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Culture

The Plight of the Scots

'We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers.'

Jesse Walker | 9.18.2014 8:05 AM

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As Scotland votes on independence, let's pause for an impassioned speech on the plight of a colonized people:

(From Trainspotting. What were you expecting, Braveheart or something? This is better.)

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Jesse Walker is books editor at Reason and the author of Rebels on the Air and The United States of Paranoia.

CultureWorldScotlandMoviesSecession
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  1. Wasteland Wanderer   11 years ago

    Fishing for content from the comments section? I guess that’s one way to fill out your quota. 😉

    1. Jesse Walker   11 years ago

      I got this post ready earlier in the week & scheduled it to go up this morning. If someone mentioned it in a comment thread too, I didn’t see it.

      1. Almanian!   11 years ago

        Forget it Jesse – it’s Reasonoidtown

      2. ubik   11 years ago

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDaz9QVGMd4

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5-z4iMBFZA

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrSDlvpo7J0

  2. Lt Womack   11 years ago

    At least the English have evolved from holding their dominion together by war, torture, and beheading to holding their dominion together with rank bribery. I suppose it’s an improvement.

    As for worries about disrupting the nostalgia of Scotland and England being “together” for centuries (ask William Wallace about how “together” he feels), my ancestors in Ireland were “together” with the English for even longer, and got along just fine without them the past 90 years.

    1. Almanian!   11 years ago

      ask William Wallace about how “together” he feels

      He’ll get back to you from the four corners of the country!

      +1 quartered

      1. Careless   11 years ago

        thatsthejoke.jpg

    2. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

      We should have eradicated Scotland as a cultural entity long ago.

      1. Almanian!   11 years ago

        May you hear out of tune bagpipes, played by a 70 year old wanker who couldn’t keep time to save his life, in your dreams, forever.

        1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

          The pipes are not the scots’ exclusive domain. If anything the sods have been too limited in their usage.

          1. Almanian!   11 years ago

            They perfected the instrument. Yes, many others have had it, but today it belongs to them.

            Also – haggis

            1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

              Bullshit.

              And haggis is an offal argument.

              1. Free Society   11 years ago

                golf and haggis.

            2. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

              Deep-fried capitalism.

            3. Product Placement   11 years ago

              Haggis and bag pipes are Scotland’s chief weapons.

  3. Hillary's Clitdong   11 years ago

    Scottish NHS may face funding cuts.

    They may take our freedom, BUT THEY’LL NEVER TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT CHEESE!

    1. WTF   11 years ago

      “HAAAAND OOOUTS!!!!!!!!”
      /not William Wallace

      1. antisocial-ist   11 years ago

        FREEEE SHIIIT!

    2. Lt Womack   11 years ago

      Will the BBC have to become the EBC if the vote goes ill?

      1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

        Not according to precedent. It’s traditional for the overbearing, more powerful resident of a land to take the name and ignore less influential northern neighbors’ claims to it.

        Isn’t that right, Rufus J?

        1. WTF   11 years ago

          America, fuck yeah!

        2. Lt Womack   11 years ago

          People who swear allegiance to a German chick in England have no business calling themselves Americans.

          1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

            Fucking kraut usurpers.

            1. Xeones   11 years ago

              What are you, some kind of Jacobite?

              1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

                No, as my amorphous claims to the crown of Scotland predate the Stuarts. Fuck them, too.

        3. Zeb   11 years ago

          Well, “Unitedstatesian” just doesn’t work.

          1. Pro Libertate   11 years ago

            Why not Usaian? Or Usaite?

      2. Seamus   11 years ago

        No. The E&WBC;.

        1. Seamus   11 years ago

          Or maybe the EW&NIBC;.

  4. sarcasmic   11 years ago

    I forgot Obi-Wan was ever that young.

  5. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    Scotland is Britain’s Ukraine, except without the value. They should treat it as such.

    1. Hillary's Clitdong   11 years ago

      Considering that Scotland still has (some) oil reserves, it’s more like Britain’s Venezuela.

      1. WTF   11 years ago

        I thought Britain was Europe’s boner.

        1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

          Eurasia is a giant wasp clutching africa, the british isles are the antennae.

  6. Almanian!   11 years ago

    Never seen Trainspotting. However, these are the EXACT young uns (OK, just a couple years too old) for the young losers who saw us off from Strathclyde University the last time I was over with my pipe band to play in the World Championship.

    We’re heading to the airport at 5:00 in the morning or some such uncivilized time – here comes young Seumas and his mate Jock – couldn’t have been 15, 16 – suckin’ on a bottle of beer, stumbling over to wish us off. Nowhere to be, nothing to do – pleasant enough chaps, absolute LOSERS with no future. Ergo – DRINK!

    That and going to a hill in Edinburgh to look at the heroin district really helped me understand what a fucked up place Scotland is. Too bad – it’s a drop-dead gorgeous place.

    As my sister says, “Ireland is all about the people. Scotland is all about the land….”

    I wish the poor, dumb, infighting, subservient, needy bastards good luck. And I WILL come back to play in the World Championship again, regardless of which way this goes.

    1. Leo   11 years ago

      The trouble with Scotland is that it’s full of Scots.

      1. Vulgar Madman   11 years ago

        The good ones left and built America.

        1. Lady Bertrum   11 years ago

          The good ones left and built America

          I heard some version of this speech at least once a week from my Scottish immigrant grandfather. After leaving Scotland, where did he choose to settle? South Dakota. He left one God forsaken, dry, barren land for another. Brillant.

    2. Vulgar Madman   11 years ago

      It is sad how many beautiful countries in the world are hellholes.

  7. Scruffy Nerfherder   11 years ago

    Bah. For a real take of the meaning of being Scottish you have to go to Monty Python and the original Harry Potter

  8. Fist of Etiquette   11 years ago

    If you have trouble with the accent then by all means turn on the Closed Captioning. Clears it right up.

    1. pagal   11 years ago

      Absolutely. I won’t be lying awake tonight trying to figure out what “calling eyes by one cuz” means.

  9. Cowboy   11 years ago

    Nae king! Nae quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna’ be fooled again!

    1. Almanian!   11 years ago

      Meet the new Laird, just the same as the old Laird.

  10. Almanian!   11 years ago

    Alba! Scotia! Can ye nae hear the pipes a callin’! Wha’s better – free shit or your glorious fokin’ history and the opportunity tae bring back self government!!

    Ah, free shit it is….either way. Carry on, ya pasty children o’ the puddin’ race.

  11. Almanian!   11 years ago

    I guess we’ll always have Scottish Soccer Hooligans, so there is that.

    1. UnCivilServant   11 years ago

      If you called them that, they’d break your face. They seem to be very insistant on terminology.

    2. Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!   11 years ago

      I did not understand how intense the Ranger v Celtic thing was until one day I saw this huge Scottish NCO reading a screen and chuckling. I asked him what was so funny and he said “Coach o’ Celtic died last night!”… yikes.

      1. antisocial-ist   11 years ago

        According to legend, Auburn fans rolled Toomer’s corner(like they do after every win) the day Bear Bryant died.

  12. SugarFree   11 years ago

    Why does England want to keep them so much? If Michigan wanted to leave, I think most Americans would say “good riddance.”

    1. Lord Humungus   11 years ago

      Heyyyyy! /Michigander

      1. SugarFree   11 years ago

        OK, some other economic basket case then… Mississippi?

      2. SugarFree   11 years ago

        Also: A Michigan woman fought off a man trying to steal her purse and then gave birth just a few hours later.

    2. Room 237   11 years ago

      WHen I lived in London, the Scots I knew generally wanted to keep Scotland in the UK. It was the English who wanted the Scots out. It used to be said that Scottish independence was more popular in South East England than in Scotland

      1. GILMORE   11 years ago

        When *i* lived in London, and asked a scot why they never agitated for independence like the Irish, said, “And who would we have to blame then?”

    3. Ken Shultz   11 years ago

      Politically, if Scotland left the UK, it would be like if California left the U.S.

      We might not live to see another Labor government in the UK.

      In 2007, the Tories got 15% of the vote in Scotland.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…..tion,_2007

      Comparatively, that makes it look like Romney trounced Obama in California.

      The Scottish National Party is a party of the left. They’re Social Democrats. The tension within the party is between whether to be center-left or far-left.

      If Scotland leaves the UK, it’ll be a bit like handing the UK over to the Tea Party.

      No kidding!

      Did I say Scotland leaving would be politically like California leaving the U.S.? It might be more like California, Massachusetts, and New York leaving, all at the same time.

      The Free State Project might think about relocating to the UK if Scotland leaves.

  13. kfs   11 years ago

    Way to go Walker! One of my favorite scenes from THE only movie I own on DVD. The only scene I like better is THE WORST TOILET IN SCOTLAND! I highly recommend this movie, it is not for the feint of heart.

  14. creech   11 years ago

    I’m betting Scotland does not vote for independence. What say you?

  15. jjjjj   11 years ago

    No Scotsman will vote for independence.

    1. Poppa Kilo   11 years ago

      No TRUE Scotsman will vote for independence.

  16. Zeb   11 years ago

    I sort of hope they vote for independence. Just so I can see what happens.

  17. wingnutx   11 years ago

    Colonized, my ass.

    The Union of the Crowns was the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the thrones of England and Ireland, and the consequential unification for some purposes (such as overseas diplomacy) of the three realms under a single monarch on March 25th 1603.

    The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland.

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