One Scotland
There is a low-level and casual racism in Scotland that the Scots themselves seem to be unaware of (or worse ignore) but which I find deeply depressing. While watching the Old Firm game this weekend I overheard a comment about Dion Dublin's skin colour which just wouldnd't have been said in London.
During the same match we were bombarded by TV adverts from the Scottish Executive about One Scotland - their anti-racism campaign. Normally the amount of money that the Scottish Executive spends on advertising infuriates me - I think the worst one I saw was telling punters how to make a cup of tea! In this case however I have to say that I'm behind the initiatve 100% Let's hope more people take note.
During the same match we were bombarded by TV adverts from the Scottish Executive about One Scotland - their anti-racism campaign. Normally the amount of money that the Scottish Executive spends on advertising infuriates me - I think the worst one I saw was telling punters how to make a cup of tea! In this case however I have to say that I'm behind the initiatve 100% Let's hope more people take note.
posted by Digbeth D'Marriotti at 1:40 PM
6 Comments:
How come you have been so xenophobic about Gaelic Scotland then on this very blog? Do you think that referring to Gaelic as Gaylic is any sense racist or bigoted? (See: http://www.caledoniacalling.com/2006/02/gaylic-nonsense.html)
I am not in the slightest xenophobic about Gaelic Scotland. I am disparaging about it - are you saying that I'm not allowed to disagree with you without being labelled racist? That's exactly the sort of response I've come to expect.
I think an obsession about a dying language demonstrates a backward looking mentality that seems to be endemic in Scotland. The obsession with the language often goes hand in hard with a chip on the shoulder attitude to the English and to percieved injustices that are hundred of years old. This passive agressiveness is not reserved solely for the English however. In some Highland communities anyone not immediately identified as local is given short shrift. I've long wondered how some of these places support a tourist industry when the are so overtly hostile to any incomer.
In places like Sleat the Gaelic Nazis even managed to split an entire community through their insistance that children were taught entirely in language that has no relevance in modern society.
On this blog I have covered:
The exploits of the racist Iain Noble who wanted only to employ Gaelic speakers:
http://www.caledoniacalling.com/2006/02/does-whisky-made-by-gaelic-speakers.html
The sorrowful Sleat Primary School incident:
http://www.caledoniacalling.com/2006/02/gaylic-nonsense.html
And moves by the government to spend public money creating a Gaelic Quango and Gaelic Plan - despite the fact that the language is only spoken by 2% of the population and that numbers are falling.
http://www.caledoniacalling.com/2005/10/shite-in-any-language.html
res ipsa loquitur - to use another dead language.
I use the word Gaylic cause for years that is how I thought you pronounced the word - and when I noticed that this mis-pronounciation annoyed Gaelic speakers I used it all the more often. The word Gay is of course used solely in its modern pejorative form and is no reference to sexual orientation which would be ignorant.
I think you are confused. You profess a dislike for casual racism but don't see aspects of it in yourself.
What gives you the moral right to dismiss initiatives aimed at 2% of the Scottish population?
In what sense does Gaelic have no relevance in modern society? Who's "modern" society? Yours or theirs? Do you live in the Outer Hebrides? Do you want to?
Imagine if you were born into the Gaelic language - as a writer or a fisherman or a teacher. What should your expectations be for your language? What does it need to die out? What purpose does the death of a language serve?
Are you arguing that the entire world should speak English? Should the accent also be homogenised? Which dialect do you prefer? Should all sausages be of equal length? Should all children have blue eyes?
There is no necessary link between the Gaelic language and historic oppression. That is simply not an issue for someone born into Gaeldom in the 21st Century. Every Gael (as far as I am aware) speaks two languages, English and Gaelic so your "modern" language is not threatened.
The truth is that Gaelic has no relevance for YOUR society - however you might wish to define it. But society is not defined by you or any other individual. It is defined by a collection of thoughts or many individuals, past and present - including Hindus, Geordies, Fishermen, Bankers, Children, OAPs, Judges and Idiots. Who are you to define that Gaelic has no relevance in that definition?
The use of Gaylic is offensive, and I think you know it. The terms "Gaelic Nazis" is offernsive, and I think you know that to. I would certainly call that "casual racism" or the type you describe.
Cha bhi fios aire math an tobair gus an tràigh e.
The value of the well is not known until it goes dry.
...so why dry it out?
You continue to miss my point entirely.
I have nothing against Gaelic speakers. What 2% of the population do is of absolutely no concern to me. If someone tried to persecute Gaelic speakers in any way then I would defend them, and their right to do what they wanted to the hilt.
I will however to take issue with the actions of people such as Iain Noble. I personally think that the term "Gaelic Nazis" perfectly describes some of the people involved in the Sleat primary school campaign. I object to the use of public funds for initiatives which have questionable aims.
If you think that my vitriol is aimed solely at Gaelic speakers through some prejudice of mine I suggest that you take a look at the rest of this blog. I poked sticks at numpties, ineptitude and slack thinking where ever I saw it. Accuse me of misanthropy - guilty as charged! But racism, never.
Your failure to differentiate between real racism and my idle rantings worries me. If you live in Scotland then I suggest that you take a good look around you. Talk to any of your non-white neighbours and you’ll soon get a feel for what real racism is. Hell talk to an English person – some of the tales my English friends told me about how they were treated in Edinburgh truly shocked me. As a Scot who has lived for years in London, and now in the US, let me tell you that Scotland is YEARS behind these places in its attitudes. Coming back sometimes is like watching a bad 70s sitcom.
You are wriggling.
When you say that you would defend Gaelic speakers if they were persecuted in anyway, how can you then characterise Gaeldom like this:
[The Gaelic language has] "no relevance in modern society". How close to dismissal of a language is dismissal of a culture and "casual persecution"
That a Gaelic film (unseen by you) must be a waste of money ("Shit, if ever there was a reason to not to pay your license fee.") How can you dismiss a cultural product in any language without experiencing it first? Would that kind of cultural prejudice be perceived as persecution down the ages?
That "In some Highland communities anyone not immediately identified as local is given short shrift. I've long wondered how some of these places support a tourist industry when the are so overtly hostile to any incomer" This is itself a 1970s attitude - and reveals something of your prejudice.
That Gaels have "a chip on the shoulder attitude to the English and to percieved injustices that are hundred of years old. " Not at all a generalist cultural smear at all?
That the Scottish government should not "spend public money creating a Gaelic Quango and Gaelic Plan - despite the fact that the language is only spoken by 2% of the population and that numbers are falling." Why shouldn't 2% of the population have a quango and a plan? Wouldn't it be considered persecution if that were not allowed? It is precisely because the numbers are falling that the plan exists.
Please answer this question and don't wriggle.... Why do you want to actively encourage the demise of Gaelic? What do you - personally - and does Scotland or the world stand to gain from it dying out?
I did not describe you as a racist. I described you as xenophobic. I asked you the question as to whether YOU thought your comments were in any sense racist or bigoted.
There is a strong thread of anti-gaelicness on you blog. But when you attack casual racism on the one hand and don't recognise your own casual xenophobia which feeds casual racism on the other, then it is your thinking that is slack. It reveals you....
In case you are still here....
You don't agree with my opinions - fair enough.
However I put to you again - that I only voice my opinions when some nutter like Iain Noble raises his ugly head. Or some Gaelic organisation comes cap-in-hand to the public purse.
I don't actively want Gaelic to disappear. Hell, it would detract from things like the Chewin' the Far sock-puppet sketch. But don't ask me to pay for it. Go ask Noble to fund your film.
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