Are Americans Entitled to an Opinion on Brexit?

By Opinion Editor 4 years ago

How much does geography matter?

Walking through the streets of St Andrews it is casual to overhear some sort of conversation about Brexit. Whether it’s fierce arguing, a shake of the head and sigh of disapproval for Boris Johnson, seeing flyers put up for Brexit Society socials, or passing a European Union flag in a window, Brexit is everywhere. Perhaps such interest that this tiny town has in this subject, besides it being in Scotland, stems from the international student body. With about 17% of the student body at St Andrews* being American, myself included, Americans are exposed to Brexit probably as much as they would have been exposed to debate about the 2020 presidential elections if they were in the States. Then the question arises on social media or in conversation, “what does it matter to you? Since you’re American it doesn’t mean anything to you, keep your opinion to yourself.”

Personally I have never been told these words, but seeing or hearing parallels of them tossed around, such as: “#StFessdrews6479 Americans vouching for Scottish independence need to get their grubby mitts off of British politics”, I find myself metaphorically taking a step back and listening when Brexit comes up in conversation in fear of being called out. And then I wonder, are Americans entitled to an opinion on Brexit?

Photo: Pixabay

An opinion is an opinion: not one is more correct than the other. In this way, opinions are technically harmless. As humans though, sadly, things that are supposedly harmless are, in fact,  harmful. I imagine that if a British person told me an opinion about President Trump which I disagreed with, I might quickly brush it off, thinking that they simply don’t understand because they are not from the States. But by perpetuating that just because one’s opinion is foreign, they don’t belong in the conversation, one is turning away from a potential learning experience. There are countless meaningful remarks people might voice if you let them, and it may cause you to sit for a second and question how you formed your own opinion. It is somewhat ironic that students at university can shy away from listening to new perspectives despite the fact that in our classes we are encouraged, and even forced, to decipher and make sense of a new perspective, and consequently question the popular opinion.

Photo: Unsplash

Nevertheless, the complexity and ambiguity of Brexit makes it hard to have an outside perspective. Brexit most likely will not have an immediate effect on most Americans at St Andrews. The minority of dual citizens of the US and an EU country could be minimally affected, as these students, myself included, have an EU passport instead of a BRP card. Since Brexit was first proposed in 2016, nothing about it has been set in stone. This lack of clarity could cause serious stress for roughly 10% of the student body, who are EU students at St Andrews, as a hypothetical Brexit deal could completely change an EU student’s tuition cost, and therefore provide financial stress at home. Because of this, it is more important for Americans to listen to, support, and advocate for EU students who could be negatively affected by Brexit.

So, yes, Americans are entitled, like anyone, to have their own opinions on Brexit, but their role in British politics reaches beyond remarks at the dinner table. Americans should listen to EU students who feel Brexit will negatively affect them and they should encourage those eligible to vote to voice their opinion in the December 12th elections. General elections are always important for the future of any country, but the way in which this UK election influences the future of Brexit should encourage young citizens of the UK and Commonwealth citizens to vote, in order to make sure the beliefs they care about are heard. You can use this link to register to vote: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

*all percentages about the student body in this article come from information provided by the Registry of the University of St Andrews

Comments

comments

Tags: , , , ,

26 thoughts on “Are Americans Entitled to an Opinion on Brexit?”

  3. Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your site in internet explorer, would check this? IE still is the market leader and a huge portion of people will miss your great writing because of this problem.

    Reply

  7. Thanks for another informative website. Where else may
    I get that type of info written in such an ideal manner?
    I’ve a challenge that I’m simply now running on, and I have been on the
    glance out for such info.

    Reply

  11. A fascinating discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more about this subject matter, it might not be a taboo subject but usually people don’t discuss these topics. To the next! Many thanks!

    Reply

  14. https://kimspromofinder.coupons/save-at-namecheap-using-promo-codes/
    https://pastebin.com/eBc38EDH
    https://pastebin.pl/view/raw/4fc79b0a
    New blog post, I wanted to share.

    Namecheap is a really popular web hosting company that is global they have over 11 million registered users. There are a bunch of different types of options for building a website, wordpress tools to help you, and email tools. They have a bunch of other software and security tools as well like SSL certificates. If your gonna buy from Namecheap, just do yourself a favor and use a coupon from our site… it takes a moment to find one and you will save some money.
    Some ways to save at Namecheap
    New customer discounts

    If your a new customer you get access to a lot of discouns and promo codes that are not normally available like coupons giving 50% off and 1 USD .com domains. Some really juicy stuff for real. Usually it depends on the product you are purchasing. Businesses and individuals can use these discounts and promo codes from Namecheap.com, but I think most businesses never use the codes… im not really sure why. There are some special coupons you can find on alternative sites there was a recent promo code that gave over 60% off a one-year VPN service. They have good products so I imagine the VPN would be pretty fast for a cheap price. Win.
    Student, teacher, and educator discounts

    f you are a student or teacher you show your email address with a .edu email or maybe email Namecheap with your student or teacher ID and you will get access to a nice bit of coupons/discounts for sure. This bundle includes a domain name plus one of the following:

    Free use of the company business card maker
    Free use of the Logo Maker feature
    Free hosting for one year

    Sign up for the newsletter

    If you join the namecheap newsletter you will get emailed a bunch of discounts and coupons also. You get more than just promos and discounts they will keep you updated with all the happenings going on at Namecheap like any new product offers or even any issues with services I imagine.
    Get 20% off

    You can find a namecheap promo code for 20% off if you visit our main page. https://kimspromofinder.coupons
    How to redeem a Namecheap promo code

    Add your product to your cart. Go to your cart. And scroll down there should be an option for a promo code or coupon. You can find a picture of what I am talking about on own home page. But it isn’t too hard I believe in you. During the payment process you can apply the discount code
    Troubleshooting your promo code

    We make sure our promo codes work all the time. However sometimes they are updated for whatever reason at Namecheap or other issues might arise. Make sure if your typing in the promo code correctly.

    Also sometimes you need to purchase a certain type of product. Lets say your code is for a .com domain, and your purchasing a .net domain the discount code will not work.

    Namecheap’s website will often tell you the error and reason for why the promo code is not working as well.
    Top Namecheap products

    Namecheap offers a lot of different stuff, but some of the ones that people love are:

    Free logo maker: create your custom logo for free on the Namecheap website
    VPS hosting: choose from monthly, quarterly, or yearly plans
    SSL certificates: help secure your users’ data by encrypting your website

    Reply

  16. PBN sites
    We shall generate a system of private blog network sites!

    Advantages of our privately-owned blog network:

    WE DO everything SO THAT google doesn’t grasp that THIS IS A privately-owned blog network!!!

    1- We obtain web domains from distinct registrars

    2- The main site is hosted on a VPS server (Virtual Private Server is fast hosting)

    3- Additional sites are on various hostings

    4- We assign a distinct Google ID to each site with verification in Search Console.

    5- We create websites on WordPress, we don’t employ plugins with assisted by which malware penetrate and through which pages on your websites are established.

    6- We never duplicate templates and utilise only individual text and pictures

    We don’t work with website design; the client, if desired, can then edit the websites to suit his wishes

    Reply
  21. Pingback: joker gaming

  23. Good day! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after looking at many of the articles I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely pleased I found it and I’ll be bookmarking it and checking back regularly!

    Reply

  24. Hello there! This post could not be written much better! Going through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He always kept talking about this. I most certainly will forward this information to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

THE STAND