A tragedy, a drama or a comedy – depending on our point of view. Too much has been written on the subject of Brexit. And yet, somehow, this article moved me more than I thought it was going to.
What I find most relevant for myself is what Cohen says about Brexit as being “an act of the imagination, inspired by an imaginary past, carried along by misdirected grievances, borne aloft by an imaginary future. The age of impunity is also the age of illusion turbocharged by social media.” And as if echoing what is happening in many other parts of this world, he continues explaining how the real British problems have been transferred by the Brexiters on the country’s membership to the EU. And if “inequality, poor infrastructure, low investment and inadequate schools” are real problems for the British society what can we say over here, in Romania, about the same issues? The pattern is, however, the same: the blame is somewhere else, not on us, not on our politicians.
And the verses of W.H. Auden written In Memory of W. B. Yeats are so haunting.
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;
Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye.
And yes, do read the Comments. Not all the 402, just the NYT picks.