The EU Argument
Somebody recently wrote that the “Europhiliac” argument has not changed in over 35 years, perhaps because they have found it advantages to stick to the same few lines and keep repeating continually.
But first why “Europhilic” and not the more acceptable pro-EU or EU-supporter why the name calling. Well that really is more about the name calling perpetrated on us who support democracy against the oligarchic nature of the EU. This is explained by the fact that the Europhiliac simply cannot win the debate on any level, so they are forced to invent an evil, outmoded, little Englander persona for the democrat, in this way they ignore the message and concentrate their attack on the messenger. Thus they are attempting to control the debate by always putting us on the back foot by forcing us to deny their totally unfounded accusations. Of course it is not really insulting because the term Europhiliac was invented by one who described himself as a raving Europhiliac - Leon Brittan, ex EU Commissioner.
Anyway why not! What is good for the goose etc. and if they do not like that perhaps they will put a stop to their own nonsense. I am not an out of date, Nazi, Sun reading, xenophobic cretin who is afraid of foreigners, afraid of change, or one who hankers after the lost British empire and I object to being placed in that box by people who cannot hold their line in reasonable debate about the EU project.
This assault on rational behaviour is not just the preserve of the uninformed; some well known academics who do understand the EU (they also understand that it pays their research funding) also resort to this tactic to avoid reasonable debate. And many who argue from a relatively reasonable stance also cast the odd, insult albeit coached in reasonable terms, but none the less insulting to us democrats, this of course is all done with the intention to undermine the person rather than the argument. This has now got to the point where the very word Euroscpetic is used as an insult. To say you are eusceptic is to lumber yourself with all the baggage the Europhilic has been loading onto the term for thirty odd years. After all nobody even bothers to debate with a Nazi. Their views and opinions can be dismissed out of hand as unworthy of consideration.
And that is the result of the constant barrage of insults as explained at Devils Kitchen who quotes Dan Hannan writing “there are certain perceptions of EUsceptics and EUphiles: the former are consider “nasty” and the latter “nice”. it is always the sceptics who are accused of being monomaniacs, ranters, head-bangers and so on. Yet in all of this it is most often the Europhilic who is being rude and insulting and the sceptic who is using reasoned factually based arguments.
As reported on The England Blog this disgusting childish behaviour often descends into farce, but what is it that makes these people feel they have the moral right to malign any one who opposes their own view, to such an extent. We can all have differing political opinions, but not is seems if those opinions differ from the EUphiliacs.
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