NEWS
EVENTS
Grandma Knows Best: Brexit
Shout out to the 60% of pensioners who voted to leave the EU last week. With a huge amount (75%) of 18 to 24 year olds voting to remain, it's almost laughable that the majority have been outvoted by the people who won't be around for much longer. A friend described it in all it's eloquent glory: "On behalf of the younger generations... not cool That's like farting in a busy lift just before you get out". But with a hint of lost notalgia and a sprinkle of xenophobia, it's not surprising that the ones on their way out feel it acceptable to determine such a heavy fate for the generations after them.
Why are people over the age of 50 allowed to vote anyway? They've enjoyed long careers whilst being a member of the EU and in a single trade, revelling in the economic growth and all the benefits that came with it. But whilst in their retirement, with no real need to expand on their work life and zero need to get on the housing market, it's all to easy to decide what they think is best for the country. Sure, you can buy cigarettes at 16, legally have sex but god forbid a 17 year old might have a say in the country that they are the future of.
It's no secret that the younger generation are becoming more and more politically engaged and whilst we'll always get the odd BTEC Becky from Sunderland who thinks that brown people are stealing the job that she didn't even apply for, the younger generation are generally making it their business to get more involved in politics and so should surely be given the right to speak up about it in the form of a vote. But a 70 year old almost on the way out has the full right to decide on the living conditions of the people that will actually live to experience the changes. Right..
With hardly any jobs as it is, limited housing possibilities and a £30k student finance debt, we've now been denied the right to live and work in 27 other countries. Sick one!
We're not sure if it's some pathetic fearmongering over immigration disguised behind "let's look after this country first!" or perhaps people genuinely believe that contractually divorcing an entire continent will see this great land rise but the simple, non-negotiable facts are that big business have already started considering moving their staff elsewhere, stock markets have crashed and the pound is at an incomprehensible low - a 30 year low against the dollar. And we're all thinking the same thing here. How much will a once 10p Freddo cost us now? Mental.
Oh! And another big shout out to the knobs who voted then posted videos spewing waffle like, "if I knew how bad it would be, I wouldn't have voted leave". Just please. Stop.
I suppose there's the obvious argument that being the older generation means being more informed. But how about no. If in 2016, you get most or all of your news from print, there's no way that you can be a well informed voter, no way at all. I have zero problem disenfranchising old people. If they're old enough to enjoy bingo, all this tells me is that going to a polling station is a fucking outing for them.
I also can't trust anyone who isn't on Twitter (which a lot of old people aren't). I spoke to a woman in her fifties this morning who said this sentence to me: "Oh, I think we're doing very well on our Twittergram"
FUCK
It's a harsh reality but if a drivers licence is taken away after a certain age because the age deems them unfit to drive, the exact same could be applied to voting. If a 16 year old who is politically engaged and with an economic, financial and political future isn't allowed to vote because they're not "developed" or "mature" enough, an 80 year old who deliriously dreams of the "good old days of Great Britain" shouldn't go anywhere near a polling station. In an ideal world, nobody should be refused the right to vote but as we live in that sort of arrangement, we may as well do it properly.
And whilst we're on the subject, why can't we put a mandatory IQ test in place for every single person who wishes to vote? The sheer fact that the internet got bombarded with beautiful souls regretting their pro-Brexit decision is testament enough to the lack of effort that alot of people put in to a vote that has most certainly changed this country forever. A decision as permanent as leaving the EU shouldn't be something that we're voting on in the first place and on top of that we've got the BTEC Beckys of this great country googling "what is the eu" AFTER VOTING.
HOW??
HOW??
HOW??
HOW??
HOW??
HOW??
But hey, there is always Australia where the sky is blue, the beer is cold and the people aren't cunts. I'm tapping out.
