Brexit

It's been well over a week since the UK held a referendum on whether or not to leave the EU.

Normally, I avoid talking about current events here because they don't affect me on a personal level. This, however, had a very strong impact on me.

British politics is going crazy at the moment. People are coming out of the woodwork claiming they regret their Leave vote, while it turns out a lot of people didn't go vote Remain because the weather wasn't nice. Farage is insulting EU politicians while The Guardian proclaims him as some kind of Messiah. Seemingly everyone is pushing for Corbyn to resign. Everyone and their mum is running for Prime Minister. Brexit promises are denied, like they never happened. There are protests on the streets of London. There's a petition for another referendum.

There's probably a lot of other nonsense going on too amid all this chaos.

As for me, I'm not sure what to think. I'm more worried about others and what this will mean for the economy of the British Isle than myself personally. When the results came in, a lot of my friends started talking about getting passports of other EU countries and figuring out ways to move out of the UK.

It saddens me to hear that. This whole referendum saddens me in general. When I first voiced my emotions, I was met with reassurances that no one is going to be kicking out EU-nationals. Whether that's the case or not isn't an issue for me. I would ideally prefer to keep my life the way it is and work on improving it rather than be forced to start over, obviously, but my gripes are mainly ideological.

I moved to England because at the time I thought of it as a progressive and cosmopolitan country. Precisely the kind of place I wanted to live in. I was tired of living among people who'd judge others based on arbitrary qualities like where they were born, who they were attracted to or what their interests were.

I've met some great people over here in Brighton who helped me through some harsh times. Although I haven't been subject to any 'racist' attacks, which are on the rise since the referendum, I can't help but wonder. If all the people I care about were to leave and I'm left in a country of nationalistic bigots, what's the point of staying here at all?