Pages

Monday 6 May 2019

Keep quiet and carry on

Yesterday there was an article in the Sunday Herald entitled 'SNP declares war on cybernats' which was written by Neil Mackay, and in which there were quotes from Angus Robertson, Alyn Smith and Stewart MacDonald of the SNP on the subject of social media and the independence movement. 

The article itself was a travesty. In the third paragraph we see this:
They described online abusers as "cowards", "weird", "creepy", "snarling", "vicious", "poisonous" and "vile".
Wow, strong stuff!  Except if you read a lot further down you'll see that the above has been taken out of context.  For example, Stewart MacDonald
... described some abuse by Yes supporters as "creepy", "vicious and poisonous", and "vile"
So it's 'abusers' in the opening paragraphs, but 'abuse' in the actual quote.

Mr MacDonald also said
They hunt in packs and it looks weird to people.
Again, not the impression given by the opening paragraphs.  And, by the way, there are only two instances of the word 'weird' in the entire article: the quote from Mr MacDonald and the out of context use of the word in the preamble.  I could go on.

Mr Mackay defends his article by saying that he provides balance by mentioning abuse by Unionist supporters on social media.  He does indeed, but only in the final few paragraphs.  The ones that most readers won't read far enough to get to.

So, what's this about?  In my opinion, it's no coincidence that this appeared the day after the massively successful All Under One Banner march in Glasgow, during which there was no trouble.  Indeed the only abuse I heard was from the tiny Unionist counter-demonstration in George Square, most of which was drowned out by cheers, whistle-blowing and vuvuvelas from the marchers.  The above article will have served to divert attention from the success of the march and onto 'all online independence supporters are abusive idiots' instead.

The SNP have not done themselves any favours by being associated with this article.  Firstly because they seem to be the only political party who see it as their job to police all supporters of their key policy.  Do we have the Tories or Labour wringing their hands over abusive Brexit supporters on Twitter (of which there are many)?  No.  The SNP need to grow a pair, and point out that independence supporters are not necessarily SNP members, while condemning abuse from any side.

Secondly, the SNP are far too passive.  Day after day independence supporters see the usual lies being peddled by the Unionist-dominated media (variations on the theme of 'too wee, too poor, too stupid') and the SNP does nothing refute the stories.  It launched a fact checking service with great fanfare, which has turned out to be a resounding damp squib.  The 'cybernats' step into this breach, attempting to refute these inaccuracies as they see them.  Perhaps if the SNP were a little less passive this wouldn't be necessary.  It's this which leads to accusations of SNP politicians getting a bit too comfortable with their positions in the current Establishment.

Thirdly, the SNP need to get away from the impression they give of a paternalistic 'just keep quiet and leave everything to we grown-ups'.  Scottish independence is far bigger than the SNP.  They are a key part of it, but they are not the sum total of it, and the upper echelons would do well to remember that.

The other purpose that this article will serve is to scare the undecideds and soft Nos away from social media.  The social media arena is one where the Yes campaign dominates because the message is not filtered by media barons and the Establishment.  It's one of the strengths of online campaigning, as well as one of the weaknesses, because it allows any and all opinions on an equal footing.  While not in any way condoning the abuse that some have received online, it's in the nature of the beast.  Fortunately the trolls and abusers are a very small minority, which can be tackled at its simplest by simply blocking or ignoring the culprits or by reporting to the police where appropriate.

We are getting far to close to suppression of free speech and this is not a good thing.  It used to be the case that we believed in 'sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.'  That no longer seems to be the case.

I do not condone online abuse.  However, in the words famously misattributed to Voltaire, we should remember that
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.




Sunday 24 March 2019

Division bell

Today Nicola Sturgeon appeared on the Andrew Marr show to give her views on Theresa May and Brexit more generally.  During the interview she stated that
Another Scottish independence referendum is going to happen. Nothing in this life is absolutely certain but I think it's as inevitable as its possible to be.
She also added
Before I set forward a path for Scotland I think it's reasonable for me to know what the starting point of that journey is going to be and the context in which we are going to be embarking on it. We need to know - and hopefully we will know this over the next few days and over the next three weeks. Is the UK leaving the EU? Is it leaving with a deal? Is it leaving with no deal or is it not leaving at all, perhaps looking at another referendum?"

 This should cheer up independence supporters, a minority of whom have been expressing their doubts that Ms Sturgeon still has any interest in pursuing Scottish independence.  In my opinion, if you look closely you can see the outlines of a long-term plan behind Ms Sturgeon's actions over Brexit, which includes doing her level best to ensure that Scotland's vote to remain in the EU is somehow taken account of, as well as forging ties with European leaders, whose support she will need in the event that Scotland takes back its rightful position as an independent nation.

Needless to say the usual suspects have trotted out their usual counters to this.  For example, Adam Tompkins, the Scottish Tories spokesman on constitutional affairs, said
Nicola Sturgeon's visit to London was a scam. She wasn't there because she cares about the UK leaving the EU or to try and influence proceedings in the coming days. She was there to agitate for a second independence referendum, and to set Scotland up for even more years of division. Independence is the only thing on her radar. Her obsession is stopping Scotland from getting on and doing the things that really matter to people.
This is somewhat amusing coming from a party that had a sole policy of 'say no to another independence referendum' in the most recent elections, but who nevertheless bring up the topic at every opportunity.  He also seems to have failed to notice that most of the things that really matter to people are doing pretty well under the SNP government, although there is always room for improvement of course.

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union said
The only thing inevitable in politics is that Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP want to create further division in society. Regardless of what she says about Brexit, the First Minister's priority will always be to break up the United Kingdom.
The interesting thing about these comments is that both stress that, in their opinion, a second independence referendum will cause 'division'.  This tends to imply that they think that, prior to the last independence referendum, Scots were a homogeneous people who all had the same opinion, namely that Scotland was and ever would be part of the United Kingdom.  This was never the case.

Their real issue is that the previous independence referendum got people thinking.  Maybe things don't have to be this way.  Maybe we can do things differently and better.  And having thought this people started having ideas about what an independent Scotland could look like, and how we could achieve those things.

People having thoughts and opinions are anathema to the Unionist parties.  The Tories, Labour and the LibDems simply regarded the Scots as voting fodder, useful only in playing their part in allowing these parties to play their games on the larger stage of Westminster.  No thinking required on the part of the electorate.

The previous independence referendum shattered that comfortable status quo for ever, and there is no going back,. however much the Unionists wish it.  Scots have woken up to the political realities of the Union, and nearly half of them (currently) are not minded to go back to sleep.  That's what terrifies the Unionists, hence their harping on about 'division', as if any population (other than in North Korea) has the same opinion about everything. 

Half of Scotland has already moved on.  It's time the Unionists started giving it some thought or be lost to history.