McMurdo maintains the conspiracy angle by saying that Obama and Hilary Clinton are agreeing with 'their boss' ie the Pope. This is a theme that you'll find on some of the more lunatic corners of the internet: the Vatican-led 'New World Order.' According to this nonsense Rome's tentacles reach practically everywhere in the world and is dictating events and manipulating governments for its own ends. So if this 'New World Order' wants to maintain the United Kingdom, surely it must be for some sinister, nefarious purpose? Wouldn't it make more sense, then, for The Peeppul to vote 'Yes'?
McMurdo also usefully provides a link to the blog of one Ian Smart, a (supposed) Labour-supporting unionist, whose only arguments seem to be smear, slander and libel against the SNP. The piece linked to by McMurdo is all about the 'Nazi past' of the SNP, especially Arthur Donaldson, leader of the SNP throughout the 1960s. There's an MI5 document that reports that Donaldson, during the war, was pretty much a Fifth Columnist, ready to set up a Nazi puppet government in Scotland were Germany to emerge victorious.
It's worthwhile remembering, however, that wartime is always a time of paranoia. WWII was especially so, given the political dimension and it was common knowledge that there were Nazi sympathisers throughout Britain, especially in the upper echelons of society. The Duke of Windsor, for example, had to be sent to Barbados to stop him from causing trouble. When Hess's plane landed in Scotland, he asked for the Duke of Hamilton, a well-known member of the Cliveden Club, who had adorned his kilt with fascist symbols before the war. Apart from Mosley, however, none of these aristocratic fascists were interned.
In Britain in general paranoia was prevalent, exacerbated by government propaganda about Fifth Columnists being everywhere (even though they were probably all in the House of Lords!). I remember one story about a man from the Ministry of Food measuring a field. A member of the local Home Guard shot him in the head. His defence? The man 'looked German' and was acting suspiciously. There are, unfortunately, more than a few of these stories of folk being shot or arrested simply due to paranoia.
In such circumstances even the most innocuous of comments could be misconstrued. There was also a tendency for security service agents to make up stories to justify their employment and make them appear indespensible. The fact that Donaldson was detained for hardly any length of time shows that those in authority were not prepared to take this report at face value. It can hardly be used as concrete evidence to accuse Donaldson of being a Nazi!
Even if we were to accept that Donaldson harboured such sympathies, it is disingenous of this character Smart to project them onto today's SNP . He talks of the SNP shying away from its history and refusing to distance itself from this murky past. But why should it? Have we ever heard any word of contrition from the Daily Mail for its support of Mosley? Did all those Tory aristocratic fascists ever apologise? And what about Labour and the Liberals? Lloyd-George had nothing but praise for Hitler, as did Bernard-Shaw. In fact, Mussolini and Hitler, along with Stalin, represented the Fabians' ideal of the Neitzschian 'superman'. And Hitler's eugenics policies chimed perfectly with the ideas prevalent among UK socialists at the time. You don't hear mass mea culpas coming from any of the three main UK parties, do you? So why the hell should Alex Salmond be any different?
Oh, but wait...there were those in the SNP that hated Jews! This, of course, is disgraceful; but no less disgraceful than the complete lack of concern shown to German Jews by the rest of the world. It's become a myth now that Britain fought against Germany as a great moral crusade, but that is nothing more than a lie. Only in the United States was there any serious call for a boycott of the Summer and Winter Olympics in 1936 (led, incidentally, by mostly Catholic politicians and organisations). Britain went along with everyone else in not caring less about what was happening to the Jews in Nazi Germany. In fact, the only complaints about the Games came from the Canadians and that was because Britain had stolen many of their top players to win the gold in ice hockey!
Britain only went to war when Germany began to threaten her interests in the world and was completely silent about the plight of the Jews. Actually, the 'anti-Nazi' Britain carried out its own discrimination and it wasn't until the 1960s that signs saying 'RCs need not apply' or 'No dogs, No blacks, no Irish' disappeared from the UK!
Which brings me to Smart's final piece of character assassination: some of the SNP leaders, including Donaldson, were anti-Catholic and anti-Irish. Well, fuck me with a red-hot poker! Anti-Irish and anti-Catholic folk in Scotland! Surely not!
Until fairly recently practically everybody in Scotland was anti-Irish and anti-Catholic, apart, of course, from the Catholics and Irish themselves! Even the employers that encouraged Irishmen to come over and work in their hellish factories had nothing but contempt for their employees. The Church of Scotland, politicians, local councils, businessmen and even trades unions all, at one time or another, expressed ant-Catholic or anti-Irish sentiments; often both. It's hardly worthwhile, therefore, to single out a couple of SNP politicians for condemnation.
But...but...Donaldson was still around in the 1980s and condemned Pope John Paul II's visit to Scotland, argues Smart. He wasn't the only one, was he? I seem to remember quite a lot of folk moaning about it and Ian Paisley being invited over to lead a pathetic demonstration Again, there's no justice in pointing the finger at only one individual. Paisley, remember, has actually been a leading light in Ulster's peace process, against the wishes of many in his party; so anyone is capable of changing his mind!
In conclusion, this is desperate straw-clutching by those against Scottish independence. Considering the amount of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic abuse that McMurdo allows on his blog, not to mention all the Nazi-like Loyalist crap, it's difficult to see what his point is in linking to this blog. If he is maintaining that the SNP is full of anti-Catholic, anti-Irish Nazis then surely he should be encouraging his followers to put a cross in the 'YES' box come September.
And finally...buy the history!
Another fine post, just goes to show what one can produce when a little thought and work is put it into it, fair play to you for keeping an eye on the old hooligans blog and putting it in its place, a place I no longer have the will to go and look at any more, a place where the miserable and self loathed congregate, not that I include you in that category lol, someone has to keep an eye on them.
ReplyDeleteGot the paper back version of clash of the agnivores and am well impressed so far, keep up the good work mate. HH.
It's like a car crash - I have to keep going back just to see and shake my head in sheer amazement that there are people out there that honestly believe shite like that! Glad to hear you're enjoying the book!
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