John Hannah makes the news today (in the Metro granted). He comments:
“Scotland is a strange, little, wet, fried, angry place. Alll that stuff about Protestant Scottish, Catholic Scottish, what school you went to, what football team you support – I just do not want that for my kids.”
He is right of course, Scotland, particularly the West Coast where he grew up (about 10 minutes from where I currently live), is rife with bigotry, hatred and violence.
Detractors will say that, whilst this is true, as a public figure (or celebrity if you will) he should be campaign for Scotland, promoting our country to the rest of the world. You could also easily point out that hatred and violence is not limited to Scotland, and whilst the bigotry that is constantly evident in Glasgow is possibly unique, it is not the only place that it exists.
Is this, then, the voice of an over-protective parent, or a true reflection of our country?
Alas, I agree with him. It is a strange, wet, angry little country. As a nation we suffer from ‘wee man’ syndrome on an epic scale, and this attitude filters easily into both sides of the bigotry argument. I don’t want to bring up kids here either, but then I don’t see London being a particularly great place for that either.
Is it down to our outlook? It’s easy to see what you want, but look further and you will find that the majority of Scots, like the majority of people, are kind, good-natured and don’t give a rat’s ass what religion you practise (or your colour of skin, sexuality, height, weight, plook ratio, or even if you ARE a rat’s ass, etc etc).
I’m proud to be Scottish. That means being proud of our achievements and history (well some of it), and ashamed of our failings. Every nation has good and bad points, being patriotic is NOT ignoring the bad, it is accepting the bad that it exists and trying to change it.
Patriotism – Love of country; devotion to the welfare of one’s country; the virtues and actions of a patriot; the passion which inspires one to serve one’s country.
Patriotism is about your own country, not hating it, or hating others, but embracing your own.
(OK, I think I’m done with this, or at the very least I’m not sure where else to take it without heading off into a discussion about American patriotism/xenophobia).