The Brexit result keeps reminding me of one of my favourite films – The Shawshank Redemption.
And the Remainers are starting to remind me of one of the characters.
The scene where poor old Brooks Hatlen, incarcerated for most of his adult life and institutionalised beyond redemption, considers with terror his impending parole and what it means for him.
That feeling he had of “What do I do now?” clearly resonates with Remainers very strongly.
Whereas I think of it quite differently, as the feeling of freedom – the mixture of hope and uncertainty that Morgan Freeman’s character Red speaks of on his bus ride to the Mexican border.
“I find I’m so excited that I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it’s the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at a start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain”
Not everyone is excited of course – we are surrounded by institutional men.
And they are responding just as Brooks Hatlen did – lashing out in fear and confusion, desperately trying to engineer a situation that will result in being able to remain in their prison.
My fear now is that because those with power are too institutionalised by the grey straitjacket of the State and the EU, we are about to have a Brooks Hatlen Problem.
Brooks Hatlen is also a useful example of those running our country for the EU – in prison Brooks was an important man, and was well respected.
Outside in the real world he was just an old crook.
My concern is that they are so institutionalised that the cannot be talked out of their plans – they are so terrified of the cold outside and so dependent on their cosy sinecures that they are about to do something irresponsible, unreasonable and even unconscionable in pursuit of their personal and professional safety.
They are about to keep us all incarcerated in our common prison, simply because THEY cannot bear the thought of the outside.
These fearful souls need to get busy livin’.
They need to get busy die’in more like. Since that is what they have already wished on us multiple times. The FFC is the danger. With clear water –sellout to EU by Agent COB/ a good Brexit with the FFC –BluLab could still win the next election. Not good in itself but infinitely better than the alternative. But a sellout on both sides makes COB and the end of the UK vastly more likely. Indeed it can be argued that the fucking Tory Party’s lack of vigilance against CM infiltraition has put us the present incredibly dangerous situation. Although –having… Read more »
Unfortunately it looks that way. But having a remainer (May) in charge and watching her run back and forth asking the EU to please meet us at the negotiating table didnt seem wise in my view anyway. What irks me is we had a party who planned and prepared for our exit (Farage’s UKIP) but people went with the ‘safer’ tories and got this.
Fuck off Twatty–you can’t manage to post your OCD C&P shite in the right piece.
Even your fat flatulent friend Richard Murphy wouldn’t have made that mistake.
As long UK keeps paying then I’m sure EU will be more than happy to keep extending the transition.
How a group that was bargaining from such a strong position could just roll over is beyond belief.
Continuity Remain are like a man on a lifeboat leaving the Titanic, who turns around to look at the still brightly lit promenade deck, contrasts that with the cold, dark sea, and demands to be rowed back.
They’re so terrified of the outside, that they’re even arguing that their own stupidity and incompenetence is wht we should remain in the EU. We need to stay in the EU to stop the Evul Toreez – because non-Tories will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever win an election ever ever. We need to stay in the EU to keep legal rights and protections – because given the first chance we’re so stupid we’ll willing hack off those protections we’ve spent centuries building up. Basically, we are so thick, so stupid, so incompetant, we are but children… Read more »
I see what you’re saying, but there’s a big difference. A prisoner might have to adapt, but after a short time, he’s going to be better off. This is about loyalty and power. These people are often part of the establishment in some way. They’ve made their bones getting wanky degrees, carrying out the right behaviours (mentioning the Guardian, going to Glastonbury), not carrying out the wrong behaviours (mentioning Samizdata, going to strip clubs) established relationships with higher ups in the establishment. And they have little value outside the establishment. And what they’re scared of is any disruption because that… Read more »
Perhaps these EU apparatchiks remember that the kapos were immediately murdered by the inmates when the concentration camps were liberated.
Good analogy. I hadn’t thought of Brexit that way before.