The original version of this video was copyright-striked by an unnamed TV channel,
so I'm uploading it once again. [Czech pun on TV Nova, who copyright-striked the video]
And, as Zdeněk himself would put it:
“I thougt it wouldn't happen anymore...
“...and we're back here.”
I got a nice thank you message for my promotion of their show...
...but my influence is very limited,
so it didn't show at all on that sad viewership number.
Oh well – Brexit Part One, take two!
Hey everybody, Kovy here!
It's very hard to find a more complicated topic in world politics...
...than the removal of the mayor of Loučná nad Desnou, it's crazy!
But another thing worth noting is Brexit: the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union.
So in this video, let's take a look at how and why it began,
and why the Brits even decided to leave.
Everything began on February 20, 2016, with this speech:
“The choice is in your hands.”
The then Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced the date of a referendum to leave the EU
and gave the people two options: leave or remain.
Many people still curse Cameron for announcing the referendum.
And you might have the same question
as when you see Zdeněk Pohlreich in Your Face Sounds Familiar:
Why the hell did that guy do it?
[#1: Why a referendum?]
“What the hell did you do to us?”
There were many reasons for that – that is in Cameron's case.
It's hard to say about Zdeněk.
[This part of the video used to contain licensed content of exceptional artistic value.]
[For this reason, I offer you alternate content of comparable quality.]
#1 Many members of Cameron's own Conservative Party were Eurosceptic.
Including this man, Boris Johnson.
We're going get to him many times.
2# Cameron had already won two great referendums.
The opinion that he or his party held had always won.
And so he wanted to try his luck for the third time.
He was a little like the creators of Home Alone:
he didn't realize that if something works out for you twice...
...it might not be the best idea to try it once more.
But the main reason was this man, who might also be familiar to you:
Nigel Farage.
He's kind of like the Mr. Bean of British politics,
he also might be familiar to dog lovers or Finding Nemo fans –
he just has that familiar face.
And just like the turtle from Finding Nemo,
Nigel Farage is also strongly against the EU.
“It's time to swim out of the European Union!”
Farage founded the UKIP party,
whose main program was criticism of the EU and effort to leave it.
And UKIP had gained great popularity over the years:
in 2014, it got 4 million votes in the European election.
And David Cameron needed those voters to win his election a year later, in 2015.
So even though he had been talking about the referendum for a long time,
he knew that this time, he would have to deliver it.
“...and yes, we will deliver that in-out referendum on our future in Europe”
Thus he promised that if his party wins the election, he will deliver it.
“We are saying the Conservatives are the largest party.”
“The Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron scored a decisive victory.”
And we're back in February 20, 2016, when it was time to deliver on the promise.
“Now I'm delivering on that commitment.
“You will decide.”
But he still had no idea that after a great election victory will come four months of crazy campaigns,
which, for him personally, will end in a total catastrophe.
You know the saying: the pitcher goes so often to the well...
...that it leaves the European Union in a referendum at last.
[#2: Why did Leave win?]
♪ George Ezra – Shotgun (David Cameron edition) ♪
Among the remainers were Prime Minister David Cameron himself,
his close co-worker and Home Secretary Theresa May, the Mayor of London,
or the leader of the greatest opposition party, the Labourists: Jeremy Corbyn.
However, his support was as questionable as his dance moves.
Well, paradoxically, the two greatest rivals in British politics, the Labourists and the Conservatives,
stood on the same side of the barricade.
And that was not very common.
“His tax return was a metaphor for Labour policy!
“It was late, chaotic, inaccurate and uncosted!”
“I actually paid more tax than some companies owned by people he might know quite well!”
Well, they weren't very good friends.
Oh, by the way, this is the lower house of the British Parliament.
While Czechia has a Chamber of Deputies, Britain has a House of Commons,
which, as you can see, is basically a huge pub.
“It's all politics...”
[Czech Television presents a British show: The Pub]
On the other hand, while the upper house of the Czech Parliament is the Senate,
in Britain it's the House of Lords.
And this time, it's more like a huge bedroom.
Err, I vote for the bill... sorry.
So, now we know who supported remaining in the EU.
Now who was on the other side?
It is not surprising to see Nigel Farage,
but also ex-Mayor of London, Boris Johnson:
the true Mr. Bean of British politics.
“The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was at something of a loose end yesterday,
“he was left dangling on a zip wire.”
“It's going well, it's very, very well organized...”
“The line was over 150 feet above the ground,
“leaving him suspended above a crowd.”
“It was all going well. And then not so well...
“And then really badly...”
Each of these two sides had their official campaign.
How did they look like?
“So let's take back control.
“Vote Leave on 23rd June.”
The official campaign for leaving was Vote Leave.
And this campaign was led in such an odd way
that a great movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch was made about it.
Oh, sorry, that was a different movie...
“Everyone knows who won...
“...but not everyone knows how.”
Better.
In the movie, Cumberbatch plays Dominic Cummings, the director of Vote Leave,
which was celebrating a great success.
For what reasons?
#1: Real discontent of many Brits with the European Union.
But that was not enough to get a majority.
#2: Ignorance: the fact that most Brits had no idea
what the EU does and how it works.
“People knew all the negative arguments about the EU,
“and they couldn't name a single positive about what the EU meant.”
#3: Existing problems of Britain.
The campaign promised the unfulfillable.
For example, that the withdrawal from the EU will solve Britain's healthcare crisis.
#4: Lies. Lots of them. We'll get to them in a little while.
But most importantly #5: Activization of forgotten voters.
People who often didn't even come to elections, who felt forgotten, betrayed by the system.
And Vote Leave managed to find and activize them.
“Our system will locate and target people that no campaign has ever targeted before.”
Cummings didn't believe that support from politicians is important.
He shoved most of them to the side.
He then completely rejected cooperation with Nigel Farage and UKIP:
he didn't like that he spoke mainly about migration; he thought it unnecessarily controversial –
and so Nigel Farage and UKIP founded their own campaign where they spoke mainly about immigration –
and so they were basically doing Vote Leave's dirty work.
But now it was time to pick a face for Vote Leave!
No, not that one.
The official face of Vote Leave became... wait for it...
Boris Johnson!
Jesus Christ, do we have a more representative photo?
Boris Johnson!
“We're going to be making decisions based on science and data.”
Vote Leave focused on data, algorithms and social networks.
They took all of these previous points and poured them on a million Brits' monitors and screens.
In total, it was about one billion targeted advertisements.
The job of targeting them correctly was done by Big Data corporation AggregateIQ,
closely connected to Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica themselves worked for Nigel Farage and UKIP.
And if that name rings a bell –
yes, that is the corporation involved in a giant scandal in America,
when they stole the data of a million Facebook users.
I already talked about it in my video, “They Know Everything”.
It's funny that on camera, the CEO of Cambridge Analytica denies involvement in Brexit.
“We had absolutely no involvement in the Leave campaign,
“we did not do any paid or unpaid work for Brexit.”
But while being secretly eavesdropped, he speaks a little bit differently.
“We now undertake ten national campains for prime minister or president each year.
“Malaysia we're working in...”
[woman] “Lithuania, Romania, Kenya, Ghana...”
[man] “Brexit campaign.”
[CEO] “Yeah, Brexit.”
–[man] “Wait...” –[CEO] “We don't talk about that.”
[woman] “Oops, we won.”
Thanks to these Big Data corporations, Vote Leave could fairly accurately determine
which advertisements to show to which voter.
Did the algorithm evaluate that a person is afraid of Turkey in the EU?
It showed them this misleading ad.
Did it evaluate that they don't like the state of British healthcare?
It showed them this untruthful ad.
Did it evaluate that they like pineapple on pizza?
It showed them this *completely truthful...* okay, not the last one,
but I believe you understand the principle.
“Why aren't journalists telling us about it?”
“The metropolitan community are not our target,
“so they're not seeing our posts on their timeline.”
Vote Leave broke the law. The Electoral Commission acknowledged it in 2018.
So to sum it all up, for the people, the withdrawal from the European Union
was a vote of protest, discontent, desire for change,
but for many also the result of a campaign built on lies.
The campaign for remaining was called Britain Stronger in Europe.
And it was similar to British cuisine:
overcooked, bad, tasteless, odorless, sterile...
Okay, stop, I would like to be able to fall asleep today...!
Oh my god, how could a nation that cooks all this even be a part of the EU?
I'm surprised that European cooks didn't unite
and call for a referendum for the withdrawal of British cuisine from the European Union!
The campaign also used Big Data, but instead of social networking,
they invested in expensive American advisers or everyday surveys.
They focused on economy and facts, but forgot about emotions,
while Vote Leave built their entire strategy on them.
And by now, you know who won.
“The UK has voted to leave the European Union.”
“The UK has voted out.”
“The Brtish people have spoken and the answer is:
“We're out.”
Almost 52% of voters voted to leave – 1 million 300 thousand more than remainers.
And what did this result cause?
Crazy stuff.
Which I will explain in detail in Part Two.
To be honest, these two videos were one of the hardest ones I've ever written and recorded,
so I'd be glad for sharing, commenting and liking.
Click here, I'm going to dance into Part Two right now.
♪ Theresa May – Fields of Wheat ♪
“That's the naughtiest thing you ever did, Prime Minister?”
