關於英國脫歐災難 人民異常沉默

There’s a growing understanding in Britain that the country’s vote to quit the European Union, a decisive moment in the international rise of reactionary populism, was a grave error.

愈來愈多英國人意識到，英國投票退出歐盟這項保守民粹主義在國際間崛起的決定性時刻，是個重大錯誤。

Just as critics predicted, Brexit has led to inflation, labor shortages, business closures and travel snafus. It has created supply chain problems that put the future of British car manufacturing in danger. Brexit has, in many cases, turned travel between Europe and the U.K. into a punishing ordeal, as I learned recently, spending hours in a chaotic passport control line when taking the train from Paris to London. British musicians are finding it hard to tour in Europe because of the costs and red tape associated with moving both people and equipment across borders, which Elton John called “crucifying.”

如同反對人士預估，英國脫歐引發通貨膨脹、勞力短缺、企業倒閉及旅遊亂象。此舉造成供應鏈問題，危及英國汽車製造業的未來。在許多案例中，英國脫歐使得往返歐陸與英國變成一種痛苦折磨，正如我最近經歷的，搭火車從巴黎前往倫敦時在混亂的護照檢查隊伍耗上幾小時。由於人員與設備的跨境移動成本及繁文縟節，英國音樂家在歐洲巡演變得困難，艾爾頓強稱其為「酷刑」。

According to the U.K.’s Office for Budget and Responsibility, leaving the EU has shaved 4% off Britain’s gross domestic product. The damage to Britain’s economy, the OBR’s chair has said, is of the same “magnitude” as that from the COVID pandemic.

根據英國預算責任辦公室，脫歐導致英國國內生產毛額削減4%。該機構主席指出，這對於英國經濟造成的損害和新冠疫情同樣「重大」。

All this pain and hassle has created an anti-Brexit majority in Britain. According to a YouGov poll released this week, 57% of Britons say the country was wrong to vote to leave the EU, and a slight majority wants to rejoin it. Even Nigel Farage, the former leader of the far-right U.K. Independence Party sometimes known as “Mr. Brexit,” told the BBC in May, “Brexit has failed.”

這些痛苦與麻煩造成大半英國人反對脫歐。根據「輿觀」本周發布的民調，57%英國人稱英國投票脫歐是錯誤，且略多於半數的人希望重返歐盟。甚至有時被稱作「脫歐先生」的極右派英國獨立黨前領導人法拉吉5月也向英國廣播公司表示，「英國脫歐失敗了」。

This mess was, of course, both predictable and predicted. Seven years ago, Brexit was an early augur of the revolt against cosmopolitanism that swept Donald Trump into power.

當然，這些混亂是可預見的，而且在預料之中。7年前，英國脫歐是反抗世界主義的早期預兆，讓川普乘勢掌權。

Both enterprises — Britain’s divorce from the EU and Trump’s reign in the U.S. — turned out catastrophically. Both left their countries fatigued and depleted. But while America can’t stop talking about Trump, many in the U.K. can scarcely stand to think about Brexit.

英國脫歐與川普統治美國這兩件創舉，都走向災難性結局。兩者都讓各自國家精疲力盡。然而，相較於美國無法停止談論川普，許多英國人連思考英國脫歐都幾乎無法忍受。

The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, one of the few Labour Party leaders eager to discuss the consequences of leaving the EU, described an “omertà,” or vow of silence, around it. “It’s the elephant in the room,” he told me. “I’m frustrated that no one’s talking about it.”

倫敦市長卡恩是少數渴望探討脫歐後果的工黨領袖，他形容該話題被「緘默法則」籠罩。他告訴我：「那是顯而易見大家卻不願多談的話題，沒人談論這件事令我沮喪」。

“I don’t think you’re going to see other countries in the EU leaving the EU if for no other reason than because they’ve seen the impact on us,” Khan said. But there’s a larger lesson, one most Western countries seemingly have to continually relearn. Right-wing nationalist projects begin with loud, flamboyant swagger. They tend to end unspeakably.

卡恩說：「我不認為你會看到其他歐盟國家脫歐，只因他們看見脫歐對我們的影響。」但還有一個有更大的教訓，一個多數西方國家似乎總學不會的教訓。右翼民族主義的計畫始於喧鬧、浮誇的招搖，但往往不堪啟齒地告終。

美國左右派論戰讓「芭比」也政治化

Last week, Rep. Matt Gaetz and his wife, Ginger, arrived at a Washington reception for “Barbie” in matching pink, grinning in photos along the “pink carpet,” mingling among guests sipping pink cocktails, admiring a life-size pink toy box.

上周，美國聯邦眾議員馬特．蓋茨和夫人金潔穿著成對的粉紅色夫妻裝，抵達於華府舉行的「芭比」電影招待會，並在「粉紅地毯」上微笑留影，與賓客們交流，一同啜飲粉紅色雞尾酒，欣賞真人大小粉紅色玩具盒。

They left with political ammunition.

他們離場時，帶上了政治彈藥。

“The Barbie I grew up with was a representation of limitless possibilities, embracing diverse careers and feminine empowerment,” Ginger Gaetz wrote on Twitter. “The 2023 Barbie movie, unfortunately, neglects to address any notion of faith or family, and tries to normalize the idea that men and women can’t collaborate positively (yuck).”

「伴我成長的『芭比』代表著無限的可能性，擁抱多元職涯發展與女性賦權」，金潔．蓋茨在推特上寫道，「遺憾的是，2023年的『芭比』電影對於一切有關信仰或家庭的觀念略而不提，還試圖將男性、女性不能夠合作無間的看法視為正常（惡心）。」

Another account scolded Matt Gaetz, the hard-right and perpetually stunt-seeking Florida congressman, for attending the film at all — citing the casting of a trans actor as a doctor Barbie.

另一個用戶則指責右派立場堅定、隨時都想引人注意的馬特．蓋茨根本不該到場觀影，原因是：片中的「醫生芭比」是由跨性別演員飾演。

“If you let the trans stop you from seeing Margo Robbie,” he replied, leaving the “T” off the first name of the film’s star, “the terrorists win.”

蓋茨則回應：「如果你讓跨性別者阻止你去觀看瑪格．羅比（的演出），就是恐怖分子的勝利了。」他在拼寫該影星的名字時，漏了「T」字母。

The non-terroristic winners were many after the film’s $162 million debut: Robbie and Greta Gerwig, the film’s director, finding an eager audience for their pink-hued feminist opus; the Warner Bros. marketing team, whose ubiquitous campaigns plainly paid off; the film industry itself, riding “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” to its most culturally dominant weekend in years.

該電影首周票房1.62億美元，許多不是恐怖分子的人勝利了：羅比和導演葛莉塔．潔薇，讓觀眾趨之若鶩地去觀賞他們粉紅色的女性主義作品；華納兄弟行銷團隊鋪天蓋地的宣傳活動有了回報；還有電影產業本身，挾「芭比」和「奧本海默」之勢，迎來近年來在文化上最強勢的周末。

But few outcomes were as nominally inexplicable (and probably inevitable) as the film’s instant utility to political actors and opportunists of all kinds. For a modern take on what was long a politically fraught emblem of toxic body image and reductive social norms, no choice was too small, no turn too ideology-affirming or apparently nefarious, for a bipartisan coalition of commentators and elected officials to see value in its dissection.

但眾多成果中，少有如此表面上令人費解（而且或許是不可避免的）狀況，即該電影立刻受到政治人物和各類投機分子利用。作為有不良影響的身體形象及化約式社會準則的象徵，芭比一向在政治上飽受疑慮，如今接受當代詮釋，對於不分黨派的一大票評論家和當政官員來說，剖析電影價值時，電影中每個選擇都見微知著，每個轉折都印證著意識形態或看似充滿敵意。

“I have, like, pages and pages of notes,” Ben Shapiro, the popular conservative commentator, said in a lengthy video review, which began with him setting a doll aflame and did not grow more charitable.

「我有，可以說是，一頁又一頁的筆記」，當紅保守派評論家夏皮洛在長篇幅的影評影片中表示。他在該開頭就放火燒毀一隻娃娃，其後也未放軟態度。

“Here are 4 ways Barbie embraces California values,” the office of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a thread hailing Barbie as a champion of climate activism, “hitting the roads in her electric vehicle,” and of destigmatizing mental health care.

「『芭比』擁抱加州價值的4大方式」，民主黨籍加州州長紐森的辦公室在一則推文串中，讚揚「芭比」是氣候運動的擁護者，「駕著她的電動車上路」，也致力去除心理健康照護的汙名。

If there was a time in American culture when a giant summer film event was something of a unifier, that time is not 2023.

若有朝一日，在美國文化圈裡，夏季電影大片能使眾人團結一心，那肯定不會是2023年。