[Head in hands, Hamlet crosses the stage in silent agony.]
...in sympathy with those who feel thusly, and persevere; I salute you.
[Head in hands, Hamlet crosses the stage in silent agony.]
...in sympathy with those who feel thusly, and persevere; I salute you.
The school Pharisees try to trap Scotch
Jesus, but he flips their script with a clever conundrum and has them reeling
at the thought of their racial apostasy being exposed.
One day, as Scotch
Jesus was encouraging his class to feel pride in their ancestors’ technical and
artistic genius by teaching them about
the development of the European cathedral while gently listening to some Bach
religious music, the chief diversity teachers and department anti-racist scribes, together with the school Babylonian
lifestyle advisors, came up to Him. "Tell us by what authority you are
doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"
“Let me ask you
a question first,” He replied. “Half the diversity – is it still twice too
much; or is twice the diversity, half of what it should be?”
They deliberated among themselves,
but found that their brains addled by repetitive tweeting could not reach a
conclusion, and so said, "If we answer wrongly all the pupils will stone
us, and we will become infamous as racists and lose our high salaried jobs.” So
they answered that they did not know. And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell
you by what authority I am doing these things.” And the pupils were amazed,
never before had they heard such wisdom.
NB. With thanks (and apologies, if
required) to Luke, the evangelist and saint. See Luke 20:1-8
The
Tale of the Golliwog: Part 1½
In
considering the second part to the tale of the golliwog, I was gifted by
Providence an illustration of the wider point I was hoping to make. Although
outside the domain of school education, the example seemed so apposite that it
justified the interpolation. And so, I set aside Part 2 temporarily to address
this issue with a Part 1½:
A
friend was telling me about a recent Rangers game which took place in France to
an empty stadium- as per Covid guidelines. Prior to the game the team were
obliged to ‘take the knee’ in an act of obeisance to, ostensibly, BLM and their
racialist claims. This ‘protest’ was clearly divisive for the players; the
Whites mainly ignoring it and the ethnic and mixed-race others enthusiastic, some
to the point of raised fists - Black power! A message directed, one can only
suppose, to (or against?) in order, football fans, Rangers fans and their
fellow players.
One
can imagine how quickly any expression of disagreement between players will
segue to the usual accusations and become divisive; thus damaging of team
unity.
Many
fans objected to this display on social media, arguing that this issue is
nothing to do with Rangers or Scottish football. In response, certain Rangers
players accused their own fans of racism. The chairman became involved too, but
not as a defender of the club whose purpose is football, nor of the fans attempt
to distance themselves from the controversy of racialist arguments, but of the apparent
principle that underlies the BLM protest.
This
issue will run on, but note that the confrontation starts with an insult to
fans – who are supposed to accept, as a given; the legitimacy of the BLM
movement, the premise of the racialist assumptions
that underlie it, their own complicity in this alleged White racism and the
rightness of Rangers’ involvement in it.
Leaving aside the temptation to explore these issues, and not least the
various ironies involved in wealthy and privileged ‘black’ sportsmen pretending
to be brave and principled at the expense of their own fans’ feelings, we
return to our thesis.
What
does this tell us with respect to our argument regarding racial justice and school
education?
Firstly,
by being in a completely different societal domain it reinforces what we already
know about the destructive impact of this collective, anti-racism madness.
Namely, that no institution is safe from accusations of racism, regardless of
the relevance or ridiculousness of such claims, and that the interests of those
affected by such claims are ignored. That those who should protect us from such
have got no intention of doing so; indeed, so important is it for them to appear
on-board with the anti-racism mission, that they will willingly, sometimes
gratuitously, alienate shareholders, customers and (in the case of Rangers)
those supporters whose loyalty gives life to the institution. Suddenly, the
fans find that their club has been repurposed to a political end; and that
although they might be the club, they don’t own it, nor enjoy the proper respect of
those who do! Such for Rangers - and the
same for any other sports club, organisation, or school!
Secondly,
a template is held out to school children, irrespective of their interest in
football, of how to behave and think; your favourite team apparently recognising
the truth of White systemic racism by kneeling and black fisting for racial
justice. And those who query, however slightly, the legitimacy of this movement
are cast into darkness by social media, news media, celebrity puppet-activists,
even club chairmen. How could this NOT be
seen as operant conditioning?*
Finally,
and most importantly, it illustrates the power which lies behind this
racialisation of social life. This has largely been invisible within the school
context, as it may have seemed to arrive on the back of the citizenship elements
of the curriculum. Concerned adults and parents could perhaps dismiss this
development as a passing phase or a minor issue.
But
when we consider the case of BLM and Rangers as a representative of this racialisation
of seemingly everything, we realise that we are dealing with a force much more
powerful than a mere foreign protest movement. And that has implications for
the development of racial grievance politics in our schools.
How
can it be so, that a newly, and supposedly spontaneously, founded foreign, political-activist
organisation - predicated on issues that have no connection to us – can arrive
in Europe fully-funded and able to instantly exert such influence? How can it be so, that our native football
teams are obliged to do homage to, largely, career-criminal Black Americans
repurposed as saintly innocents. Try to get the football league, or your own
favourite team, to take the knee as a protest for injustices that concern you
or us in Scotland and see how far this gets you? You already know the answer!
In
thinking this through we can see the intent and gigantic power behind this
phenomenon in its ability to subvert, divide and co-opt accomplices, even to
the point of them destroying their own organisations and businesses. We must
surely, then, fear its potential within schools, faced with much more innocent
minds – not least the already gulled, fem-bot teachers.
If
only we could discover which group may be behind this phenomenon; they would
have to have international access to massive funding, control of social and
news media and have global political leverage. Hmm!,…this does not seem to
describe Black people. Perhaps someone will work out the answer?
What think ye?
* Repeatedly modelling behaviour to the target
to get them to copy it without even thinking. By encouraging certain behaviours,
this technique also legitimises the associated thoughts or theories behind it -
also without thinking about it.
Today, the
23rd of July, was a day of national reckoning for our ancestors in
1298. For this was the day after Wallace’s Scottish Commons Army* suffered a defeat
by their national enemy at the Battle of Falkirk on the 22nd July. The
English, led by their great king, Edward 1, the ‘Hammer of the Scots’ himself, utilised
for the first time the irresistible tactical combination of massed archers (the
arrow storm) followed by an armoured cavalry charge, then infantry to finish
off survivors; it was a set-piece battle we had little chance of winning
anyway. The scale of this defeat is hard to know, for then, as now, both sides
had an interest in spinning the result for advantage, but regardless it was
still a solid defeat. Any Scots who did not escape were not offered the option
of surrender; no POWs in the 13th century! After the triumph at the
Battle of Stirling Bridge the year before, this defeat could have been psychologically
crushing and politically breaking.
But it wasn’t.
Our ancestors picked themselves up, dusted themselves down and started all over
again. And this is why I am writing commemorating this, rather than the battle,
which I am happy for our English cousins to celebrate if they wish.
Although the
examination of this episode makes fascinating history, it is not my intention
to do this here, but just to salute the fortitude of our ancestors on this date
in holding fast to their identity and independence, as Scots – for this is how
they referred to themselves. Without this belief, which they proved to be true
in the profoundest sense, I would not have written this, nor you read it.
And I do
this too as a reference to the political and cultural chaos that is encroaching
ever nearer to our wee corner, with a reminder that we have in our heritage that
stuff which will enable us to ride it out and see it off. We need to remind ourselves
of this, as no-one else does.
Dae
richt. Fear nocht.
* The commons army, so named because its command and structure was not dependent on the compromised Scotch nobility and their retinues. In other words, it was the common us!
[My Wallace
bio covers this topic should you be interested in exploring it further. This can be obtained by clicking the cover at top right which will take you to the Amazon page, or visiting my website where you can buy it directly from me.]