Rise Up Against The Fear And Be A Nation Again!

But we can still rise now. And be a nation again?

If the opinion polls are to be believed, then around half of the population are not too convinced that we could rise and be a nation again. This despite the fact that compared to Robert The Bruce, whose antics are celebrated in the our unofficial national anthem, the rising in question is relatively easy to do. While Bruce had to personally endure hard years of fractious political manoeuvring and brutal battles to secure Scotland’s status as an Independent Nation, the greatest physical hardship we would endure would be to rise up off the sofa, get to the polling station and mark an x in a box.

Thinking about it though, perhaps Bruce had it easy. For the world was probably more black and white back then. A foreign army was at the gate, it would be natural for the majority of people to want to defend the realm. Now, in order for Scotland to become independent, we do not have to stand bravely in a muddy battlefield as arrows reign down upon us, or huddle in schiltrons as the superior English Calvary gallops toward us. We do however need to stand up to what may be an even more pervasive foe, the full power of the UK state and mainstream media manipulating us with lies, half spun truths and the occasional lovebomb thrown into our midst.

Let’s get this straight, for there is a meme in the air that those of us supporting Yes are predominantly narrow minded Nationalist and that we are following our hearts above our head. This is far from the truth but it suits the No Campaign media narrative. The majority of Yes Voters would have been happy to stay in the UK if DevoMax had been placed on the ballot paper. Most of us in the Yes Camp are voting for Independence because we have followed our brains, we have analysed and questioned the information fed to us instead of taking it at face value.

Take the recent scare stories from the banks.

A yes minded voter might see the alarmist announcements in the papers and think that doesn’t look like good news for independence and so decide to investigate bit further. In contrast, a No minded voter might potentially stop at this point, having had their biases confirmed.  It has been shown in a University of Edinburgh Study that Yes Voters are more informed.

When we look for more information we discover that the news was leaked to the media the night before by the UK Treasury in an irresponsible move that could have led to insider trading. We discover that contrary to the alarmist way in which it was reported, it was recycled news from a few months earlier and that the banks were making contingency plans to move head office, not staff, in the event that the almost inevitable Currency Union is not agreed upon. In those unlikely circumstances a move of Head Office would be good for Scotland as we previously discuss here.

We wonder why other pro-independence announcements made on the same day are buried by the main stream media. Why was Joseph Stilgitz, Nobel Prize Winning Economist and former Chief Economist at the World Bank not given more prominence when he said that the No camp were bluffing on Currency Union and when he suggested voting No would lead to greater unemployment in Scotland. Why was Martin Gilbert, chief of Aberdeen Asset management, one of the biggest investment companies in the world, not given more exposure when he said that he had no plans to move his head office from Aberdeen and that an Independent Scotland would be a big success?  Is it balanced journalism when the majority of news sources elevate a regurgitated announcement, by predominantly state owned companies, that they have contingency plans to move a plaque while all the while downplaying eminent people saying that Scotland would thrive?

We think, should we really be trusting Darling, Brown or the banks on economic matters anyway? Were these politicians not just as guilty as the banks when they irresponsibly failed to regulate them? Didn’t their actions lead to the Global Financial Crisis?

We think why are there an army of millionaires scrambling over themselves to try to keep us, but at the same time warning us that if we leave we will become an economic basket case?

We see that Scotland has a much higher GDP per head than the rest of the UK and a smaller deficit and wonder could we maybe be richer than we have been led to believe?

We apply similar logic to every pronouncement from both sides.

We also look at our depiction in the media as a violent baying mob and compare it to the reality of our family friendly gatherings. The dancing, the singing and the debating of things that we were once never interested in. The lack of major incidents during the campaign despite the amount of people mobilised. We question balance when an expenses cheat being struck by a yocal propelled  egg is reported like it was major civil unrest, while physical assaults on yes supporters are consistently being downplayed.

We Yes voters are the most politically literate movement that this country has ever seen and this is what scares our political masters. Due to the freedom of the web we can bypass our failing politicians and media. We do not think there will be a utopia in Scotland post-Yes vote, but we do think that the voting system will be more representative. We think that there will be less corruption. We think that decisions will be made with the view of the majority in mind. We think this because we have compared our country to hundreds of other small countries around the globe. We see that many do things differently and are thriving and we think, why can’t we do things differently too?

This concerted effort to terrorise us will not drive us back into the open arms of Mother Britannia. For Yes Voters have read, thought, debated and been let down enough times before that we can see through the rouse.

Oh Flower of Scotland, When will we see, your like again?

Like Robert the Bruce we believe that Scotland should be a sovereign nation. We think that the people who live in any country should feel empowered and involved in the direction that country is taking. We need to stand up against this bombardment of fear and realise that they are doing this because they have lost the argument. They have no positive case for the Union except for empty phrases like “Pooling and Sharing” or “Best of Both worlds”. The statistics on poverty, democracy, social mobility, pensions and food banks speak for themselves. Countless experts have said an Independent Scotland would thrive, but we need to rise up beyond the mainstream vested interests to hear those voices. Half of us already have. I urge anyone going into the last couple of days still undecided to rise up and be a nation again. Otherwise, in the event of a No vote we may have to discard the unofficial national anthem as the official one would ring truer.

Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,

May by thy mighty aid,

Victory bring.

May he sedition hush,

and like a torrent rush,

Rebellious Scots to crush,

God save The Queen.