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 🙂 !
Interesting piece on this morning’s Today programme; the Director of the (independent)Institute for Fiscal Studies demonstrates that there is a very significant difference between the Conservative and Labour parties’ intentions wrt future budget deficit reduction and that, therefore, voters will have a real choice on this matter at the forthcoming election.
I imagine that anyone interested and who missed the programme can catch up with it later in the day.
Fujisan
“Hab Owns Craig”
_______________
I used to but I traded him in for a second hand gong (the Order of the Brown Nose) which I have now awarded to another commenter (see on of my posts, above).
Sorry
no way
like Clark.i might need help..
Hab
you hate People me thinks
And By the way…
if i want to Write Poetry. It it Will be SQUONK GET IT
Habb
Listen up..
Peace up.
please…
Sorry habb
Some of us have honor
Like Samurai.
aND THE bALLS TO fUCK THE mSM
It gets nicer the higher you get Brian, keep warm up there and watch out for the blind Cambellyeti, it can’t read and hence is a growly ol’ cantankerous beasty. You can smell it a mile off, so its easy to avoid.
and thanks for the video of the little nipper doing her presentation.
For all those who like to talk about 10 year old girls blown up, influenced by madmen in an oil rich state which is heavily supported by US terror advisers in their fight against Boko Haram, well, so they say.
Some say its another oil rich country that is being undermined with chaos, by a well armed and Saudi supplied terror group, alledgedly, but this is not the thread as Mary already mentioned.
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2014/05/dysfunction-in-nigeria/
Tony M. yes religion and force are still used, but when print came along they lost some of their essential power. National myths then replaced religion. There is a good summary of this transition in The Invention of the Land of Israel by Schlomo Sand. In showing how Israel created its own national myths, in order to survive, the reader notes how it was merely following our own Victorian example. You could fire back that it was our own Victorian myths which created the myth of Britain and there is something to that, but anyway I’m against UDI divorce and very suspicious of it. Suspicious because it is easy to steal a country; easy to pervert an ideal; and I can’t help but think that it is in part a reflection of an attempt to require the poorer parts of Britain self finance, which is great if your wealthy and from the home counties.
Habbabkuk; “By the same mysterious alchemy which ensures that Israel/Palestine gets into almost every thread, I suppose”
Yes, it’s all a convienent mystery to you, so here’s a clue;
Until the time Boko Haram is supported politically, military & financially by the West, it remains one of those issues that (to paraphrase a certain Craig Murray);
“I condemn, you condemn, we all condemn. But that really doesn’t take us very far”
Unlike Israeli crimes which OUR Government both covers for & supoorts.
Clear enough, or is it still all a “mystery” ?
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.
–
“Removing Saddam will be a blessing to the Iraqi people, four millions Iraqis are in exile, 60 per cent of the population are dependent on food aid, thousands of children die every year through malnutrition and disease, hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes or murdered, I hope the Iraqi people hear this message, we are with you, our enemy is not you, but your barbarous rulers.
Our commitment to the post Saddam humanitarian effort will be total, we shall help Iraq move towards democracy, and put the money from Iraqi oil in a UN trust fund so it benefits Iraq and no one else.”
Prime Minister Blair 20th March 2003
A ‘force for ill’ translates into many adjectives. Bad and corrupt best describes Blair’s commitment to the British people as Prime Minister. His judgement was ‘bad’ and ‘corrupt’ describes the ‘Trust’ fund that brought little benefit to the Iraqi people. Audits prove the fund was misused and stolen.
Blair and his accomplices remain unimpeachable. Clearly the people of Britain are represented by cowardly, nefarious villains. True democracy is hurt, in pieces.
I sincerely believe it is our duty , our burden and our obligation to make known to our political representatives THAT WE WILL NOT VOTE in May’s election until these offenders are indicted and brought to trial to face war-crimes and corruption allegations.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.audit/
Hi Habbacluck, which Israeli prison are you shilling from? Time off for good behaviour? 😛
Habbabkuk; “By the same mysterious alchemy which ensures that Israel/Palestine gets into almost every thread, I suppose”
Yes, it’s all a convienent mystery to you, so here’s a clue…
Funny how Boko Haram seems to be turning up on almost every thread lately…is the evil, stupid,cowardly unionist going off-topic again?
And has it worked out how to do links yet?
Yawn.
nevermind.. Thank you.. The Chi is China… Ki is Japan.. My art..we are open to All Always.. Peace.. i would love for our host to learn our stuff.. And thank you for Luss Education..
“Now he’s restating it”
More succinct would be:
Decent: well-informed: voted No. Pick two.
Brent crude $45 and falling.
The Nationalists got it wrong, the 55% got it right.
Schools, jobs, hospitals, roads matter to the people of Scotland, I don’t see why we should sacrifice those for a southerner’s political agenda.
Vronsky Speak up..we are with you
Dear Craig,
Perhaps you are being a sort of Jonathan Swift of your day.
Milkycoffee
Thanks. I wouldn’t claim to be near the same class as either, but more Wiliam Cobbett I think…
That covers it!Great post.Very good.
Fred ,everybody got it wrong including you.
look.. My son has blood on his Byonet… Happy habb
Brian, we were talking about Anonymous a couple of threads back. I posted a reply but by the morning Craig had deleted the entire thread. Just to tidy up loose ends, here it is again:
_____________________________________________________
I’m not saying that everybody who claims to be a member of Anonymous is a fraud, liar or spook. I have a youngish relative who believes he is a member. He’s very IT-savvy, very into the hacking/cracking end of things …. but maybe not so clued-up about the real world behind the MSM illusion. I ask him how he knows that the people he has found in internetland are real members of Anonymous, how he can be certain that there even IS an Anonymous, or that it is what it claims to be. He says he’s sure, I don’t see how he can be sure. But who am I to say he’s being fooled, I know nothing for sure. I settle for planting a few seeds of world-weary cynicism into his trusting outlook and leave it at that.
So when a million people around the world don V-masks and give their time and energy to a cause I agree with, I don’t think “there’s a million suckers.” I think “there’s a million people who’ve spotted an opportunity to protest globally rather than locally by the simple means of all wearing an identical mask”. Maybe if I’d had the opportunity, I’d have joined in. And maybe I’d have met like-minded people there, and decided that the Anonymous ‘franchise’ was a useful vehicle for further activism.
But that would be a dangerous course. I would be identifying myself as a member of an organisation that I knew very little about, and had no control over beyond my immediate circle. The danger of making worthy protests against the BBC under an Anonymous banner is that Anonymous gain legitimacy and credibility from your actions and sooner or later, someone is going to exploit that for motives you don’t agree with. Sure as eggs is eggs. Why wouldn’t they? What could be easier than, say, the CIA releasing a video of a man in a mask threatening bloody vengeance on Muslims.
Brian, I can tell from your posts that you’re a decent gadgie who gets off your arse and does decent things. Long may it continue. Doing anything is usually better than doing nothing. Just take this little rant in the same spirit as my young relative does, ie ignore me. Peace and light, brother.
Fred, FFS see someone about your OCD.
I cannot think of any hypothetical unionist position which does not fall into one of those categories.
I can. Those who think they owe their first allegiance to the UK. Such as well-intentioned, sensible, brave Scots servicemen, immigrants from other parts of Britain, and people whose genuine – though you are allowed to allege – misplaced patriotism is simply not localised to Scotland. And I don’t think the old Socialist internationalist ideal betrays evil, stupidity or cowardice, either, so much as a worldview conditioned by experiences and upbringing. Which are very different from yours, I think.
Up to you to decide whether their votes matter enough to do anything about changing their minds, isn’t it? Presto; you’re a politician.
No criticism of the independence movement is implied or intended here, btw. I’m wholly for it, albeit from a safe distance now. I just don’t think evil, stupidity and cowardice are attributes only to be found only one side, and I certainly don’t think that one side or the other is exclusively evil, stupid or cowardly. This is the politics of division. Please step away from it. Individuals – different matter.
“This is the politics of division. Please step away from it. Individuals – different matter.”
Well there are two positions. Made up of individuals all.
PS: Try shouting your post loudly in a NI accent. Swift? Cobbett? Paisley? You decide.
“Fred, FFS see someone about your OCD.”
That’s what I was thinking. As Craig put it:
“Fred argues that an independent Scotland would be dependent purely on oil, and that nationalists are Nazis. Both are demonstrably wrong, but his attachment to them is plainly conditioned by some experience that clouds rational thought.”
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2015/01/the-great-mistake/#comments
Well there are two positions. Made up of individuals all.
So take them one by one. Start with Jim Murphy and my blessing…
Up to you to decide whether their votes matter enough to do anything about changing their minds, isn’t it? Presto; you’re a politician.
He is doing things politicians do, but Craig is not your conventional politician, not yet. Don’t know if he wants to be one after this post.
Gosh, what would happen if he would write a position/article on sectarianism, we’ll have the Rangers team marching in here with the Ultra’s in tow.
Fred, It matters not how many times you parrot the oil price and wallow in your Schadenfreude it’s hurting the Union’s wallet,not the SNP’s.
The SNP did not base Independence on the oil price.You seem to have tho’.Why?
In fact the only wedge you’ve got it is that the price the SNP quoted leading up to the Referendum was 110 per barrel’which was reasonable at the time before Saudi and US interference.