Racist

So Leave has won and the UK is set to leave the EU. Personally, I thought that Remain would do it but on a slim margin. Glad I had no money riding on it...

The campaign was Remains to lose given that people don't like voting against the status quo and there's many reasons why it went wrong. For me, perhaps the most poisonous one was the implied and direct accusations of racism. If you are voting Leave, then you're a racist, a Little Englander, a Kipper, or variations thereof.

It's common sense that if you want to persuade someone that your opinion is the correct one, you should be able support it with arguments and be able to overcome objections. The completely wrong way to do this is to not only insult the person you are trying to win over, but to use one of the most serious of accusations to do so - racist. This is an accusation that can lose you friends, end careers, and even lead to criminal investigations. That's why to use it with such abandon and without foundation is extraordinarily offensive. Once you have so grievously offended the person whose view you disagreed with, you are never, ever going to get them to see your side of the argument. On any subject. Ever again.