What’s the worst that could happen?
My response to the BREXIT vote has been to think about this video. Only 20 years ago, “the troubles” in Ireland were a source of terrorist attacks that had led to 3,500 deaths over the preceeding 30 years, more than half of them civilian. One of the triumphs of the Clinton Administration was leading international diplomacy to bring an effective peace to the region. Now, there’s going to be border guards between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and with that a renewed desire on the part of Irish unification, and with that the risk of escalating conflict.
It doesn’t have to happen that way. But just as the news stories in the background of this video only hint at a slow rise in tensions, sometimes that’s how history is made. This Public Service Announcement was made to give white English speaking people a visceral feel for the conflict in Syria, so they would judge those Syrian refugees with more empathy. But it also should serve as a deeper warning that history has shown that no people are permanently safe from conflict and strife. In every generation, our political choices really can be a matter of life and death, for millions.
This video is most likely just a warning. But the risk level just went up.