Apparently having failed to spot that his comrades have made utter fools of themselves by claiming there is some kind of 'moral obligation' on Scotland to sacrifice its tourist industry by accepting joint ownership of riots that have nothing to do with us, Michael Kelly has belatedly decided to join in -
"Nationalism as a political philosophy has too many overtones of authoritarianism and discrimination to sound attractive to anyone who has studied the history of Europe in the 20th century. Supporters of the SNP would, no doubt, point to the number of legitimate struggles for independence from overbearing colonial power waged on other continents during the latter part of that period. But in those countries there were deep, just grievances as indigenous peoples saw their resources exploited for the benefit of the foreign conquerors.
Scotland is suffering no such enslavement, ill-treatment or bleeding dry."
Translation : any nationalism that is not borne out of brutal oppression is automatically fascism, but I'd really rather not utter such a demonstrably silly sentiment directly, so I'll just say it by insinuation.
Not good enough, Michael. I can do no better than to quote the words of the former Presiding Officer George Reid -
"Each nation has its own private place in space, time, history, social and economic development. Any attempt to link the SNP and the Nazis, as happened in the Kinross and Perth by-election, is as foolish as lumping John Smith and Stalin together because both were socialists. Similarly, while all democrats will rejoice in the re-found freedom of the peoples of Eastern Europe, any attempt to make direct comparisons with where they came from, and where we are, would be offensive. And any association of the SNP with violence is absurd, given the party's 60 years of absolute dedication to pacific, civic nationalism."
This is a totally absurd argument and I'm finding it hard to believe that the Scotsman allowed itself to publish something so false, so ignorant and so insulting.
ReplyDeleteNeed Michael Kelly be reminded that the damage done to the 13 colonies of America (a small tax hike and taxation without representation) was miniscule compared to that done over the centuries to Scotland by subsequent uncaring governments. However, to reply to him in this fashion would give him an air of legitimacy in his arguments. Instead, perhaps one could show the absurdity by giving another argument with his logic:
A study of the 20th century will reveal that all unions invariably promote segregation and racism - as the Union of South Africa has clearly shown.
Or how about:
A study of the 17th century will reveal that all unions invariably lead to republicanism and constitutional government with religious freedom - as in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth.
Obviously, neither of these happened as a result of the British union - just like fascism will not arise from Scottish nationalism. American independence grew out of liberty. Perhaps ours will grow out of a need for better government. I'm still gobsmacked that such tripe has been printed in a national newspaper.
So, the right to self determination is only legitimate if you can demonstrate enslavement by a foreign conqueror?
ReplyDeletePathetic.
Thanks for pointing me to this article. It is a reasonable and accurate summation of some recent news stories, and the Nationalist reactions to them.
ReplyDeleteWell done Mr Kelly.
I must be making progress if Labour councillors are coming here to get their "news", rather than going to the Scotsman direct.
ReplyDeleteI'm deeply honoured, Alex.
I think Michael Kelly has been driven mad by seeing the SNP take over his beloved Glasgow. He lives in the former Govan constituency and must have hoped that Nicola's victory in 2007 was a one-off blip rather than a harbinger of things to come. His reaction if the SNP take the council next year will be awesome to behold.
ReplyDelete