CNN Money associate editor Charles Riley deeply lamented British voters' decision to "exile themselves from the European Union" in a Wednesday piece on CNN.com. Riley played up "reports of racist abuse," and underlined that "it's not easy to dismiss some of the darker forces that were conjured during the [Brexit] campaign." He later cited a U.K.-based American writer who asserted that "the British have become more greedy and selfish, more like the American model, except they haven't quite mastered it yet."
Riley led his article, "I'm moving to the U.K. Should I be worried?," with his "exile" term about the Leave vote, and disclosed that he was "trying to become one of the U.K.'s newest immigrants." He gave a gloomy anecdote of his recent visit to a British diplomatic mission in New Delhi, India, where he currently resides: "The waiting room at the immigration office was covered in cheery tourism posters: London! Westminster Abbey! Big Ben! News alerts on my smartphone, meanwhile, painted a different picture: The U.K.'s political establishment was crumbling, stocks had crashed and the pound had plummeted to a 30-year low (taking the value of my salary with it)."
The CNN editor continued with a caricature of the British people:
This was, to put it mildly, something of a shock. I'm an American, and we tend to think of Brits as reserved, composed and exceptionally calm under pressure. Perhaps a touch idiosyncratic, but unfailingly reasonable.
These are stereotypes of course, but the vote and its aftermath do feel decidedly un-British. Other countries are supposed to be emotional, defensive or impetuous. But never Britain.
Has Riley ever encountered the passion of soccer/football fans in the U.K.? He emphasized his point by revealing that he "couldn't help but feeling as though I had been invited to a genteel dinner party, only to show up and discover the hosts attacking each other with sharpened cutlery."
After summarizing the immediate political and financial aftermath of the vote, the American journalist dropped his reference to supposed racism:
More troubling are reports of racist abuse, much of it targeting workers from EU countries. Mainstream politicians have been quick to condemn the attacks, but it's not easy to dismiss some of the darker forces that were conjured during the campaign.
One can't help but feel that the stakes are very high. My fiancée is a British citizen, and her social media feeds are filled with stories of frightened immigrants, political chaos and lost business opportunities.
Near the end of his item, Riley cited Bill Bryson, a "U.S.-born travel writer and keen observer of British life," who seconded his earlier stereotyping of the British people: "Bryson...said that 'Britain used to be a much more orderly and well-behaved society. Now the British have become more greedy and selfish, more like the American model, except they haven't quite mastered it yet,' he told The Times." However, he failed to point out that Bryson "considers himself to be vaguely left-leaning in his politics," as the left-wing Guardian newspaper reported back in 2007.
Riley himself again hinted at his slant towards the left in his final rhetorical questions: "Will it continue to be the outward-looking country that attracted so many immigrants? Or will it retreat into itself?"
