“It’s not only about the facts, it’s also about the perceptions, it’s also about people’s feelings, it’s also about people’s emotions, and I am very well aware that emotion is a subject that is underestimated and belittled in mainstream political theory, but in general, we, on the left liberal democrat progressive circles, I don’t think we have done a very good job of connecting with people’s emotions, we have to understand that this is the age of anxiety, that this is the age of angst, of fear, and many people yes they are worried about whether their children will be able to find a job in two or three decades, yes they are worried about refugees or immigrants or worried about loosing their own social fabric. As writers we are very anxious creatures, I can never belittle any one else’s anxiety, and I think it is a mistake to belittle emotions, what we need to do because we also should be talking about and focusing on what can be done from now on, we need to put more emotional intelligence on the table I think. And for me emotional intelligence is not the opposite of rational intelligence, it is an intersection of both, so we need to talk to peoples heads and hearts at the same time, because this is not only about economy, this is not only about statistics or facts, it is very much about identity politics, about emotions, and perceptions and feelings”  – Elif Shafak

From the talk “Brexit: An Unorthodox View, Yanis Varoufakis, Srecko Horvat & Elif Shafak” 13 Feb 2017