I have been much criticised for referring to Unionists – and No voters are precisely Unionists – as evil or stupid. I have given this much thought, as a number of very well-intentioned people have urged me to apologise. After a great deal of angst, I have decided to offer a heartfelt apology. Not all Unionists are Evil or Stupid. Some are just Cowards. There, I think that covers it.
My analysis runs thus:
Evil
The United Kingdom has become a force for ill in the World. In invading Iraq against the express wishes of the UN Security Council, Blair and Bush did to the United Nations what Hitler and Mussolini did to the League of Nations. The UK was up to its neck in complicity with extraordinary rendition and torture. Its foreign policy is based on resource grabs for the benefit of a few wealthy corporations. Even this year it is in Court still defending the atrocious deportation of the entire population of Diego Garcia to make way for a US airbase, and still preventing their return. It is actively preparing to do the same to the Ascension Islanders. It supports the hideous dictatorship of Bahrain and was implicated in the overthrow of Egypt’s only elected government by the CIA’s General Sisi. It constantly works against the interests of the Palestinians at the UN.
This week the UK has been passing still more laws attacking fundamental liberties in the name of “counter-terrorism” and increasing surveillance. It has an economy dedicated entirely to the interests of very wealthy people in the City of London. Its wealth gap between rich and poor is massive and still growing. The UK has 100 billionaires, and malnourished children, living on a small island. It is dominated by corporations run on a low wage model and has systematically destroyed workers’ rights.
On balance, the government of the UK has become a force for evil in the world. not a force for good. To support it in full knowledge of the above is evil.
Stupid
Given the existence of the tremendous communications possibilities of the internet, and given the wide range of information available above all in Scotland where a new political consciousness has developed, there are few excuses for having been ill-informed in the referendum. The failure to inform oneself, given the resources available, was itself evidence of a lack of gumption.
Some people are Unionists not because they support the policies outlined under Evil, but because they fail to perceive them. This group overlaps heavily with those who do not believe the Labour Party is now a fully paid up neoconservative party subscribing to everything above, and with only a sham concern for social justice. Despite the Red Tories’ open pledges to be tougher on welfare reform and immigration than the Blue Tories, these stupid people believe social progress is possible within the UK under Labour. They also actually believed that The Vow on Devo-Max would be delivered. This group of Unionists are incapable of perceiving evil when they see it, even when it comes certified with membership of the Henry Jackson Society. These people are stupid.
Cowardly
I have added this last group. These are people who did perceive the evil of the UK, and thus weren’t entirely stupid, but were too scared of social change to abandon unionism. A substantial section of the cowards should in fact be grouped under evil, because the cause of their fear was entirely self-centred. They could see the evil the UK does, but cared rather more about their own pension, job, mortgage etc. than they cared about anything else in the world. This combination of selfishness and fear of social change is of course classically Tory. But not all cowards fell into the Tory category. Some were genuinely fearful that things might somehow get even worse for everybody. They would not have boarded the first trains in case their heads were blown off by the 30mph winds.
Conclusion
After four months of constant thought, I cannot think of any hypothetical unionist position which does not fall into one of those categories. I am grateful for the criticism which led me to realise that I had left out the cowards. Some of that criticism came from nationalists who do not like politics to be described in moral terms, and for whom national independence should rouse no more passion than a change in local council boundaries, being a simple question of the best technocratic management of broadly similar political systems. That is a position I wholeheartedly denounce. For me national independence for Scotland is a great ethical choice for good – and against evil.
Fortunately a great many of the stupid are realising their mistake – being slower on the uptake does not stop you getting there eventually. So now there is a definite majority, for Yes. I am pleased about this, and view Independence as absolutely inevitable in the near term. I shall certainly live to see it. I don’t see converting No voters as part of my personal mission in life. The Wizard of Oz could give the Coward a medal and the Stupid a diploma. I shall content myself with being the one who throws water over the Evil.
Finally, for those who cannot get their heads round the purpose, style and conventions of political polemic, plainly you don’t have to be a No voter to be stupid. I have No voters in my family and among very close friends, including some without whose assistance I couldn’t keep this blog going. An attempt to introduce intellectual rigour into political discussion and test positions as part of political debate in no sense equates to personal animosity. As I have repeatedly stated in the context of the hundreds of political issues this blog has debated over ten years, I do not choose my friends by their politics. Otherwise I guess I wouldn’t have any 🙂 !
It’s just one big happy family. Scottish are British, welsh are British, Indians are British even when they’re being colonised thousands of miles away.
Just one big happy family, because we only want what’s best for you. Ahhh how sweet.
One island with locally totally autonomous governments would be nice as would wild wildernesses not owned by anyone. China can be fairly criticised in many respects both now and historically (as obviously can we), but it has achieved much through unity. The size of the unity and the time over which it has existed is phenomenal. This is just a small island. You may not like your family and feel that your subject to unfair fraudulent corrupt governance, but its what we have. If we can’t sort out this island your not going to manage better with a mini version of it.
You’ve left out the pedophiles.
From Macky
“@Craig, can you not honestly admit that you would have been an embarrassing liability for the SNP ? There’s the political, chief perhaps being your identikit Neocon attitude on the Ukraine/Russia issue, then there’s the personal, like the hypocrisy of stating your belief in Free Speech, yet personally not allowing it to be practiced on your own blog, and there’s your insistence on the right for people to blaspheme in a place of worship”
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Weighty charges indeed.
If that’s the worst Macky can find to say about Craig then I guess Craig won’t lose too much sleep.
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And what about Macky, pray? His identikit attitude to anything the West does or says, and on the personal level, his hypocrisy in calling for free speech and at the same time asking for me to be banned from this blog. And then there’s his insistence that every false flag turdlet is to be taken as the Holy Grail…..
Knife-sharpening time, Macky!
Craig at his best 🙂
Alan Campbell
“Notice how West Africanist Craig never discusses latest Boko Haram outrage. Odd that.”
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And even more to the point, notice how the child-loving Mary and her coterie haven’t ever mentioned any of horrors inflicted on Nigerian children by Boko Haram.
Fool: Fear-peddling. Maybe Scotland is further along in this journey than Wales. Could Wales even be heading in the opposite (wrong) direction, devolution there not demanded merely as a starting point, but foisted upon? I was surprised to read the elites don’t still use force and religion. I disagree. Since the printing press and until the present day, clearly they do still, frequently, and no sign of them stopping. An interesting, but hardly valid or far-sighted perspective.
Bigger is better eh? Punching above our weight etc. There’s always got to be a ‘punchee’.
@HomeAlonera*
“What? and leave you with nothing to try and take the piss out of”
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More of that material than a dozen Habbabkuks could hope to do justice to, dear boy.
PS – what name did you post under before?
@HomeAloneara* II
“Clearly you can’t so you don’t take issue with the substantive points.”
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What substantive points of yours would that be, dear boy?
Perhaps you mean this one (22h29):
“All those disgusting leaders in a row. If France had any scene of justice they’d have shown most of em to the gallows.”
Or, perhaps, this one? (20h59):
“It’s like those elderly folks in pubs still brainwashed about the war and won’t hear anything wrong about “our boys”.”
The list is endless……LOL
Habbabkuk; “If that’s the worst Macky can find”
No, it not, not by a long shot.
As for your habitual predilection for shameless lying, no I have never expressed a belief in total Free Speech, nor have I ever insisted on the truth of any Flag Flag, so in your eager glee to prove me wrong & that you are not a liar, you will provide evidence to the contrary, but I wouldn’t advise anybody to hold their breath.
@Habbabkuk, given your form for the hysterical smearing & hounding of posters here as being Anti-West, why do you turn a blind eye over Craig’s;
“the government of the UK has become a force for evil in the world. not a force for good. To support it in full knowledge of the above is evil”
which is a far, far stronger an unambitious statement than even the dishonest misrepresented ones that you try to slur on others with ?
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella) @ 12 Jan, 2015 – 9:11 pm: Thank you, Oh latter-day, Self-appointed, Social Media Prophet & Bestower of OBN epithets and gratuitous Gongs. Fortunately, we boast serious sartorial upper body apparel, both formal and informal, to rival any Window,and Stock, within our eponymously titled Blog moniker’s finest, so your magnanimous gesture will be graciously accepted, notwithstanding our unsurprising eschewal of any perverse and pernicious connotations, arising/construed from any oppropbrious’Brown-shirted’ associations…. To paraphrase old Anthony Eden, Habbabkuk, ‘We have (online) peace in our (virtual/cyberspace) Time’…… 😉 Namaste, Oh creature of indeterminate identity and ill-judged, iconoclastic and irreverent intent….. !
Can’t stop laughing. It would have only been better if you had added that they all are afraid of Islamic terrorism too.
I only know one person well who voted No. He is stupid, wicked and cowardly – all three. I wish he wasn’t family. Confusingly, I also know stupid, wicked and cowardly people who voted Yes. I’m not sure where this sort of analysis gets us.
Vronsky : “I’m not sure where this sort of analysis gets us.”
Off the hook, hopefully.
Polemic or whatever, Craig made a big mistake with his initial “eviI or stupid” statement. Now he’s restating it in a way that’s easier to defend. Very sensible.
Next, he should just shut up about it.
I spent The 19th with a no voter..Told him it Broke my heart.. it was an HI’S POCKET / Pension issu… and i keep telling poeple..that Say ” if it Dont ( i know ) affect ME… one can’t Tell these people Though i try..IT WILL AFFECT YOU. Just a matter of time
I would like to thank the English Brothers whom spoke up against the Slurs on Scots.. and i felt it had to be left to Brothers n sisters from the south..
Never in my life have i encountered Racism from Scots, Facism, only Bigotry.. Sectarianism.. YES.. in oor west coast..but that is fading to…
Great post Craig..thank you.. Fighting talk.. and here is a wee warrior helper –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65QCHZDXKmA
Never in my life have i encountered Racism from Scots,
witnessed
Ha, Ha.
Mr. Murray, that’s exactly what I love about you. Your unflinchingly honest dedication to principles and their logical consequences. As you see them. Keep it up, please!
I do think Craig is missing an important point about the independence debate, however.
Some people may recognize the failings of the UK but not believe that independence is the best way to address those failings. A bit like the Russia / Putin issue – just because something is against what you know to be wrong, doesn’t make it right or necessarily attractive.
Even in the event of a yes vote, you’d still end up with a bunch in power, possibly Alex Salmond, that is just as neo-con and dedicated to the vested interests as what you voted against in the UK. In fact, that’s possibly why people like Murdoch didn’t let the yes vote win already. Because the pieces weren’t quite in place yet to ensure a smooth transition to a new system that essentially serves exactly the same interests as the old.
In the event of a yes vote, you’d still have to decide exactly what kind of Scotland you are moving towards. So the yes vote is only the beginning and not a real answer in itself. It’s more like a no vote, really, as it says no to the UK but not yes to anything particular.
Explain yir self Properly
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella) 14 posts in a total of 81 = 17% so far.
“And even more to the point, notice how the child-loving Mary and her coterie haven’t ever mentioned any of horrors inflicted on Nigerian children by Boko Haram.”
Yes, that is a bit strange. I’m sure there’s an entirely innocent explanation. Perhaps they just forgot.
‘No child shall be harmed’ is my watchword Mr Campbell and friend.
Mr BLiar, no less, via his Faith Foundation website, provides this primer for you, courtesy of John Campbell from the Council of Foreign Relations, the paleocon think tank. He will tell you all on the background to the rise of the so called Boko Haram. A complicated tale.
http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/country-profiles/nigeria/situation-report?gclid=CL7qptuSkMMCFQhs2wodkR0Agw
http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/contributors/john-campbell
Ex US Ambassador to Nigeria so he is well versed in what goes on there!
‘No child shall be harmed.’ Sadly these 504 children and little ones were killed in Gaza last year. Their names and ages are listed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/gaza/11056976/The-children-killed-in-Gaza-during-50-days-of-conflict.html
PS How did the subject of Boko Haram get on to Craig’s thread about Scottish independence? You are way off topic there chaps.
Listen up Cunts
Mary, and many of us Cry, all year long… its ( it’s ) not Paris, now , try our terrorism, Syria NOW.. Cameron
Sorry
That word got caught up. with more than me. ..I.m Going away for a while… i need nature more than Craig’s.. And i’ll make sure i get it. ..
I support Craig.. He Knows there are NO Facist’s..As do Clark. And NEVERMIND….And Mary… Node… Herbie.Ect.. Macky We need you… the peace Department. in Scotland.. But i KNOW THERE ARE Sectarian .. Bigots..But i Think We are Gaining on that Front too
… I offer Peace to No voters.. And if you insist on War…..
“Habbabkuk (la vita è bella) 14 posts in a total of 81 = 17% so far.”
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You’re right, I ‘m slipping. Will try to improve my striking rate, commenters’ contributions permitting.
“PS How did the subject of Boko Haram get on to Craig’s thread about Scottish independence? You are way off topic there chaps.”
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By the same mysterious alchemy which ensures that Israel/Palestine gets into almost every thread, I suppose.
Hab Owns Craig,