Brexit as Seen on Twitter

What a turn of events in the last 24 hours. I didn't think the majority of UK voters would vote to leave the European Union, and in the absence of reliable polling, that was a reasonable thing to think. But I was wrong.

Here's what some folks on Twitter have had to say about it. Not surprisingly, some of the tweets have echoes that speak to the U.S. presidential election.

In a challenging and xenophobic era, we need courage. Greater courage is gained thru community, reflection, and vision for change!
Jennifer Godinez

Your WTF of the day: only 30% of Leave voters thought the UK would actually Leave. The others thought they could get away with a protest.
Mark Chadbourn

Good lesson for the U.S.: "Protest" votes don't know they're not supposed to count.
Nicole David ‏@obbiecole

Dear NPR: you better start being able to utter the words "racist" instead of "populist" or you'll be partly to blame for what comes.
Clara Jeffery

U.S. must lead now more than ever: address economic inequality, reform immigration, value diversity, say NO to racism and fear mongering.
Carlos Mariani

So in one hour by voting Leave, Britain lost more money than they paid to the EU since they joined in 1975...Take a while to digest that one.
Jean-Micheal Veen ‏@jbrveen

The weird thing is, Britain is the country with the *weakest* case that the EU was hurting it. It'd make more sense for Germans to flee fiscal obligations to the south, or Greeks to flee the deflationary shackles of the Euro.
Josh Barro

Globalization and neoliberalism might have worked better had its architects allowed regular people to benefit from it.
Joseph Nathan Cohen

The most invasive civilization in the HISTORY of the entire planet cannot fathom sharing their country with immigrants.
Aokiji ‏@DukeOfZamunda

This decade is shaping up to be as chaotic as the 60s. But we don't have the upside of moon landings and new Beatles records.
Andy Ihnatko

Elites think they can manage the anger that occurs because of inequality. Tonight they learned they are wrong.
Helaine Olen

Age breakdown on Brexit polls tells the underlying story. The older generation voted for a future the younger don't want:


Murtaza Hussain

So now the U.S. understands what it feels like to have other people cast stupid votes that affect the rest of the world.
Jorge Guajardo

A lesson that was learned in WWII: You can only let regular people struggle so much economically before endangering a political-economic system.
Joseph Nathan Cohen

I don't want a future in which politics is primarily a battle between cosmopolitan finance capitalism and ethno-nationalist backlash.
Christopher Hayes

Imagine trying to colonize the entire world and then saying how dare these immigrants come ruin our way of life, while eating kebabs.
Miriti Murungi ‏@NutmegRadio

Worth remembering that #brexit is happening because a center-right party threw a bone to its lunatic fringe to save a flagging campaign.
Chris Jones ‏@ProfChrisMJones

Wow. This says volumes about #Brexit voters:


Weh Yeoh ‏@wmyeoh

And to put all of that (plus the other death and destruction of 2016) in perspective, I recommend this short video about human development and history over the past 6 million years.