Scottish Nationalism, an Infantile disease
Scottish nationalism has become more or less accepted within Scottish politics, but it is much more sinister than we're led to believe.
Nationalism was said to be an “infantile disease” by Albert
Einstein, and those words have never been more distinguished now in Scotland-
than at any other time, especially after more than 7 years of nationalist
leadership within the Scottish Parliament.
There is an argument within the nationalist community; that
what is representative in Scotland is a more “civic nationalism”, nonetheless
this ideology has flag waving and identity at its core, yet it doesn't seem to
end in flag waving and national pride.
The nationalism that is put forward by Alex Salmond and his
government, and what is seen on our TV screens is certainly portrayed as “civilised”-
but this has taken decades of work by SNP propagandist machines to move from
the vile and bitter anti-English based nationalism, to what we have now; which
is nothing but a cloak to cover the reality of what nationalism really is; in modern
day Scotland.
Facebook and Twitter are the places where true nationalism
within Scotland is shown- where nationalists put up their feet, take off their
kilts, and unleash the true bitterness of what Scottish nationalism really represents.
The nationalism we have in Scotland is the same nationalism of what has been reminiscence
of every nation that has ever been gripped by this horrid, filthy and utterly
shameful plague.
It won’t take you long before you get a taste of the real
Scottish nationalism; the anti-Englishness hatred that is put across on social
media platforms- many people say these individuals are “cybernats”; these
people are sadly mistaken, they are simply “Scottish nationalists” venting their
true sentiment, and allowing us all to realise that “civic nationalism” does
not exist in Scotland.
This was never more evident than just a few days ago when JK
Rowling raised perfectly legitimate concerns over separation, and was then
targeted by a number of what seemed like the SNP’s very own “brownshirts”. This
isn’t anything new, it has happened to every business, celebrity, public figure
and more concerning, an ordinary mum from Glasgow, who all opposed the idea of
breaking up Britain- to only receive death threats and vile abuse from these nationalists.
If you want proof that these nationalists are in their
masses, then look no further than any Scottish orientated political article on
the web- where at least one will be sticking up for their beloved SNP
government and Alex Salmond, making sure nobody says anything out of SNP and
pro separation tune.
This idea that people feel so emotionally connected to a specific
leader, government and identity, is foreign to many outwith Scotland. In the nationalists’
eyes, the SNP government and Alex Salmond can do no wrong; because they have
what the other Scottish political parties don’t have- a one issue reason to exist,
a dream based on assertions and a unifying hatred against the United Kingdom.
The referendum will be over in less than 100 days; in which
we could finally see the start of a more civilised political agenda in
Scotland- with parties that actually put the fabric of society at the heart of
their existence and not geopolitics. How the SNP can claim Scotland as “progressive”,
while they quietly support their followers to attack individuals who oppose
their views, is utterly disgraceful.
Those within the SNP, joined the SNP to end the United
Kingdom- their nationalist followers have given their complete loyalty to our
dear First Minister; this is what is terrifying, and I hope that on September 19th
the hate from these nationalists ends- if not, we could be faced within an even
bleaker prospect that this doesn't end, and the politics of Scotland will
forever continue to be plagued by this infantile disease.
From Stephen Noon, Chief Strategist for Yes Scotland.
ReplyDeletePeople know us by what we do, not what others say about us
Throughout my time with the independence movement, our opponents have tried to label us as extreme, threatening, angry, dangerous, vile, abusive, bigoted etc etc. It’s always been possible to locate an oddball associated in some way with the party or campaign, because Scotland has its fair share of the world’s oddballs.
In days gone by, the oddballs were more difficult to find but in the era of the internet they are only a quick google search away.
Back in the nineties, and even in the early noughties, these attacks did cause some damage to the independence cause, because the electorate knew very little about the SNP and few people had the experience of being represented by someone from the SNP.
By 2011 that had changed and the over the top attacks by our opponents claiming the independence movement was extreme, threatening, angry, dangerous, vile, abusive, bigoted etc not only had no negative impact on SNP support, they began, in fact, to backfire.
Research we undertook in the run up to the 2011 election, which led directly to the focus on the ‘team’ aspect in the SNP’s campaign, showed that the people of Scotland had good experiences of the SNP people they met or had dealings with. From party members or supporters to elected representatives, they saw the SNP team as most like them, most normal, most in touch. And so, when they heard our opponents claim we were extreme, threatening, angry, dangerous, vile, abusive, bigoted etc it just didn’t chime with their real life experience.
They judged us on what we did and who we actually were rather than what opposition politicians said about us. And, equally, they were less trusting in the other claims the opposition were making about the NHS or the economy. The over-egged attacks caused more damage to the attackers.
It is difficult, sometimes, seeing a wall of headlines based on the indefensible behaviour of a few online eejits and to see our movement being tarred with the same brush. However, we should be confident that the best and only way to deal with this onslaught, over-egged once again by our opponents, is to carry on being ourselves in the real world. Carry on leaving good impressions on every doorstep and in every face to face conversation. Show who we are, once again, by our passion, commitment, energy, belief and absolute confidence in the people of Scotland. That is what people will see and what they will remember about Yes.
The No camp think they are causing us damage by highlighting the misbehaviour of a very few online, horrendous as it is. If we in Yes allow ourselves to be dragged on to this ground with recriminations and anger, then they might succeed. However, if we demonstrate, by our actions, the reality of our movement, have no doubt, their tactics, as in 2011, will backfire. Our grassroots are the most important part of our campaign and our most important job in these days ahead is to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Keep the spring in our step. Keep up the open and honest engagement. And, we will win.