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Re: Matthew Herbert Sets The EU To Music With His Brexit Big Band 

By: Cactus Flower in ALEA | Recommend this post (2)
Sat, 24 Nov 18 9:02 PM | 94 view(s)
Boardmark this board | The Trust Matrix 		Msg. 27779 of 54959
(This msg. is a reply to 27777 by clo)
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I understand the confusion. There are a lot of people who voted to remain in the EU (48%). I have no idea why they associate the EU with tolerance and kindness.

But the key is that they lost the vote. The majority wanted to leave (52%). This is how democracy works. Even if the margin is small (4%), the winner wins and the loser is out of luck.

It wasn't a conservative versus liberal argument. There were folks from either side of the normal divide for and against leaving. London, Scotland and Northern Ireland were most in favour of remaining. Most of everywhere else wanted to leave.

No one I know voted for Brexit because they were against tolerance and kindness. They mostly voted for Brexit because they wanted Britain to remain independent and because the EU is an imperial organism. Some voted to keep foreigners out. There are always some of those people everywhere, but polls have suggested the key issue for Brexiters was sovereignty.

So that's the science of my interpretation of the result. It also happens to be the key for me. The history of the Germans and the French is known to everyone. They always plan for a new "Roman" empire. They cannot help themselves.

The remainers may well be right that in the short run, leaving the EU will cause some economic disruption. So I am willing to take that punch on the nose.

I also think that there are opportunities around the world, and the EU promotes tariffs in trading with non-EU countries. Many of those are our best friends in the world. So it's worth looking around for new growth opportunities in emerging markets as well. The EU, taken as a whole, is a low growth space. Why hitch yourself to that wagon? In the long run, operating in a world marketplace on a level playing field is more interesting than trading preferentially with EU countries.

People who write music are not usually the sort of folks I turn to for understanding politics! It's hard enough without trying to set it to music. Also, an unelected person on the losing side of a massive referendum shouldn't claim to apologise for his own country. He can express regret, but he represents only his own opinion. If you honour democracy, and this was an exercise in pure democracy, not of parties or parliament, you accept its results.

By the way, I have no idea who that guy is. It would be nice if US media would spend more time talking to the numerous sensible people who voted for Brexit.


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The above is a reply to the following message:
Matthew Herbert Sets The EU To Music With His Brexit Big Band
By: clo in ALEA
Sat, 24 Nov 18 7:47 PM 		Msg. 27777 of 54959

I heard this on the car radio today.
This is part of the confusion, people are mixed, for different reasons.

Matthew Herbert Sets The EU To Music With His Brexit Big Band
November 24, 20187:52 AM ET
Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

British musician Matthew Herbert is best known as an electronic artist, who goes by various aliases, including Dr. Rockit and Radio Boy. Right now though, he's in the midst of a two-year "apology tour" across Europe with his Brexit Big Band, Herbert's musical response to the British government's plan to leave the European Union.

The tour, an ongoing artistic process, will culminate in an album to be released in March 2019, on the day the U.K. is supposed to leave the EU. The Brexit Big Band has played five concerts so far, and its last performance on Nov. 25 coincides with European leaders gathering to finalize a potential Brexit deal.

Herbert started the Brexit Big Band just over a year and a half ago, when the British government triggered Article 50, the get-out clause for any EU member state wishing to leave the union. So Herbert set Article 50 to music. "I was like, 'Wait, I don't actually know what Article 50 is,' and I read it and actually it's quite simple," Herbert says. "It's quite sad. It's about the breakup of a relationship, really. It's a little like a no fault divorce, so there's a sort of tenderness to it."

For the Brexit Big Band Tour, Herbert is working with a different set of local musicians in each European city. He intends to show that just because Britain's political leaders have given up on Europe, it doesn't mean all of Britain has.

"I wanted to stand up for the values that I think are under attack, which are the values of tolerance and compassion and kindness," he says. "I want to defend those values vigorously."

more:
http://www.npr.org/2018/11/24/669942795/matthew-herbert-sets-the-eu-to-music-with-his-brexit-big-band

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