Just Saying...

WARNING : This post contains language that some readers may find offensive. 

I have recently been researching Facebook groups to find out what the pro unionists are doing to promote the Union and convince YES voters that they are wrong. I wanted to find out why we are better together but what I found wasn't a pretty picture. I followed  4 groups but there wasn't really anything different to separate them from each other. They rehash the same content over and over, flooding your feed if you happen to follow them. Every meme came with barage of abuse and hatred aimed at the SNP and nationalists. The hatred towards Nationalism in Scotland is very real and very ugly. Whatever your views on independence you have to look at facebook pages such as the The UK Union Voice, United Against Separation, Scotland In Union, We Are the 55% etc They all share the same "PRO UK Movement" memes slating the SNP and the nationalists using personal insults, Snazis is one of their favourites. 

The hatred and personal insults are beyond anything I would have expected.
Comparing Nicola Sturgeons Mother to Elton John, ( see post ) 
With no evidence that it was Scottish Nationalists that put up a banner saying "TORY SCUM OUT", this post was doing the rounds.  ( see post )  "the face of extremist nationalist politics in Scotland in 2018. Frankly insulting to the 18,291 people who voted Scottish Conservative in Stirling last June."

Comments included...

• "This is NOT ok in any way. Calling people ‘scum’ is pathetic" 
• "there's no place in Scotland for that kind of people who want to destroy and shame"
• "Appalling low standard of politics!"
• "Freedom of speech is not freedom to insult and intimidate. The lot of them should be arrested and charged."

All valid points but then the haters spoil it all...

• "You can tell by the clothing and that lunatic on the right there all probably on the dole and spend their time smoking cannabis"
• "There’s a village somewhere missing it’s idiots"
• "absolutely brainwashed moronic idiots"
• "lets see jimmy krankie get them arrested for hate crimes"
• " Just proving the point the INBRED SNATZI CULT are the real Scum and Scotlands Shame"
• "Retards!"
• "just a bunch a brain washed deluded sheep shagging trannys!"

Anyone else see the irony in their comments.

On Alex Salmond

• "He’s a cunt"
• "fukin fud"
• "Comrade Alexei Salmondski - a total fuckwit, "

What nice people and still no positive stories as to why we're better together.

Then we get...

• Scots use the British Army to help get NHS workers to hospital during the beast from the east. forgetting the fact that we pay for them and that they were used in England as well. 
• They slate the SNP for using the Green Party to support them, ignoring the fact that the Westminster Conservative Government paid over £1bn to the DUP to prop them up.
• They complain about the repair bill to Bute house, ignoring the massive repair bills to Downing Street, Westminster, Buckingham Palace etc
• They complain that Nicola Sturgeon doesn't pay council tax for Bute House, ignoring the fach that Theresa May doesn't pay council tax on Downing Street.
• They complain that there's too much focus on renewable energy then complain when pollution experts resign as the low emission zones weren't making enough progress.
• They complain Alex Salmond has a show on RT but ignore that Stan Collymore has a show and Sam Delanay regulary has Westminster MPs past and present on his show on RT as well. 
• They complain council Tax is rising in Scotland for the 2nd year in a row, between 3% and 6%  if councils decided to raise them and ignoring the 10 year freeze in Scotland. They also ignore that over a 5 year period in England some councils have increased council tax between 12% and 38% (38% in Lambeth)
• They complain that we don't pay the nurses enough, ignoring the fact they get a better hourly rate in Scotland than they do elsewhere in the UK

The hypocricy is unbelievable.

The list goes on and on. Whenever I asked for figures or sources I was met mostly with silence. They hate nationalism on a Scottish level but love it on a British level. They focus on details so small that it makes your head spin, such as the 0.3 % difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK regarding vacant shops. They don't seem to understand that that some people love independence the same way they love the union.

For the most part the YES pages try to present a more positive outlook. However, they do seem a bit blinkered when it comes to SNP failings but at least they don't resort to constant personal attacks and abuse. That's not to say it's not there, it's just not the norm. Recently though, I've noticed more and more meme type posts that do nothing to further the cause of independence instead they sort of cheapen the argument. The YES campaign must resist the cheap tactics of the Unionists.

A structured approach is what's needed. Join the pro union pages and question their figures but don't join in with the hating. Say your point and move on.  Show figures to prove your point. I've even started asking YES pages to provide sources and figures etc in the hope that when something does get published, it is easy for people to research. It would be an impossible task to expect everyone to to check if what's being said is fake or not. So if you post something please provide sources.  Where you see inacuraces then correct them - here's a great example 

Scotland is a forward thinking, inclusive country with a wealth of natural resources,  we are more than able to stand alone and prosper but we won't get that if we take the same approach as the pro unionist. We need to win with facts. We need to promote our cause, not constantly defend it. The YES movement isn't only the SNP so, when we talk about independence we need to remove the political party aspect. When putting your messages across, replace SNP with "YES Movement" or "YES Scotland". It's a very subtle but powerful change.

We all know how easy it is to get manipulated by word play, marathon to snickers, jif to cif, Thomson to Tui ect, say it enough and the change becomes normal. The weather now refers to South Britain instead of the South of England. In the same breath they then mention Wales as Wales but correct me if I'm wrong but is Wales not in South Britain!!!,  a small but subtle change but very important in the Brexit branding era. Listen out for it. once you hear them mentioning North Britain, South Britain and East Britain you can't unhear it. I haven't heard them say West Britain yet as that one sounds more uncomortable than the others. They still metion Scotland and Wales. Are they now rebranding England as Britain?. Maybe I'm being a bit paranoid here but listen out for it and you'll soon agree.

So, let's do the same. when talking about Independence, stop talking about SNP and start talking YES. Stop talking Britain down and Start talking Scotland up.

Just Saying...