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 🙂 !
“Duncan McFarlane
Maybe they’ve been crossing your greasy little palms with silver too.”
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What a stupid response. You can’t dispute his facts so you insult him.
Hungbyneck
Quatre petites merdes de chat dans le parterre de fleurs aujourd’hui.
@HomeAloneara*
“”You should read them as part of your own personal adult education process
What like your ‘education’, no thanks.”
_________________
No, laddy, nothing to do with me.
Duncan McFarlane wrote those posts.
You should read them.
And then you’ll see straighter. And your education will have gained.
Simple, isn’t it?
But not the SNP, they used the term “scaremongering” a lot.
They’re politicians. Your getout clause for Murphy, I believe, as he absurdly claims not to be a unionist after propping up Butter Together.
Merde de chat
I’m not disputing his facts about politicians being bought by bankers, am I. I’m asking who’s bought him to let the unmentionables off the hook. I’m a bit sick of the main culprits of the war against Islam getting away another-unmentionable-free all the time. Get google to translate that!
I attended an electricians’ forum last night and the subject of fires came up. ” Put it like this, it only started when manufacturers from certain countries started making electrical equipment and electricians from certain other countries started installing them. I’m not going to say more than that. “
“They’re politicians. Your getout clause for Murphy, I believe, as he absurdly claims not to be a unionist after propping up Butter Together.”
“getout clause”, what on earth are you talking about man? Get a grip.
Your not worth it Habbabkuk.
Since we are not right orse meat eating Charlies, what kind of unfathomable stunt may we expect from Cameron before May ?
Très curieuse vidéo effectivement, car s’il n’a pas les mains menottées pourquoi n’a-t-il pas sa kalachnikov pour tirer sur ses « ennemis » et vider son chargeur ? ça ne rime à rien de foncer gratuitement sur le Raid !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1H0HV1MlWw#t=92
Ba’al.
Darling lizard. We are allowed to mention the scratching of palms of US politicians but we are supposed to assume that belonging to the friends of Israel and voting for Israeli policies is just a matter of admiration and trust. We are being taken for complete idiots.
The Dunce is unaware of my Jewish granny and wants to open the yawn anti-semitic trap. Who on earth has a problem with Muslims except Zionists? What is going on in the head of an educated person who cannot understand that? We have had 20 years of good old fashioned Victorian media denigration of Muslims, then as fanatics and now as terrorists. Has he noticed that?
Is he an ostrich, or what? Duncan McFarlane is either an evil or cowardly or stupid prat not to see that.
I think you miss out a category… ‘brainwashed’
The misinformation machine was operating at full till in the run up to the referendum. Shocking was the fact that even the Scottish Government (operating like an arm of Westminster) was itself was churning out anti independence propaganda. Of course the underlying misconception of the majority of the populous is that they are living in a democracy. While that remains the case.. until people can see past this monumental deception then I think brainwashed needs to be included, because stupid doesn’t accurately describe those that have been deceived.
Puzzled
Thats a very good question
One things for certain though.. that lots of people will die Horribly!!
‘What unfathomable stunt ” of the foaming at the mouth Cameron c***, or as Mark Golding called him more politely, 3 nukes?
Kursish joke: A man got up on small table to attempt to make sex with his horse saying ” I seek Gods protection from Shaytan the Accursed “.
Hang on a minute says the Devil, how many thousands of millenia have I been causing problems on earth, but I never thought using a table to get up high enough to bugger a horse.
Maybe Duncan is just too cowardly electorally to blame the Zionists for the war on Islam and the banking collapse. In the history of Christianity or Islam we have never witnessed the evil in our owen lifetimes of this war on Islam. Millions dead millions homeless, thousands sprayed with nuclear and phosphorous.
Our minds are unable to grasp the enourmity of this Zionism curse.
Fixed the floor ready for boards, stripping and filling the walls. Plumbing issues still need sorting. Looking good though.
Really need to get back to drawing, paint can be such block.
Resorting cameras is on the back burner. Maybe when it warms up a bit, but markets are…..Outside, Brrrr!
typo: Kurdish
But saying that, Color is it’s own reward. 🙂
Iain,
I don’t think mischief and fun should be barred from the political arena!
“They’re politicians. Your getout clause for Murphy, I believe, as he absurdly claims not to be a unionist after propping up Butter Together.” (Me)
“getout clause”, what on earth are you talking about man? Get a grip. (Fred)
This:
“Morning Fred, spot price of oil please. I see that the leader of the labour party in Scotland says that he is no longer a Unionist. Does tbat make him an onanist or a Nazi:-)” (Calgacus)
That makes him a politician (Fred)
Short-term memory loss, Fred. Put the bottle down.
Mark Golding the article in which Erdogan and Abbas criticize Netanyahu for his genocide against Palestinians is only one part of the Charlie Hebdo problem. I realise that the article from Komsomolskaya Pravda was mainly about how Muslims and Mosques are continually being targeted as a result. There has been coverage of the slaughter in Palestine (which started at the same time that the fascists that stole power in Kiev started the first civil war in Ukraine for 90 years).
This war has been under-reported and mis-reported in the UK mainstream. Government troops are once again gathering to attack Eastern Ukraine again due to an incident in which ten people were killed in a bus. Nobody knows who did this. We have seen the footage of Palestine. But not that of the Ukraine where nearly twice as many have been killed. Cartoons are circulating about Poroshenko being at the “I am a Charlie” parade.
https://www.facebook.com/SupportAntiF/photos/a.549316191847991.1073741832.547361942043416/690172611095681/
Then there are reports like this that are just not found in our media.
“Had Yanukovych sent aircraft to bomb the Kiev Administration, the whole world would have immediately condemned the “bloody dictator.” But when Turchynov ordered the bombing of the Luhansk Administration, the entire so-called “civilized world” held its tongue, because the US State Department did not give the signal to condemn.”
Читать далее: http://en.ukraina.ru/analytics/20150113/1011779122.html
fred, 8:59 am:
Fred, no. I’m trying to engage rationally with your argument of 13 Jan, 2015, 10:43 pm, which accuses Craig of manipulation:
So my first step is to discover what you actually mean by “evidence to the contrary”.
Manure now at 50p a sack.
Giyane, salaam aleikum….but…
Granted that Israel’s input into American foreign policy was and is colossal, granted also that Israel was shitting itself about Saddam (although it would have preferred the ME takedown to begin with Iran, even then) Iraq was still perceived to be in America’s interest at the time, and that was the factor driving the war more than any other. Recalling the US and UK firms which made a packet out of it (remember, too, that Saddam was threatening to stop trading in petrodollars, and had just contracted his oil to the Russians and French)…recalling that does not make Duncan an apologist for Israel.
It would have happened without Israel and PNAC. It would not have happened without oil.
As I said, peace.
“Put the bottle down.”
Fuck off and die retard.
Duncan McFarlane, excellent to see you here again. I hope you’re well.
I thoroughly recommend Duncan’s blog. Duncan puts a lot of effort into collecting and collating evidence from widely respected sources:
http://inplaceoffear.blogspot.co.uk/
Giyane, please spend a while considering convergence of interests…
Seeing a lot of insults and a lot of wild claims from you Giyane. And no facts to back up your theories that everything in the world must be a Zionist plot. And let’s not forget you claimed it’s a Jewish plot too. So whether or not you had a Jewish granny, you are still selling anti-semitic conspiracy theories.
And by the way i’ve had exactly the same ridiculous accusations about how i must be paid to say things from the blindly pro-Israel brigade. Only difference between their rants and yours is that they tell me i must have been paid by the Iranians and that everything in the world is a Muslim plot, while you claim i must have been paid by the Zionists and that everything in the world is a Jewish/ Zionist plot. It’s neither.
Many of the corrupt politicians who are in the parties funded by the bankers and big firms and billionaires are members of Friends of Israel and blindly pro-Israel, but not because there are Zionists controlling the whole world, but because both lead to big donations to election campaign funds and advance their political careers and their bank balances.
And if i was in the pay of “Zionists”, why would i have spent half my life writing letters, articles, blog posts and an entire website pointing out Israeli, US, and British government lies and atrocities by their militaries? Check out http://www.duncanmcfarlane.org or google my name and Israel and see how likely it is that i’m working for Israelis.
I hope for your sake that you’re just winding me up, because the alternative is that you’ve gone like poor David Icke, whose political analysis is right on the money right up to the point that he starts talking about how it’s all because governments are all made of alien space lizard people.
Maybe exercise would help Fred. Always calms me down. Even just a long warm bath.
The bickering over the oil price is a distraction cooked up by the MSM. The low price of oil wasn’t a ruse by either salmond or Cameron. It is a threat by Saudi, if they can half the price, they can double it
The snp policy is now devo max, full control over everything except defense and foriegn affaires, they will not declare UDI or rerun the referendum during this GE. Indy ref 2 will only be called when the polls are continually showing a 60% yes in Scotland. That is why it is off the menu for a generation, albeit the generation may well end at 10.01pm on May 7th
Is this the right way to go, maybe aye, maybe no. But the snp have taken us this far so I will stick with them
They are effectively ceding control of defense and foriegn affaires, for the duration of this ge, as powers which will be reserved to Westminster. Since it is exactly these two issues which are your forte Craig, and possibly the reasons you were rejected, for now.
I do agree with you regarding the NO voters, I have no intention of trying to convert any off them , I will be canvassing the known yes supporters encouraging them to come out and vote for the snp in May. I’ll reassess the way forward after the GE..
and since Israel’s ‘Law of Return’ (for Jews only, no Palestinians) allows people with one Jewish grandparent to qualify there have been neo-nazi cells made up of some of those people from the Soviet union. So having a Jewish grandparent and holding anti-semitic views clearly aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive by any means
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6987848.stm
Clark – thanks – and i do agree with Giyane on quite a lot. Just not on the banking crisis, Iraq war and everything else all being down to Zionists/Jews (he uses the two as if they were the same thing) who supposedly control the banks and the US and British governments and everything they do.
Craig @11.24 am. I’ve no problem with mischief and fun in politics – and you provide lots, whether blogging or campaigning. My difficulty with your evil/stupid/cowardly posts is that two friends with whom I often wish to discuss your posts have cited them as reasons why they decided no longer to read them.
Have you decided to campaign for the “Border Reivers” (my suggestion for your party’s designation) in Berwick-upon-Tweed? Any ideas for a campaign vehicle and song as good as those in Blackburn; and an interactive website manifesto as a technical update on your Norwich North DVD?