A Society Dictated By Those Stuck In the Past (Assignment date: 6-27-16)

Recently, in response to the world-shaking Brexit vote, a Times OP-ED writer, Jochen Bittner came out with an article titled, "Brexit and Europe's Angry Old Men." In it, he started by talking about the event that took place during the year of his birth. In 1973, Britain entered what is known today as the EU, motivated by "the anxious old men of my parents' generation, who swore that the only alternative to unification was a relapse into nationalism." This statement refers to the politicians at the time, who of course were older men, dead set in their ways and focused too heavily on the past. In this case, the past they were focused on was World Wars One and Two, which broke out primarily as a result of radical nationalism. Their fear of another massive war led to the process of globalization and the founding of the EU. While this step was undoubtedly a good idea, it was not without problems. This gave way to the current generation of troubled old men that, as the article discusses, are just old enough to be able to look upon the "pre-1989 era" with nostalgia. This era was when Europe's countries were still largely isolated from each other, and globalization was not nearly as relevant. As a result, the current generation of old men, or at least the ones in support of Brexit, are on the complete opposite extreme of those that founded the EU, and are irrationally in favor or disintegration and isolation. As one of the motivating factors behind the Brexit movement, these old men are extremely racist and carry a severe disdain towards immigrants, and even fellow Europeans. An action such as Brexit as a result of xenophobia is an example of none other than radical nationalism similar to that which caused the first and second World Wars. What society as a whole needs is a blend of young and old politicians that are willing to work with each other to get past petty issues such as racism and work to better their respective country and fix the cons that have resulted from current globalization measures that have already been put in place, like the EU.

Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/24/opinion/brexit-and-europes-angry-old-men.html?_r=0