XENOPHOBIA, HOMOPHOBIA AND COULROPHOBIA

I see David Limond, brother of TV's Limmy, has been sent to jail for six months. The Bisto Kids, of course, are all over the story, with their usual 'I don't condone what he said, but...' The general feeling among them is that it was 'just banter' and there was no racism or sectarian hatred involved.  McMurdo goes one further, saying that the onus should be on the accuser to prove that they are, in fact, practising members of the religion that a bigot is disparaging. Strange, strange man.

Let's start with the racism angle first. McMurdo contends that the Scots and the Irish are all from the same background and are, essentially, the same people. Certainly, I learned at school that the Scots originally came from Ireland. Do a quick Google search on the subject, however, and you will see that there are many that go out of their way to dispute this. McMurdo himself subscribes to the British Israelism pseudo-history, which makes sure that a stark distinction is made beween the God-fearing, British descendants of the Lost Tribes and the pagan, Irish descendants of the apostate Tribe of Dan. The question has to be asked - why do these folk go to all this trouble?

According to McMurdo, there is a victim mentality at play here; the whole idea of anti-Irish racism is an invention to serve a particular agenda. Why, then, do all these historical revisionists, whom McMurdo supports and believes in, go to such great pains to emphasise the difference between the Scots and the Irish? Their theories have been rubbished time and again, but still they cling to them. Why? Why are they so desperate to portray the Irish as 'other'? And why does McMurdo continually allow the phrases 'Native Scots' and 'Indigenous Scots' on his blog if he believes what he wrote yesterday? The answer, and the self-deception, is plain from one contributor to McMurdo's blog. He said, and I quote, 'I’m not a racist – I’m a realist – and these timmigrants must gtf.'

To an extent I agree with McMurdo about the religious aspect; most folk that call themselves Catholics and Protestants are, in reality, neither and would be unable to explain even the most basic aspects of their professed faith. Does this, however, preclude the existence of religious bigotry? Not at all. The whole reason for bigoted statements is to cause offence; according to McMurdo, however,  the people offended are the ones to blame, not the bigots! To take McMurdo's contention to its logical conclusion: if I call somebody that is mentally handicapped a 'Spastic' then I have done nothing wrong because the person is not, in fact, a spastic! It's a crass, stupid and lazy argument to excuse bigotry.

There have been more than a few posters on McMurdo's site expressing anti-Semitic views and McMurdo himself has a link on his blog to a known holocaust denier! Of course, British Israelism, especially in its Christian Identiy guise, says that the British and their descendants are Jews themselves, so how can they possibly be anti-Semitic? It just shows the mentality of your average Bisto Kid!

On a lighter note, Sooperally's response to the need for cutbacks is to call for more players! He's been having meetings with the chairman, Mr Blobby, to discuss the situation. So far, apparently, his team is safe. There is no word yet, however, about Sooper himself and his coaching team. How about this for a crowd of hangers-on: there's Sooperally himself, of course, then Kenny McDowall, Ian Durrant, Andrew Dickson, Jim Stewart, Paul Jackson, David Lavery, Jimmy Bell and Steve Harvey. What the hell do all these folk do? More to the point, how much do all these characters earn? It seems Bisto FC still can't accept what has happened to them; they think they need a huge coaching staff like some of Europe's top teams. Then again, I doubt even Barca or Real Madrid have as big a staff!

Barry Ferguson decides to use his column in the Daily Record to highlight the problems faced by gay footballers. Not that we know of any, since they all wait until they retire to come out of the closet; understandably, since homophobia is still a major issue in our supposedly enlightened society. Ferguson goes on about the cruel banter in dressing-rooms and says that such banter is all gay footballers would have to put up with. What a load of pish! Most footballers are not that bright and have hardly moved into the Twentieth Century, never mind the Twenty-First, in their way of thinking and behaviour. Imagine the bullying a gay footballer would have to put up with from men that often think that rape is okay!

Essentially, Ferguson is extending the hand of friendship and understanding to footballers that want to 'come out'. He sets himself up, though professing to be 'not be the world’s most liberated person,' as the epitome of understanding and compassion. It's just a pity that his understanding and compassion didn't stretch to Paul Le Guen, eh? I wonder what the problem was there!

Finally, I know I keep banging on about this but, really, I'm amazed that nobody else has highlighted it. If the stories about Celtic's land deals and supposed dodgy loans from the Co-Op were even halfway true, then why is it the only one interested in pursuing the complaint is a well-known bigot? How come no Scottish MPs, MSPs or MEPs were interested? As far as I have seen they're still not interested. Still, an MP like Gregory Campbell only has the interests of the ratepayers of Glasgow at heart. It's not like he has any kind of agenda, is it?

'We're no' bigots. It's aw they Tarriers, Taigs an' Fenians that ur the bigots! Awright, Ah hate the basturds, but that disnae make me a bigot, dizzit? Ah hate thum because thur scum, an' Ah'm no' bein' bigoted when Ah say that. An' wee Barry's right. We're no' homerphobic either - Ah watch the Simpsons aw the time! An' if any Harry Hoofter waants tae play at Ibrox thul find oot that we're aw inclusive. They kin lift aw the shirts they waant, jist iz long iz they don't bless thursel's!'