FREEDOM!!!! [4]

{{ For the first time in my life I am seriously worried about Scottish Nationalism.
Not how the SNP will do in elections (that's separate from Independence as polling shows with SNP polling down and independence holding steady- the why to that is the worrying point to this post)

It started when Kate Forbes stood for election and very nearly won, that was the first warning sign all was not right.
Now personally I was not a fan of hers as I find her to right leaning, too happy for her strict religious views to influence her decisions, and her lack of any real government experience was a problem, in short my objections were on policy and experience or lack of.
But it was more the fact that someone with little to no track record or public profile could very nearly become leader of the country, it indicated half the SNP voters were veering way right.

The other day I had this confirmed in worrying terms in a conversations with folk I have known for decades, and who previously I would have described as either liberally inclined or left of centre.
This time however I found I was being accused of being no less than a traitor to my country and a globalist who wanted to hand my country to foreign influence and even as being pro-Westminster.

Why? Because I refused to condemn or vilify the First Minister Humza solely on the basis he is a Muslim from an immigrant family (he was born in Glasgow to immigrant parents).

The Scotland I have fought for my whole life was always one in which what a person does is more important than where they come from or what their ancestry is, a society in which those with skills are recognised and can advance, and those born without such natural skills are helped and where necessary cared for by that society.

The Scotland I heard being argued for by people I thought I knew is one based on anti-immigrant right wing culture wars.
The arguments put, and they were often lets say vigorously put, as in it nearly came to blows when I refused to agree with their view and strongly argued against it, is that Humza should be disqualified on the basis of being Muslim and because he has a duel passport with Pakistan through his parents and therefore his 'loyalty' to Scotland cannot be trusted.
No reference to his actual record, or the policies his government pursues (pro-trans, pro-gay inclusivity is not very Muslim!) but these people can jump through hoops to justify what is just racism. The pro-trans/gay stance of his government proves he is part of a globalist cabal, shaping society against its will, whilst simultaneously being a secret hard-line Muslim wanting to turn Scotland into Iran (they drag Sunak into this too given he also is a Muslim).

It was both shocking and horrifying to find people who for decades have supported a liberal SNP still supporting independence but a very different sort. The sort of nationalism I was hearing is the worrying sort of nationalism previously associated with English Nationalism, groups like the BNP. Groups whose nationalism is based on fear and hatred of the Other. That's mired in conspiracy theories and has to  perform mental gymnastics to justify itself. In short the frightening sort of nationalism Scotland had previously avoided. }}

Very contradictory thinking often seen in those who are threatened by "other". But it will always be a tangled web: there is a strength in cultural cohesiveness, though often a brittle strength. I think people lose track of the brittleness while blinded by the simple purity of a unified culture.

{{ What worries me Halfy is the broader Western issue this is representative of. These same people a decade ago were left of centre, now they espouse right wing talking points.

But what really disturbs m is not this drift in society to the right, worrying as that is, but rather why?

For the last few decades we have been told, warned and informed about how China and Russia ( not exclusively, but as the main players) have been infiltrating social media and the like in order to stir up culture wars and cause division.

And here we are, a few decades later and society is fractured along cultural lines and divided.
This is great for totalitarian regimes, democracy cannot survive without compromise, it relies at its core on people of very different viewpoints coming together and finding a middle ground, a compromise all can live with.
If that cant happen nor in the end can democracy, it will collapse.

And when I hear people I've known for years, in some cases all my life, talking this way, holding these views, I don't hear them I see marionettes dancing to a foreign tune. This is equally true right and left, you have to sow seeds in both camps till they won't even talk to one another and instead only attack, vilify and declare the other side non-British/American whatever your nation. And if we are not there already we are frighteningly close to it.

And that worries me more than everything else, not that society is having serious debates over cultural issues, I don't think it is, rather culture wars, deliberately seeded by nations who wish us nothing but harm, are tearing our democracy apart. }}