Be a Good Little Subject (And say, "Thank You.")

Apparently, because I live in a country where I am not being bombed or tortured, I should just shut up, stop moaning and blah blah blah about politics and get out there and dance in the streets at my good fortune.

Yep. I should be so grateful that I am not being bombed or tortured, I should be a good little subject, sit quietly and never, ever question my government.

But, for me, if not being bombed or tortured is all you require for what you consider to be a good standard of living, then you’re setting the bar pretty low.

Of course I am aware that there are countries around the world where atrocities are carried out daily, where war rages, where drought and famine kills. Of course I am grateful every day for the fact that I do not live in one of those countries.

But this means I should ignore inequalities and injustice in my own country? Well, if there is logic to that statement, it escapes me.

Ah, but wouldn’t the government just love it if we all adopted that line? If we said, ‘Well, hey, I’m not in Gaza, so you guys go ahead and pass whatever laws you like. And that thing about taking away our rights, you know, scrapping the Human Rights Act, that thing you have planned? Well I’m not in Syria, so, yeah, you do that and I won’t say a word, ‘cause I’m not being bombed or tortured. And your continued attack on the poor and vulnerable in our society? Hell, yeah – go for it – they’re mostly scroungers (and probably *whispers* immigrants) so you go right ahead. I’m not in Iraq and no one else is abusing me physically, so you go right ahead and abuse my rights and those of the weakest in my society.’ Ooops – I forgot to say thank you.

This kind of right wing logic is terrifying to me. It’s like looking into the heart of darkness – you can’t come away unscathed. It preys on my mind and distresses me that there are people out there who think this way.

And, you've guessed it, it’s another reason I’m voting YES. I want my country to be as far away from right wing thinking as it can possibly be. I’m not pretending we don’t have any right wingers in Scotland – we do. Roughly 500,000 Scots voted Tory in the last general election and we all know that a UKIP guy got in at the European election. But it is, currently, a small voice. I don’t want it to rise. I don’t want it, fuelled by UKIP and Tory and Britain First, to get stronger. I want us to get away – far away – from the right wing.

I see independence as the only way for that to happen.

P.S. If my posts on FB or Twitter bother you, just unfriend/delete me. I'll understand.