The Scottish Referendum – An anarchist’s perspective On Pink Floyd’s dark side of the Moon album there is a track called “us and them”. The lyrics highlight the inner conflict that resides within us all as we observe the dehumanising effect of the group compared our sensitive humanity as an individual. “God only knows it’s not what we would choose to do”. https://youtube/watch?v=RqG8Yf9X6FM I have felt for a long time that our reason for being here is to express our individuality, otherwise we might just as well have been all the same. From an evolutionary perspective, we explore every possibility to maximise our collective ability to survive. The big sacrifice is that we have to stifle a sizeable amount of our individuality (and humanity) in order to be acceptable to others. Most of us do this to such an extent that we rarely visit our truth/authenticity until we, or someone close to us are faced with a life-threatening crisis. People with power know this only too well, covertly ensuring that the majority of us are compliant and malleable so that we can be labelled and controlled though governance and consumerism. It does not matter that the ways of doing things are unsustainable because they appear to be only concerned about themselves and their ilk. That is probably why we have political parties which, after all, are only glorified lobby groups that subvert democracy with brute force of numbers. To date, no country has adopted a viable alternative. I believe that will change, to ensure that we have improved democracies that are far more capable of engineering a life-sustainable future for everyone on this planet, for both the privileged and the deprived – and, as a vegetarian, I hope to all other forms of advanced life. I wrote the following elsewhere on the Internet earlier this year: Old resentments from childhood that can easily be exploited are being blatantly used to manipulate and confuse the electorate. Television, Newspapers and Radio are the conduit. Between Scotland and England there are far more similarities and very few differences, if any. For years now, Alex Salmond and his deputies have managed to get on the news virtually every day and emphasise the differences (pulling the strings of our childhood conditioning) and reinforce their highly subjective and convenient view that Scotland will do better. The anger that is now emerging should be of concern to us all. It has created a chasm running right through the centre of families. Many people are now reluctant to freely expressing their viewpoint. I have tried to talk rationally to many Scots who are voting ‘yes’ in the referendum but I am stonewalled and I can detect the anger emerging as if I’m attacking them personally. I have the distinct feeling that they have invested so much into their stance that they will never be swayed so it is pointless to even go there. The only way forward is to take a totally different approach and discuss our beliefs and related unmet needs, but that could take a few hours, days or weeks! No matter what the outcome, this pent-up anger will hold us all back for many decades because with a ‘yes’-‘no’, ‘us’ or ‘them’, there are no winners. Here is an explanation of what is probably happening: The amygdala is responsible for our instinctive reactions and aggression. It developed long before our cortex which controls reasoning and helps us to think before we act. Much of our conditioning that we identify with was programmed into us before our cortex fully developed. This becomes a great opportunity for people to manipulate and exploit others by tapping into old beliefs that were established in childhood. It highlights the clear distinction between our conditioning and individuality. In 1967, the year I joined the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), I managed to get about 100 subscribers to enrol in the Scottish Republican Army. This was shortly after I was actively involved in arson (which reached the national papers) in the guise of protecting the local community which very nearly gave me a criminal record. Fortunately this remained a ‘paper’ army although we discussed exploding bombs to raise attention to the cause. In those days we used to make our own bombs! Being a member of the SNP, especially wearing the badges was a major identification for me back then. The stirrings are still there but I just don’t ruminate on them. We all have a choice to step out of our conditioning. The arguments for and against independence put forward by the political establishment have for me been childishly simplistic and blaringly manipulative. Neither side of this Scottish referendum have the ability to look into the future. They never have in the past and are far less likely to achieve that these days. One thing is for certain, there will be unforeseen events that will disrupt any extrapolation of data from the past, especially these days. “It is the economy, stupid!” – Bill Clinton’s campaign message will still apply. Self-inflicted instability is just what the money markets are going to love. NOT! At long last this is actually happening. My one year stint of studying economics as part of a physics degree suggests that because we are so heavily in debt, (refer to this alarming website nationaldebtclock.co.uk ) Scotland will increasingly be dependent on ‘others’ for many decades. Scotland will not therefore be ‘independent’, even with a ‘yes’ vote. That is why this timing is beyond reckless. As we are therefore highly dependent on others, we could easily and rapidly end up a basket case with a consequent loss of thousands of jobs. I am perplexed as to why no one has really opened up the underlying beliefs that are swaying the Scottish electorate towards independence. What has angered me most about English/Westminster/Oxbridge dominance is ignorance. Allowing London and the South East to prosper at the expense of everywhere else, calling Britain England, the media’s crazy obsession with Royalty, the ‘little England’, the anti-EU right wing of the conservative party and UKIP. A few weeks ago I was wanting to hear about the European athletics on BBC News. Instead the sports section was dominated with English cricket. I am watching it in Scotland for goodness sake! It is little things like this that make me irritated. I suppose because it resonates with my childhood angst. Refreshingly many supporters of Independence have a dislike for Alex Salmond as the front man. I consider him yesterday’s adversarial man as his communication style is combative, condescending and arrogant which stifles any meaningful in-depth conversation. I feel uneasy with the case for Scottish independence case being propped up by North Sea oil and a nuclear-free Scotland. There is far more global/human damage from the burning of North Sea oil than from maintaining a nuclear deterrent. We don’t know what is ahead. Putin is turning the clock back to the cold war. It just takes someone like him to believe and act on his delusional narrative or a few extremists with some uranium to hold us all to ransom. Even a meteor heading for Earth. Unfortunately, a nuclear deterrent must be retained but the costs and control could be shared with other stable democracies within NATO. I hear many people here in Scotland expressing their hate for the Tory party. That seems to be one of the main issues which Alex Salmond and his team are only too keen to repeatedly reinforce. I have always considered myself left-of-centre. I was very disturbed during extensive discussions with a diehard Yorkshire Tory that we actually shared a similar opinion on just about everything. I realised then that much of this hatred of the Tory party within myself was due to my conditioning. In other words, I was programmed with this belief before my cortex had fully developed. Within all of us we have left-of-centre and right-of-centre views. Since that time I have strongly felt that political parties of all persuasions and our whole political system will change during this century to enable individuality to be freely expressed for the betterment of all. This also implies the breakdown of other artificial impediments to individual freedom, like countries and geographical centres of governance. Paradoxically we all become anarchists in order to survive. Recent panicking and suggesting greater devolution by the ‘no’ campaign is likely to be counterintuitive. In an independent Scotland, resentment of Westminster governance will very rapidly be replaced by a resentment of Holyrood governance. The grass is not greener. The slightest thing going wrong and the populace will be very quick to turn against those that spearheaded the move towards independence. I wouldn’t like to be in Alex Salmond’s shoes if that happens. I wonder whether he has ever considered that possibility. I acknowledge there are tangible issues emanating out of Westminster and England that are often unpalatable. Scotland, along with many places in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have never recovered from the demise of many industries. Scotland still has more public sector workers than in England. There has been no significant changes in policy that I have seen from devolved government in Scotland to encourage enterprise north of the border except of the unsavoury kind re: Donald Trump. My company is registered in England and I live in Scotland. This is already a problem for me because I have to have a registered address in England so that my business correspondence has to be forwarded to me. I don’t want devolution, certainly not more! Holyrood politicians are no better than Westminster ones! Holyrood is a long way from the Western Islands, Orkney and Shetland. As a business owner, it would be reckless to move my business to an independent Scotland until stability was established and that could take a decade. As a species, we have to break down the “us and them” divide in order to survive. We cannot afford to step backwards. That is why I have already voted “No”. Attachments area Preview YouTube video Pink Floyd - Us And Them (Screen Film Official From Pulse [1987]) Pink Floyd - Us And Them (Screen Film Official From Pulse [1987])
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:33:31 +0000
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