I read an absolutely fascinating piece in The Daily Telegraph by Nobel Peace Prize winner Daniel Kahnemann yesterday, confirming many of my inner thoughts with regards to the mindset of many British people as we approach the EU referendum.

Basically, the less knowledgeable we are, we are more likely to be dictated to and manipulated by bullies with an agenda of taking ignorance and using it as a tool to create fear of immigration and push to one side all other aspects of the EU, including, most importantly, trade, employment and security.

The ignorant unwittingly find themselves in a position where they are voting against their best interests because they think it makes them look like a tough, no-nonsense fountain of knowledge of what is best for Britain, posting pictures of Winston Churchill on social media saying things like ‘EU Fuck You.‘

The irony of this of course, is that against the Fascist wishes of many wealthy politicians, media barons and members of the aristocracy in the 1930’s (do you see a link there?) Churchill, along with the allied forces, fought against nationalism and isolationism, not for it.

Both world wars were preceded by nationalism and isolationism, which, in my opinion, is well worth taking note of as Farage, Johnson and Gove campaign to virtually replicate those ideologies. They may dilute their campaign to suit, but if you care to get to the guts of their agendas and those who support them, it is national socialism recycled and rebranded.

It gets worse than that because as Kahnemann explains in his article, when things don’t go according to plan during nationalism, you won’t find someone like Farage taking responsibility and saying, “Sorry, this isn’t working” when there is an employment crisis or a run on the pound.  The instinct of nationalists is to lash out and blame others, the others being foreigners of course.

Many of the tough, no nonsense types who are issuing aggressive ‘OUT’ messages on social media, come from employment sectors such as construction, manufacturing and transport, all of which could suffer dramatically from leaving the EU. Yet they are still prepared to attach themselves to bullies and billionaire media barons who are so patriotic they live abroad and pay no taxes…Murdoch is Australian for Christ’s sake!

Out of all the ideologies that have evolved over the centuries, nationalism has been one of the most disastrous, causing economic collapse and catastrophic wars where millions needlessly perished, so it really is time we grew up, ridiculed all the clowns who advocate it and move on to try to make the world a more united place.

Making up quotes about what Churchill would not have said to the EU, isn’t particularly tough and isn’t based on any historical evidence and quoting the comments page in The Sun or Daily Express is just plain ignorance based on laziness.

Nothing positive comes from nationalism or isolation…check your history books if you don’t believe me.

See Daniel Kahnemann’s article here.