Quote:
Originally Posted by chezlaw
Yes. Pointing out vacuous dishonest political nonsense is part of politics.
No-one can read your recent posts without seeing your ridiculously myopic view of the SNP. It will also be obvious to those not hard of thinking that even if the SNP were as magnficent as you portray them it has almost zero relevence to the independence debate.
You shouldn't dress up your nationalism, are you ashamed of it? You probably cheer when England lose at sport, if you dont you should know many of your fellows do.
I do understand what you're getting at but your arguments are irrelevant. I've already said that independence would not be an issue for me if the partnership worked for everyone. Clearly it doesn't.
I would be very wary of agreeing with you that I am nationalist. I'm quite happy with my political opinion (and quite willing to change it if I see better arguments) and feel there is no room or necessity for pride. I form this opinion from my experiences as a Scot and from gaining an understanding of the arguments for independence, some of which I have already spoken about. Above all I doubt we have the same view of what constitutes nationalism. Some Catalan "nationalists" (they've never been a nation), for example, seem to think they are our "brothers in the fight against central government" which is not even remotely relevant to Scotland and ideology I'd rather not have colouring that of Scottish Nationalism.
The thing is, it's a peculiar part of human nature to try to portray others with the negative aspects of one's own nature and I see
your arguments as being myopic in that you have simply labelled everything I've said as "nationalism and nationalism is silly".
As for cheering England's failures: oh you better believe I laugh when England lose at football. Rooney's 3 match ban was the most recent episode I took the greatest of pleasure in reading about.
I'll tell you about how proud Scotland felt when we beat France in Paris (after also beating them at Hampden) and how we were having the best results of a qualifying campaign for many a year. Perhaps it was perceived and not real but it certainly felt like the place was far more cheerful during that time until the last game and the last minute when we achieved our usual "glorious failure" and were robbed of a qualifying spot by a poor refereeing decision against Italy. As much as we were buoyant from the previous victories, we were gutted about the ultimate result.
Until what?
Until the following Wednesday when England lost at home to Croatia and also lost out on a place at the championships (think it was the Euros). That night I think I summed up how the majority of Scotland felt when I texted a friend saying simply "the pain has gone".
Oh what loathsome people we must be!
Well, even that argument is irrelevant. It's human nature to enjoy seeing your rivals fail and I also like to see certain football club teams fail because they are my team's biggest rivals. People everywhere do this. Moreover, I cheer when, for example, Button or Hamilton win a grand prix. I cheered for James Akenhead during his deep run in the main event. I always wanted Jimmy White to win a world championship, even when Stephen Hendry was dominating. So it's not simply about blindly despising something because of my political views.
We are a country with no sovereign power and no control over our own finances due to it being retained by a parliament which legislates with little consideration to the wider implications of its people in Scotland. We don't want to build a wall up here; we would just like to decide how our money is fairly spent and how our public services are fairly run. Don't forget we have never ceased to be a different country and we had no real choice in reluctantly shaking hands and trying to make the best out of a partnership that has long since run its course.
If I were English I would be questioning the fact that there are issues which are irrelevant to Scots which their MP's can vote on in parliament. The fact that many claim we are "disproportionately funded" is another question to put to your politicians. Whether or not that is true is another debate.
I freely admit that there are many people who simply think "f the English let's cut ties" but I would also say they are the less informed minority of stupid people you can get everywhere. The serious argument is that Scotland, as a country with no voice and no power to control its own finances, would like to take that control and decide for itself how to spend its money for the good of
everyone living in Scotland, be they Scots, English, Irish, Asian or from wherever else you choose to mention.