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To clarify, I didn’t and never would vote leave, but a friend of mine did. I have seen tons of tweets on today’s trending calling people stupid and more. My friend was freshly turned 18 with little to no political education. She was very young and voted with her parents. 1/10
She also told me the bus was a factor in her decision which is easy to see why when she was young and politically uninformed. Going go uni opened her eyes to the world, she learned more about what her vote means and a well of emotions built up. 2/10
One night she messaged me absolutely distraught over her vote. She felt all kinds of things from guilt to shame to anger to questioning if she’s a good person. In fact she was petrified to tell me and her boyfriend about how she voted for fear she’d loose us. 3/10
Nobody should have to feel that way over what was their very first vote. The damage is done, but blaming and calling people stupid will get you nowhere and could have drastic impacts on their mental health, as was the case for my friend. We need to have more compassion. 4/10
It is interesting to me, because remainers have this idea that leavers are all racist or bigots or rich or tories or generally not nice and hateful people. Yet remainers treat leavers with that exact same distain. 5/10
They don’t see the rain falling from the sky, just the sea it lands in. All the same, just water. They don’t think about each individual person and what may have occurred in their life to lead them to that decision. 6/10
In my friends case she has learnt from what happened, is now politically informed and has voted differently ever since. But throughout uni this was on her mind and it really did impact her mental health. 7/10
She is one young woman and shouldn’t hold the weight of a nation on her shoulder. We need to give people the space to reflect and learn. Anger and hate only alienates people, it pushes them away. Makes them firm in their boots, unwilling to try on a new pair. 8/10
Hate only divides and makes what is already a bad situation worse. Have some compassion, learn why a person thinks the way they do or did what they did - then give them the chance to learn. Plant the seed, nurture it, help it grow. But whatever you do, don’t hate. 9/10
Don’t let hate infect you, don’t let it turn you into a reflection of what you think a leave voter is. We can have a better future, but we have to stop the hate. Be angry yes, but harness it, explain why you are angry. Make them understand you, but do not hate. 10/10
