted Leave; in fact one has a transsexual sister and several are not White British.

In the media they will always show the worst case scenario. So they will show you those who ARE racist, or homophobic, or bigoted and narrow minded in some other way. Most people are not like that.

I have lived in an EU country for eight years and thoroughly recommend it. However, you must go for the right reasons, not run away because of fear or disillusionment, because you will just take those things with you. I have seen it happen time and time again during my eight years in Spain. The happiest people, and those who settle best, are the ones who come for a positive reason. Run towards something, not away from it. END.

Hope this helps, and I hope whatever decision you make, that you will find happiness xx

Waves_and_Smiles

Happy knitting, Dandy! Don't scratch those bites!

Big hugs, Pyxis. I will be thinking of you.

Aw, what a lovely post, SDW. Lovely to see you!

elsien

Happy birthday, birthday peoples.
:beer:

I am venturing into my [STRIKE]jungle[/STRIKE] garden for the first time in weeks. I think some fresh air and a bit of physical work will do me good.
I have a garden spike and chain, Gitdog securing for the purposes of. Am debating now if I'll get anything done even if he is tied up, but it seems mean to leave him inside.

elsien

Change of plan. Raining again.:(

Lambyr

Actual, final politics PENGUIN since E's running late and won't be here until 3pm now.

It goes far beyond LGBT concerns. Living in Brighton or anywhere else in the UK doesn't put me beyond the remit of a Westminster government that I do not trust, do not respect and do not wish to be subservient to, "elected" under a system I see no validity to.

Only leaving the United Kingdom (or England and Wales as it will soon be - so comically enough, Britain) does that.

While we were bound by the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and while we had higher courts than our own such as the European Court of Justice, the situation was not perfect but it was tolerable, although I still mooted the idea of resettling abroad.

Soon we will not have that, and then the UK can extricate itself from the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights (that the UK wrote in the first place) to draw up their own government-approved list of "rights".

For example (and this is one of many, many laws I take issue with) there is nothing to stop them implementing the Investigatory Powers Bill now. I don't want to live under constant surveillance with mass data collection as I believe such is in direct opposition to the lawful presumption of innocence. The ECJ would likely have stopped this, or at the very least curtailed a lot of what they want to do.

I want to live somewhere that respects my fundamental right to privacy; that respects my right to individualism in all areas of my life; that does not treat intellectualism and rationalism as something to be distrusted, dismissed or even mocked as Gove did; that aggressively pursues science as a means to benefit the species as Horizon 2020 does, not purely for capitalist gain; that seeks unity in diversity, not division based on perceived difference; that passes laws based on rationalism, not fear and moral panic; that isn't a nanny state.

The EU isn't perfect but the UK is less-perfect than the EU to me. I understand the complaints about the EU Council, Parliament, Commission and the bureaucracy but I saw the advantages of sitting down and discussing things to find compromise, common goals and all of that.

I used to be able to travel a lot when there was more help available to look after my mother. I embraced the countries I went to and wanted to learn more about them when I came home.

No doubt some will argue this is just a "grass is greener" argument but I've made real friends who live in other countries, who I have long conversations with regularly, who have invited me to their homes and let me live as they do, who actually miss me now I can't go there right now and even remember my bloody birthday without prompting! These people, their countries with their cultures and their laws make me feel welcome and accepted. That's why I felt more love for the EU Flag that Nigel wants to burn or whatever than I have ever felt for the Union flag or the St George's Cross.

The EU flag is a symbol of unity in diversity, it's a symbol of the potential that I saw in the EU.

I'm not ready or willing to let that go just yet. 52% of this country might, and that is absolutely fine. While I don't believe that the referendum itself was democratically legitimate, I'll accept that the result was democratically valid.

But I'm not going to sit down, accept all that comes from it with a smile. I'm out.

I've rewritten the above about eight times to try and not offend anyone with my views. I've probably failed and I'm sorry for that, but there is nothing else I can really say without writing a 30,000 word essay complete with citations and references. I've tried to summarise as much as I possibly can here. I've missed out plenty of things.

It does really go far beyond LGBT. It's the very things that define my personal identity. In absurdly simple terms, if you're trying to save the dolphins and whales, you're unlikely to sign a petition that would see our government give Japan £1bn to buy a bunch of new trawlers no matter how much they guaranteed they wouldn't hurt any dolphins and whales. I'm trying to save myself, and what I've seen shows me the best way to do that.

END PENGUIN