Here's an alternative suggestion why the referendum was, if not a bad thing to hold per se (I supported it at the time), then held in bad faith and terribly-managed:
Would it not have been better if the referendum were only held by a government who was actually prepared, properly, for either outcome, rather than one that was trying to kill the issue dead for another generation?
The mess we are in now is because the people who offered the referendum had no interest in leaving, and there weren't any other politicians with a coherent and realistic plan to implement the result once it happened. In that sense, it *is* a disaster, no matter what side of the Brexit fence you sit.