A short thread on #RemainerNow-acceptance. To my pleasure, I have noticed that when someone declares herself or himself a @RemainerNow the recepetion from the Remainer-community and particularly the #FBPE communitiy has been largely enthusiastic. 1/
However there invariably seem to be somebody that is so furious about the whole Brexit ordeal that they fire all cannons upon meeting a #Remainernow. I find that at the same time completely understandable and a very dumb move. 2/
It's completely understandable because Brexit is such an enormous act of stupidity on a national and international level that it must get tempers rising. In particular, of course, tempers with continuous remainers who have seen Brexit for the shambles it is from the start. 3/
To them the Leave voters en bloc are guilty of bringing the UK - and with it to a certain extent the EU - into hot waters, they is guilty of betraying the trust of the @The3Million, and of risking the chance for the EU to provide counterforce to totalitarian regimes globally. 4/
And they are right in one, very real, sense. It's not just a minor blunderer; it's a screw up of staggering proportions. 5/
However if you look at the people who come out as #RemainerNow they are almost to a person keenly aware of this. They are generally NOT in denial, and they are not making excuses; they are making apologies. 6/
(aside from the #genre researcher: the apology is a very interesting genre that can be studied in a fairly simple, but very convincing, rendering here: amydevitt.com/genre-colored-…) 7/
Not just that but when you read through the actual descriptions presented by #RemainerNow-people two things are readily apparent. One: Many of them had very good reasons for voting leave. Two: Most of them had very good reasons for their change of heart. 8/
Don´t get me wrong; by "very good reasons for voting leave", I don't mean anything that turns turns leave into a rational choice overall. But wanting to protest austerity, challenge Cameron, fund the NHS or shake up the establishment are completly relatable motives. 9/
They are misguided too as reasons to vote leave; but that is exactly what the #RemainerNow-people have been realizing. Too late to change their votes, but not too late to play a part in the attempt to overcome the catastrophe that is Brexit. 10/
Moreover, the very good reasons #RemainerNows have to change their stance are crucial, because they point to the arguments that have been proven capable of swaying a leave voter's opinion, so they are of a very particular value. 11/
Finally, as has been remarked a number of times, it takes courage to change your mind, it takes even more courage to apologize, and it takes a truckload of courage to do so publicly and in a way that may make you estranged to old friends without winning you new ones. 13/
As pro EU-peeps we should have every kindness towards the difficulty of that challenge and even if we deplore the original stance, we should admire the willingness to admit a serions mistake and come out in force for a new won (and much wiser) conviction. 14/
We need leave voters to change their minds, and then we need them to engage in changing the UK's catastrophic course, and we need them to help win over voters on the fence or on the other side of it. 15/
So we should meet our new #RemainerNow-allies as exactly allies and new-won friends. #FBPE 16/16
