Alex Massie spoils an otherwise excellent article with a glaring example of intellectual indolence when he asserts that the referendum campaign has been a contest between two equally legitimate visions for Scotland. It most assuredly has not. It has been a contest between a positive, progressive vision for Scotland and a deplorable campaign of lies, smears and scaremongering. But it is easier to portray both sides as being on a par with one another than it is to actually set about analysing and detailing the differences between them. There is something else which I detect in Alex Massies article. Something which I have noticed creeping into comments from unionists who are now facing the very real possibility of finding themselves on the losing side. Even those who have, until now, treated the whole referendum process with ill-disguised impatience and contempt are now at pains to celebrate that same process as a good thing for Scotland and for democracy. One cant help but get the feeling that these people are positioning themselves for a Yes vote and the prospect of having placed themselves outside the mainstream of Scottish politics by their original and long-held attitude to the referendum campaign and to independence. They are beginning to ask themselves what becomes their credibility, either as politicians or as commentators, when there is a Yes vote and the sky does not immediately collapse as they have foretold. They are starting to fret, somewhat belatedly, about the impact on their reputations when it becomes clear that they have been almost completely wrong about almost everything. They are starting to worry about exposure of the lies and distortions that they have either foisted on the people of Scotland or helped to promulgate through the media. As the campaign itself draws to a close, they are beginning to reflect upon whether, with hindsight, it might have been wiser to have subjected the anti-independence campaign to more rigorous scrutiny, given that much of what has been said by British politicians and unionist commentators is likely to be shown to have been erroneous or dishonest. Most of all, they are positioning themselves to be able to claim, on the basis of their later utterances, to have acted with integrity and to have engaged with a worthy democratic process in an honourable manner. They are laying the groundwork for their own rehabilitation in the context of an independent Scotland that they have spent the past months and years denigrating as an aspiration. They want us all to forgive an forget and just move on. They want to avoid responsibility for the way that they have behaved during the campaign. They want the slate to be wiped clean so that they can continue their careers as if nothing has happened. They want a free pass. Im not at all sure the people of Scotland will oblige them in this regard. It is not at all clear why they should.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 15:39:06 +0000
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