Scotland's Secret Shame

[andy steel 0]

I don't disagree with a word. From a May, 2011 blog I wrote:

 

The treatment of the Irish Catholic community in Scotland was described this morning by Mr. Peter Lawwell, CEO of Celtic, as ‘Scotland’s shame which Scotland must deal with’. It’s a recurring theme from that source, and it’s a theme that leaves me bemused. Scotland’s shame?

 

If we’re looking for a community in Scotland that is marginalised, that is mocked, and that is left without a voice, we have quite a choice. Homosexuals, the mentally ill, the mentally handicapped, people of different colour and even women in Scotland all have a far better claim to being treated as second or third class citizens here than what has been called the Irish community.

 

I can only speak from my own experience here in Scotland, but I can’t think of an immigrant body which has been absorbed into another country with such ease. Around my country today I can find people of Irish Catholic or Protestant descent working as doctors, dentists, policemen, lawyers...any occupation you care to mention, up to and including representatives of the electorate, who presumably set aside their ingrained bigotry to vote for such candidates as Roseanna Cunningham and Linda Fabiani for election day only. And when one considers the violence which followed from the opposite migration, that of the Scots into Ulster some centuries ago, it makes me even more proud of that integration.

 

This ‘body’ that is supposed to coalesce around Celtic is actually spread all over Scotland, in all walks of life, and apart from the occasional abuse from the stupid which, in truth, we all have to deal with from time to time, appears to me to be leading fairly everyday, boring, Scottish lives. Contrast that to the mentally handicapped: condemned to abuse as a ‘spazzy’ every day until they are packed off to a home where they won’t offend anyone by making us look at them. The frequency of terms like 'retard' and 'mongo' on this forum and, doubtless, others is proof of how invisible these people are. Who speaks up for them? Peter Lawwell?

 

Or the mentally ill. On his phone-in show, James Traynor often suggests excitable callers ‘take their tablets.’ It’s OK to use mental illness as shorthand for jokes, you see. It’s wit. To take an argument favoured by the likes of Lawwell, which is that if the abuse of the Irish was directed at blacks there would be an outcry, suppose we replace ‘take your tablets’ with ‘twist your rosary’ – I think we know what the reaction would be. But abuse of the mentally ill is commonplace in Scotland; who speaks up for the mentally ill? Peter Lawwell?

 

Or the homosexual, especially the gay professional sportsman. It’s still a big deal when a pro ‘comes out’, as we saw with the cricketer Steve Davis recently in England. At least his public statement has been greeted with the indifference it merits; any footballer in Scotland who either voluntarily or otherwise revealed a different sexual orientation to the ‘normal’ would find Scotland staggeringly intolerant, not least from some members of this ‘Irish community’. World Champion and inspiration Graeme Obree was driven to the edge of suicide, such was the level of torture he suffered over the issue. But who speaks up for the gay sportsman? Peter bloody Lawwell?

 

Those people who live with mental illness, or homosexuality, or any other actual rather than imagined marginalised personality feature, can only shake their heads at the furore over the treatment of ‘Irish Catholics’ in Scotland (I would personally describe someone who has lived in the country for a decade as Scottish, never mind someone with three generations of Scots behind them, but let that pass). The abuse and threats to Neil Lennon are, of course, outrageous and disgraceful. Hopefully the sociopathic loons behind the letter bomb campaign are found and jailed quickly, the better for Scotland as a whole. But to extend his shocking suffering to an amorphous ‘community’ as a whole and describe it as ‘Scotland’s Shame’ not only insults most Scots, it profoundly insults those who actually suffer from discrimination. Peter Lawwell’s comments are not only inaccurate, they are extremely hurtful; to see a powerful and integrated section of Scottish society, with many friends in the media and professional services, portrayed as the victim in the way Mr Lawwell has is, truly, something to be ashamed of.

 

But I maintain it is up to us to get our record squeeky clean, the better to drive home the false and self serving nature of the 'official figures' and especially the groups who use them to their own benefit. Every time a Bear says the word '******' or lets go with an FTP - regardless of how meaningless the expression actually is - it makes it harder to expose reality. Us acting alone may not solve the issue entirely, but it would expose it to the cold light of day, where I feel it must be ridiculed as the bullshit that it is.

 

I think we're getting there, but let ourselves down every so often. With the prize of exposing sectarianism as a myth, why we do this is beyond me, because we can all agree that when people talk about sectarianism in Scotland they're really having a go at Rangers fans.

[Max Rebo's Big Blue Nose 0]

I don't disagree with a word. From a May, 2011 blog I wrote:

 

 

 

But I maintain it is up to us to get our record squeeky clean, the better to drive home the false and self serving nature of the 'official figures' and especially the groups who use them to their own benefit. Every time a Bear says the word '******' or lets go with an FTP - regardless of how meaningless the expression actually is - it makes it harder to expose reality. Us acting alone may not solve the issue entirely, but it would expose it to the cold light of day, where I feel it must be ridiculed as the bullshit that it is.

 

I think we're getting there, but let ourselves down every so often. With the prize of exposing sectarianism as a myth, why we do this is beyond me, because we can all agree that when people talk about sectarianism in Scotland they're really having a go at Rangers fans.

 

Did Peter Lawwell actually say that? FFS. This guy is a friggin meglomaniac

[biggordy 0]

How long will it take to disinfect the arena I wonder. No doubt they'll pick up another freebie by way of the costs involved!

[The Real PapaBear 0]

What are the Green Brigade? A psuedo political group or Celtic fans? I'm all for freedom of speech and all that entails but with any freedom always comes responsibility. If they have points to raise' date=' by all means do it through the proper channels. Please keep this stuff out of football please. I wonder what your average non-fundemental Celtic fan feels about this?[/quote']

 

If these pricks truly cared about the politics they pretend to espouse, irish or otherwise, they would keep them out of the football arena. They don't because they, being the true face of Celtic fans, are all about the 'look-at-me-look-at-me-praise-me-praise-me-love-me-love-me-me-me-me'.

[SteveC 150]

H-Block was the one in the Maze Prison where the hunger strikers and IRA folk were interned. That they use a line from Flower of Scotland just deflects from that. Then again, I would not put it beyond them to use the line to praise the terrorists, not a Scottish national hero.

 

It is not deflection, it is association. They are saying that the IRA rebels v the UK are just the same as the Scots soldiers who sent "proud Edward homeward". I presume they thought that since Aberdeen sing FoS a lot when playing against us it would be a particularly good day for them to equate what they see as Irish Nationalism (everyone else sees as terrorist outrage) and Scottish Nationalism.

[SteveC 150]

If these pricks truly cared about the politics they pretend to espouse, irish or otherwise, they would keep them out of the football arena. They don't because they, being the true face of Celtic fans, are all about the 'look-at-me-look-at-me-praise-me-praise-me-love-me-love-me-me-me-me'.

 

Yes, I often think that "'look-at-me-look-at-me-praise-me-praise-me-love-me-love-me-me-me-me" syndrome must come from having nothing else in their lives. I know there are other causes too but I mean its all encompassing nature in every one of them

Edited November 24, 2013 by SteveC

[chilledbear 16]

What I read yesterday was........they are not allowed to sing a certain song about the IRA, so they are saying the IRA are equivalent to Bruces army in FOS.

[der Berliner 3,263]

What I read yesterday was........they are not allowed to sing a certain song about the IRA, so they are saying the IRA are equivalent to Bruces army in FOS.

 

Can't remember Bruce's lot running about killing civilians, innocent children and women alike. The point is, they equate anything IRA with freedom fighters, be that before 1921 or after. That said, many western countries had no problem aligning themselves with the Taliban when they drove out the "Communist" Soviets, ere declaring the Taliban terrorists et al when they faced up against them. So one can see the mentality that is the basis for the Yahoo mindset. Not that it actually makes either sort of terrorism any more "acceptable".

[MikeN63 0]

One of the many upsetting things about these scumbags is that they use the word Army in their name, when in fact they're a guerrilla force, scared to show their face, praying on easy targets, killing innocent people, supported by naïve and gullible individuals.