I find it a striking and saddening fact how condescension and sneering together with simplistic statements sprout on threads such as these. When Alistair Darling opened the "Better together" campaign he said in the first paragraph of his speech that of course Scotland could manage on its own, but...... He was right and the ensuing campaign to persuade Scottish voters to vote against independence demanded more and more effort as time went on. It got to fever pitch when the opinion polls hit evens from having started at around 20% for independence - trainloads of Westminster politicians and ministers were trekking to Scotland to put their weight behind the Together campaign.
In the Scottish referendum 1.6 million voted for independence and 2.0 million voted against. In the Brexit referendum 16.1 million voted to stay in the EU and 17.4 million to leave.In the Scottish referendum the turnout exceeded 84% whereas the Brexit referendum brought out just over 72%. There was not a lot of difference between the for/against percentage margins in the two referenda.
The trumpeting/shouting of "going against the will of 17.4 million people" competes with "going against the will of 16.1 million people" except one rarely if ever hears the latter mentioned. Yes, this is the way the political system of majority decision works, but it can be very unsatisfactory to a lot of people.
The true effects of Brexit will not be known for many, many years and, in my opinion, few if any can reliably predict them. It is the nature of us as a mass of people to largely accommodate the unpalatable and try to enjoy what benefit we can squeeze out of life. However, it really is quite interesting, even instructive, how some people refuse to acknowledge certain facts. To me one of these is the insistence on ignoring that again and again the most impressive societies turn out to be smallish ones, notably including ones that are in close co-operation with others but independent. And, please, let's leave the black-and-white argument of "slavery" being what co-operation equates to - life is no longer about the simplicity of bullying, conquest and the subjugation/exploitation of empire building, nor is it the remembering/reliving past wars.
The UK is conspicuously reluctant to objectively compare itself with the rest of the world, instead ploughing on in some sort of "bubble" where being "different" is about the only thing that matters. Yes, being better/best means being different, but the equation most certainly does not work in reverse. Assuming superiority is nowhere near guaranteeing superiority.