MAP Forum

Not Forever wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 4:27 pm By ‘tampon tax,’ do you mean VAT? We tax toilet paper too, for that matter.

Anyway, if you’re upset or frustrated, I recommend watching the anime A Journey Through Another World: Raising Kids While Adventuring — it’s super cute.

CantChainTheSpirit wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 5:12 pm I try to avoid the trap of labeling people as liberals or other groups, actually people are just people with opinions, usually a different mix.

Brexit to me was a complicated issue. Many Brits have European spouses and kids, having freedom of movement come in that could break apart families or at least make it harder to move about to see family and friends isn't going to be popular with them. Or businesses that depends on free trade, or easy access to skills and resource across Europe. Leaving the EU impacts a lot of people in different ways and would obviously result in economic impact. It isn't liberal to want to protect your business, job or family.

But I also understand why a lot of people wanted to leave the EU as well because Europe isn't perfect.

But to me the problem was the obvious lies around that whole debate. A bus driving around claiming hundreds of millions of pounds would be going to the NHS each week, then after winning Brexit just grinning at the camera and saying "well we didn't really mean that". It was a dirty campaign from both sides, the outcome was based on a mix of lies and emotional twisting rather than real facts or debate.

My view is leaving the EU was the wrong result, but I don't get upset by it because the result is what it is. The point of democracy is we don't get our own way on everything, we just have a voice and accept the majority.

DANAT4T wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 6:06 pmThe good people of Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty but the EU fascists said 'how dare you'. Are the Irish just 'alcoholic' idiots. Then the EU fascists violated Irish tax sovereignty. How the EU fascists are destroying rural life. EU fascists bribed Irish government to have another referendum. I end with the most shocking EU fascism. The Greek people were treated with indignity but I suppose it's all okay because businesses have an endless supply of cheap labour.

Not Forever wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 6:25 pm

DANAT4T wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 6:06 pmThe good people of Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty but the EU fascists said 'how dare you'. Are the Irish just 'alcoholic' idiots. Then the EU fascists violated Irish tax sovereignty. How the EU fascists are destroying rural life. EU fascists bribed Irish government to have another referendum. I end with the most shocking EU fascism. The Greek people were treated with indignity but I suppose it's all okay because businesses have an endless supply of cheap labour.

I’m not really aligned with talking about fascism (though I’d agree to talk about political pressure), but when you talked about Greece you brought back some bad memories. Seriously, how can something be called the “European Union” when, at the first problem, it labels the countries in the most difficulty as “PIIGS”?

I didn’t follow the issue that closely, but I remember that during Brexit I was telling myself: this is where we’ll see whether the European Union makes sense as an institution. If Brexit turns out to be peaceful, then it will make sense for the EU to move forward; if it behaves in a vindictive way, it would be better for this monster to die as soon as possible.

DANAT4T wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 6:06 pm The good people of Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty but the EU fascists said 'how dare you'. Are the Irish just 'alcoholic' idiots. Then the EU fascists violated Irish tax sovereignty. How the EU fascists are destroying rural life. EU fascists bribed Irish government to have another referendum. I end with the most shocking EU fascism. The Greek people were treated with indignity but I suppose it's all okay because businesses have an endless supply of cheap labour.

CantChainTheSpirit wrote: Sun Jan 25, 2026 11:55 pm

DANAT4T wrote: Fri Jan 23, 2026 6:06 pm The good people of Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty but the EU fascists said 'how dare you'. Are the Irish just 'alcoholic' idiots. Then the EU fascists violated Irish tax sovereignty. How the EU fascists are destroying rural life. EU fascists bribed Irish government to have another referendum. I end with the most shocking EU fascism. The Greek people were treated with indignity but I suppose it's all okay because businesses have an endless supply of cheap labour.

I avoid that kind of language because it's extreme in nature and doesn't really reflect reality. The EU isn't calling the Irish alcoholic idiots. The EU are not fascists. Just because we don't agree with someone we shouldn't resort to name calling and painting extreme images of them. It's like when people start comparing people to Hitler or call this group fascist or that group Nazi's, just because they have a different view about some policy that usually doesn't even affect us. The media loves to get people angry and full of hate and rage, it's great for selling newspapers, but it's not good for society or for citizens who just want to go to work, earn a wage, provide for their families and make something of their lives. Politics is just a distraction.