Forget Being Offended — Leave.EU’s Poster is Just Plain Wrong

As sure as shit sticks to a blanket, hardline Brexiters love nothing more than a hearty war analogy when discussing the UK’s departure from the EU.

Whether it’s Jacob Rees-Mogg comparing Brexit to the Battle of Waterloo or Mark Francois detailing the sacrifices of his D-Day veteran father as a response to the former Airbus CEO Tom Enders’ infuriatingly logical economic concerns, our political blowhards increasingly have more in common with Dad’s Army than the cast of Yes Minister.

Now, if you can feel the ground tremble beneath you at this stage, it’s probably because poor Reginald Francois is still turning in his grave like a rotisserie chicken that’s nowhere near done following his son’s cringe-inducing bombast.

However, if you find yourself nodding along at such bluster and nonsensical rhetoric, the chances are that you’re already too deep in the faux trenches to claw your way out. In this case, you’ll also have delighted in the latest attempt to present Brexit as a de facto Third World War, and one where ignorance and sham patriotism have been weaponised to devastating effect.

Why There’s Method in Leave.EU’s Madness

Unsurprisingly, the material in question was published by the shameless Leave.EU campaign, which remains shadier than the Amazon Basin during a solar eclipse.

Borrowing effortlessly from the finest work of both Joseph Goebbels and Basil Fawlty (which we admit is quite an achievement), the promotional ad seemed to depict Angela Merkel as Adolf Hitler, whilst beguiling Brexiters with the subtle tagline “We didn’t win two World Wars to be pushed around by a Kraut”.

The latest in Leave.EU’s subtle and avant-garde advertising campaign

Just to be sure that their message wasn’t lost in translation, Leave.EU even managed to use an image of Merkel in which she appeared to be performing a Hitler salute, although she could just have easily been hailing a taxi to escape Boris Johnson and his Mr. Tickle limbs.

Now, for anyone who isn’t a slathering racist or xenophobe, such an advert is deeply offensive, both to the people of Germany and the core values that have historically made the UK such a beacon for the rest of the world. Of course, it’s also easy to scoff at the sheer absurdity of Leave.EU and their rhetoric, but there’s undeniably method in the madness of their campaign.

To understand this further, you only need to observe the reaction to the ad. Whilst entrenched Brexiters hung on every word like sloths to a tree branch, most of us on the left have found ourselves outraged by the content and particularly the use of the word ‘kraut’ (which also happens to be about as topical as wearing double denim to watch a Jean-Claude Van Damme flick).

Now, this isn’t to say that we shouldn’t be outraged or offended by the ad, even in an age where these emotions seemed to be evoked by the tiniest of infractions.

However, the main point to consider is that causing offense is the sole intent of Leave.EU’s messaging, as the campaign looks to distract us from the absurdity and irrationality of their claims by ensuring that both sides of the political divide remain suitably furious and at odds with each other.

In truth, this has been the methodology of the right and the alt right for decades; and there’s a genuinely good reason for this. Firstly, inherently nationalist and isolationist notions such as Brexit aren’t born in a vacuum, as they need sustained exposure if they’re to galvanise an electorate and ultimately come to fruition.

When such notions are based primarily on deep-rooted prejudice, irrational hatred and a fundamental lack of understanding, however, how can you expose them without revealing them to be spiteful and vacuous constructs that they are?

To begin with, you lie, lie again and then lie some more, and unfortunately for those involved this is something that Leave.EU and the official Leave Campaign have managed to accomplish with all the mastery of Ryan Giggs after a mysterious long weekend away from the marital home.

Secondly, and most importantly, you deploy provocative messaging that perpetuates the anger on both sides of the divide and prevents them from debating the underlying facts of the matter.

In this case, Brexiters remain enraged at the mere suggestion that a German leader may be telling us what to do (we used to own or at least colonise two-thirds of the world, don’t you know?), whereas Remainers become outraged at the offensive nature of the messaging and the almost inevitable use of an outdated racial slur.

Why We Should Tackle the Nature of the Content Rather Than the Delivery

So, as both sides of the Brexit divide continue to butt heads about Leave.EU’s latest homage the most toe-curling 1970s sitcoms, there simply isn’t enough focus on the fact that their vile words are also wrong from a purely factual perspective.

Of course, explaining this in an attempt to stir hardline Brextremists from their rage is like shaking sand from a sock, but those of us on the Remain side of the debate should strive to cast aside our outrage and instead hold campaigners to account for the spurious nature of their claims.

The principle defence put forward by chief bankroller and Brexit kingpin Aaron Banks was that Germany remains the dominant force in Europe, which of course remains a major source of concern for anyone who retains an underground bunker and regularly sports a tin foil hat.

However, to us liberal lefties who reside in our comforting echo-chambers, Germany’s prominent position in the EU is at least partially due to the fact that they have the largest economy in Europe (peaking at $4.7 trillion at the latest count).

Whisper it quietly, but it also has a great deal to do with the fact that the Germans have actively engaged in the European project, and used their influence to shape legislation for the benefit of them and their fellow members.

As for the UK, we actually have the second biggest EU economy with an estimated value of $3 trillion (for now, at least). Despite apparently being controlled by our oppressive German neighbours, we’ve also lead the way in several high-profile trade negotiations and claimed the majority share of the single blocs’ thriving financial services market.

At the same time, we’ve even managed to negotiate a superior membership deal from a Eurosceptic perspective, as our EU bindings don’t include being part of the Schengen agreement or the single currency.

Herein lies the real difference between Germany and the UK; as whilst the former have fully embraced the core values of the EU and sought to influence the union for the better, we’ve simply leveraged membership for our own ends and showed no discernible interesting in collaborating for the greater good.

As for the notion that Angela Merkel is telling us what to do, this is also palpably absurd in the context of discussions between the UK and a total of 27 member states who each have an equal say in the final outcome.

Not only this, but the people railing against the idea of being dictated to by a foreign power are the same individuals who urged Theresa May’s government to adopt an ultra-aggressive negotiation stance three years ago, which in purely technical terms equated to raising two fingers to our European friends and neighbours if they failed to yield to our demands.

Sadly, critical thinking isn’t synonymous with the most hardened of Brexiters, which is why many have spent the last few weeks railing at the very embodiments of democracy and Parliamentary sovereignty that they were apparently looking to restore when they voted back in June 2016.

As a result, they’ll continue to rage the notion of being bossed around by a German, despite it being factually inaccurate and the fact that they’ve spent the best part of 41 months imploring the UK impose their will on an entire continent. The Last Word

At this point, it should be noted that the aforementioned Aaron Banks has apologised for Leave.EU’s deliberately controversial ad.

In keeping with the entire Leave campaign, however, this token concession came far too late in the day to mitigate the impact of the content in the minds of voters, whilst in terms of repairing up the UK’s shattered reputation on the global stage it’s akin to using a hot dog to fill in a disused well.

This scant and half-hearted remorse aside, there’s a lesson to be learned from our response to the latest Leave.EU campaign ad, particularly if you’re a remain voter who spends as much time being outraged these days as you do frequenting the toilet.

More specifically, we need to avoid the deliberate and emotive traps set by rabble-rousers like Aaron Banks and Anne Widdicombe, and instead start calling them out on the content of their words rather than the overtly offensive way in which they deliver them.

Only then can we start to pick apart their threadbare and often nonsensical arguments, and begin to reintroduce facts and reasoning into political debate in the UK.

Originally published at https://medium.com on October 13, 2019.