IT'S NOT SECTARIAN!

Keich Jackson has seemingly been forced into reluctantly giving his views on the vile singing by The Peeppul. Thanks to Stan Collymore they can no longer just pretend it never happened and say nothing. Jackson, of course, has to twist things, not only to bring Celtic into it, but to make it part of the DR's 'Real Rangers Men' crusade. It's quite desperate stuff. Oh, and by the way, Keith, it's spelt 'pus' not 'puss'!
 
He says that the singing "added another filthy layer of puss (sic) to the festering sore of relationship between football’s most dysfunctional neighbours" and that "there is a sizeable chunk of Celtic supporters...sometimes it can feel like a majority, whose loathing of all things Ibrox is so deeply ingrained that they would much rather this club was no more." That's not just Celtic supporters, Keith, it's a sizeable chunk of the Scottish, and, indeed, British, population. There's a name for it. It's called decency. And can you blame them, when, time after time, they've got to listen to this filth on television?

Jackson then goes on about a "dusting down of a songbook from another time and place" and the "recent return of outlawed sectarian chants". I've got news for you, Keith - it's never gone away. Just because you, and others in our media, have pretended it wasn't there, doesn't mean that it didn't exist. Stan Collymore has highlighted it, while you and your cronies turned a deaf ear. To cover your own embarrassment you're making out like it has just suddenly reappeared when it obviously hasn't. It has been heard at practically every game, while each demonstration outside Ibrox, against Whyte, Green or whoever, has witnessed an outing for these vile songs. It's as if they haven't got the brains to make up any chants about the ones they're demonstrating against and have had to revert to the only thing they know: hatred of Ireland and Catholics.

While we're on the subject, I believe that the word 'sectarianism' is a misnomer and is being used as a cover for what we are actually witnessing. Suppose it was Jews they were singing about; would that be hushed up as well? That would be called racism, even though our Jewish population has been here for centuries and are as British, or Scottish, as the next person. The excuse is always that singing and chanting about the Irish and their descendants is not racism; so what's the difference? Jewish people in this country are the same colour as me, speak the same first language, dress the same etc. etc. yet if I were to make derogatory remarks about them then I would be a racist. Why is it different when it comes to the Irish? It makes no sense and is just part of the big cover up that goes on in this country to pretend that all is well, or that 'both sides are as bad as each other'. There are no 'sides'; it's one group of people, or peeppul, being allowed to express hateful comments about another.

If one set of football supporters was well-known for hating Jews, could we then blame another set of supporters that sang and chanted about them being racists and Nazis? Nobody, but nobody, would claim that these two groups were as bad as each other. And yet, they do exactly that in Scotland. Keith Jackson's assertion that "chants which (sic) make reference to “Orange b*******” are offensive" is completely disingenuous. I'm pretty sure that football fans singing about Jews would bristle at being called 'Nazis', but there could be no denying that it's exactly what they would be. I've yet to hear Celtic fans chant or sing about 'Proddy bastards' or 'Presbyterian bastards' so it's hard to relate to Jackson's point. The answer is simple; if you don't want to be called an 'Orange bastard' then don't act like one! Or perhaps Jackson and the rest would rather twist this argument in the same way as the idiotic member of The Peeppul that posted this on Twitter:  "If you fuckers never existed there'd be no religion in Scottish football. You caused the division."

Jackson's contention that this is something that has just recently returned seems to point the finger at the current incumbents of the Blue Room. Surely it'll all change if the 'Real Rangers Men' come back? To be fair to Jackson, he does equate this 'return' of the songbook to the rebellion against the Bisto Board, but the underlying implication is that it's the fault of Ashley etc. He calls on Honest Dave to condemn the singing but, as we all know, that ain't gonna happen. Why should he when supposedly neutral observers, like Jackson, can't do it without unfairly condemning others in the process?

And the Daily Record also reports on Amy Macdonald having a go at Stan Collymore for his comments. I'm getting auld so I don't pay a lot of attention to what's going on in the music scene these days; and if the stuff my daughter likes is anything to go by, then I'm not missing much. I remember Amy Macdonald having a song called 'This Is The Life', which was quite good as a kind of novelty, but I could happily go to my grave never having heard any more of her stuff. I can't imagine that her stuff will be that great anyway; anyone that cites snooze-rockers Travis as an influence doesn't exactly inspire confidence! Anyway, I couldn't help noticing that while she's decrying Collymore she doesn't say one word against the Peeppul's choir. Maybe she was in Kirkcaldy herself, banging out 'No Pope of Rome' on her guitar, eh?

On a different matter, I see the DR is doing its best to try to turn us all against the SNP. The latest wheeze is letting us know what a mess the Scottish Government is making of the NHS with tales of lack of beds, big queues in A & E, overworked staff and brain drains. Of course, all of this is correct, but what the Record won't tell us is that it's the fault of the previous Labour administration. Even though it's been nearly eight years since Labour was in power in Holyrood, we're still living with its legacy. If you want to know more about it, then read 'Fear and Smear'! I'm not giving away the fruits of my research for nothing, you know! You can buy it here.

Finally, a big welcome back to Mick, over at Bampots Utd. I don't know where he's been but his site was becoming infested with all manner of rats and cockroaches in his absence. Monti was even driven to drink! Fortunately normal service has been resumed and we'll no longer have to read shite about child abuse; just listen to songs about it on the telly!

P.S. Shaun, where have you disappeared to? I haven't heard from you in ages. Get in touch, mate, and let us know you're okay!

 

Man with a drained brain, yesterday.