'B' has divided the country, but families too ...

To vote Leave does not imply that the voter is racist. A Leave vote implies that the voter is has succumbed to a nationalist slogan and fails to understand who the politicians are who want to leave Europe and cleave to the US instead.

You mean that they are thick, then, Alexa, or at least uneducated.

Unlike those who voted remain.

What is your definition of elderly?
And, if you learnt so much from your parents, why do you not think that others learnt from theirs too?

Callistemon, Sure we all learn from our parents.

I personally am not 'thick' and neither is any gran here 'thick'.

Like the majority of posters to Gransnet I am politically uneducated. My Remain response was almost entirely an expression of my cultural background which was and is liberal and democratic.

But you explained in your previous post your definition of a leave voter - one who believes nationalist slogans and fails to understand political implications.
That is very disparaging.

Am I alone in being a remain voter who knows many people who voted leave but are highly educated, thoughtful, politically savvy, have vast experience between them of the business world, the financial world, are much-travelled and not at all racist?

I agree Callistemon. I, too, am a remainer and I was surprised after the referendum by some of my friends who voted leave. I would never have put them down as leavers. They had a variety of reasons for their vote and though I don't agree with them I respect their decision.

I have been surprised by by many I know, both young (voted Brexit) and old, Framilode - and interested.

But there has been no falling out.

"Am I alone in being a remain voter who knows many people who voted leave but are highly educated, thoughtful, politically savvy, have vast experience between them of the business world, the financial world, are much-travelled and not at all racist?"

You may not be alone in this but it is unusual. I can only guess that the individuals of whom you speak are perhaps quite rich and are going to profit from trade with the USA . It's very difficult for me (for instance) to see how quitting European trade for American trade could be economically justifiable.

No, not rich - not on the poverty line but what I would call comfortable. I doubt very much that they will be profiting from trade with the USA!

Is it so unbelievable that educated, thoughtful and well-informed people voted leave without ulterior motives of getting rich?

"But you explained in your previous post your definition of a leave voter - one who believes nationalist slogans and fails to understand political implications.
That is very disparaging."

Yes, Callistemon, it is. If Leavers were able to explain why they so chose I'd respect their choice a little more despite that I'd deplore it.

Is it so unbelievable that educated, thoughtful and well-informed people voted leave without ulterior motives of getting rich?

Yes, it is. I spent the weekend with several such people who voted leave. All have degrees, all of them work or worked in the public sector at a reasonably senior level. Only one was over 50. I cannot see any way any of them can get rich as a result of Brexit or even hope to get rich as a result. But they thought the matter through

A member of my own family, degree, thoughtful and, as a result of her job, very well informed indeed, thought long and hard about voting leave. The final decision to vote Remain, was very marginal indeed.

I do wish people wouldn't make indefensible statements like this. It undermines their credibility.

And causes division.

I don't claim to have any credibility whatsoever. I am disadvantaged that I have not so far understood any reason to vote for the Brexit Party.

No, callistemon, you are not the only one and not one of the people I know who voted leave would be classed as racist.

A Leave vote implies that the voter is has succumbed to a nationalist slogan and fails to understand who the politicians are who want to leave Europe and cleave to the US instead.

What condescending tripe Alexa

Leave voters have no comprehension skills, cannot read, wear blindfolds, etc, etc, etc.

Utter rubbish. I know who I won't vote for too, and the reasons why.

And still the disgraceful caricature of the Leave voter is promoted by remainers, still sore losers.

You do not hear it very often but Leave was endorsed by one in three of Britain’s black and minority ethnic voters, large numbers of affluent conservatives, nearly half of 25-49-year olds, one in two women, four in ten people in London, and one in four graduates. We’ve heard much from Boston but nothing from Birmingham. We’ve heard much from retirement homes and working men’s clubs but nothing from university campuses or the cricket grounds

The above from Professor Matthew Goodwin, academic, speaker, writer. Professor of politics at the University of Kent.

Well, I don't know all that many people but, of those I do know that voted leave, they are people that tend to slip comments about 'foreigners' into conversations that have nothing to do with politics etc. I don't actually know why they do it and have reached a point where I might ask them why as I never mention 'foreigners' in everyday conversations with people. My partner spent an hour waiting for me at a dog training session and spent the whole hour having to listen to comments about 'foreigners' from someone who ran the course and someone else who was waiting for his wife. Every time he tried to steer the conversation away into something else it went back to 'foreigners' ; neither of them noticed that he wasn't agreeing with them. Another friend who is an arch brexiteer can't bear going into large cities because they are full of foreigners. Of all of my remain friends I can't think of any instance where they have brought the topic of foreigners into everyday conversation. However, as I've said, I don't know all that many people. [I no longer go to the training class....]

No one is denying SOME people are racist. They were racist before 2016 too.

Ignorance abounds but it happens all over the world, not just in the UK and not because we are leaving a Brussels-based-trading bloc (which has morphed into a lot more over the years, but that's for another thread.)

Most of us are looking at Remainers who try to portray the people who voted differently from them as nasty, ignorant, thick and racist.

It crops up time and time again on GN. Look at the top of this page. If that awful remark by Alexa wasn't contentious I'd suggest you Labaik try to justify it.

I'd just have to say yet again that not all leave voters are racist but all racists are leave voters. And I don't see how anyone can think otherwise. You only have to look at the sort of people that turn up for their marches.

Just doing a bit of googling to check if eg the BNP; EDL etc are Brexit supporters and found this....“There is a link between economic pessimism and a hatred of the other. These people, BNP voters, are the most vocal Brexit voters, and they went from the most pessimistic to the most optimistic after the referendum. Our concern is that the areas where these people live, often the industrial towns, will be the ones hurt most. We don’t know yet how they will react but we know Nigel Farage and Aaron Banks [Ukip’s main financier] are planning a new populist movement. If the mainstream political parties, particularly on the left, aren’t ready for that, they will be in trouble.” ok; it's not from this year but I don't think things have changed other than UKIP is now The Brexit Party.

Always been thus - was exactly the situation in Germany in the early 30s.

There may be parallels, but we are not repeat not experiencing “exactly the same situation “as Germany in the 30’s. Not by a long way.
Doesn’t mean it’s good , but that was many, many times worse with the additional consideration of worldwide economic factors.

And still the disgraceful caricature of the Leave voter is promoted by remainers, still sore losers.

Sorry, this not correct either. There are plenty of Remainers who respect those who chose to vote Leave and also accepted the result of the referendum from the time it was announced.

I should have said 'many' Remain voters. Apologies.

I know some remain voters, good friends and ex colleagues who have accepted the result and have no axe to grind, nor do they repeatedly hurl abuse or try to demean or belittle those who voted to leave the EU.

It may be, as I mentioned earlier, we get a skewed sense of what is going on from heated online opinion columns or message board sites like GN. Keyboard warriors abound. In my interaction with others, face to face, we are all very civil and respectful.

People who have LibDem posters on their houses are getting paint thrown over the house/car etc. People going on Peoples Vote marches are beaten up on the way home etc. How can anyone not be concerned that this is happening in this country?

Really Labaik ?
My three year old DGS has been on 3 People’s Marches in his three short years and there is no way his parents would have contemplated putting him at any risk.
Infinitely more violence in the recent pro- Brexit march and no one in their right minds would have gone within miles of that.

People going on Peoples Vote marches are beaten up on the way home etc.

Hmmm.Is this a widespread phenomenon Labaik, a common occurrence? Exactly how many People's Vote marches have there been and how many marchers have been hospitalised and how many thugs have been caught?

Please givers us numbers as this sounds like a crime wave sweeping Britain. Thuggish and hateful behaviour. Well I never.

I think we should also be concerned about the thugs who attack pensioners, and the thugs who steal and the thugs who spray hate messages on walls....and the thugs who steal flowers from graves...etc, etc, etc. So many thuggish people abound.

I think you'll find most of us abhor violence, be it left or right wing, or remainer or leave motivated. Thugs exist. I had a pot of red paint thrown at me by a yob many years ago on my way out of a polling station in Surrey. He yelled "Tory scum". It hit several of us voters, including the Labour Party councillor with his rosette, who condemned left wing violence.

It happens. It's not nice. Never has been.