by C.C.Hamilton

With stunning regularity we end up on this Twitter abuse merry go round. This time It’s Cat Boyd that is the focus. Cat voted Labour in the GE and is all excited about Jeremy Corbyn and Labour policy at the moment.  So What? I hear you cry.  I know,  I know but the usual dafties on twitter were pure raging about this because Cat was a big part of the brilliant RIC and the not so brillant RISE campaign at the last Scottish Election.

Cat is a terrific writer and communicator and writes for The National Newspaper.  Why anyone really cares how Cat Boyd votes is beyond me, why Cat even bothered to tell anyone how she voted is beyond me. 

In fact most of this Twitter abuse merry go round is beyond me but what seems to happen is this: Fairly prominent person says something vaguely controversial, it gets retweeted by the likes of Wings Over Scotland, usually with a wee dig!  A few dafties pile on raging.  People like Angela Haggerty and the Wee Ginger Dug jump to their defence and they get abuse for that.  Before you know it the papers have got it, the news has got it and we have a great story to batter the Yes movement with.   Most of us don’t know what all the fuss is about but we are ALL branded abusive trolls.   No one EVER talks about the loads of supportive messages the prominent person receives, which probably outweigh the abusive ones, just the abuse.   And while all this is taking place  real issues are sidestepped and ignored.  While we should be organising and energising people some of our greatest minds are shouting at each other in 140 characters on social media. And all this goes on for days and days because people just cant let go.  Sheesh!!!

I don’t know Cat Boyd.  I found her engaging and energising in the referendum Campaign.  I contributed to the RIC as I thought it was a terrific movement.  I’m in my 40’s I’ve seen loads of left leaning, hard working well meaning people come and go in the independence movement.  They always go back to Labour because they think this time it will be different.  Even I thought this time things were different because after the abuse we received from labour members and politicians, there would be no way people could go back there.  But they do, they always do.  And that’s fine. 

I like Jeremy Corbyn, I really hoped he would be PM but he still lost heavily to the most disastrous Tory campaign in history.  His party is still deeply split.  He leads a party that would keep nuclear weapons on the Clyde, favours a much harder “brexit” than any of the young people who I know that voted for him wants and already members of his party are questioning whether they could have afforded their manifesto commitments anyway.  He opposes Scottish independence but favours a United Ireland and sacks ministers for rebelling when he did so himself over 500 times.  Not really the radical voice I hoped for.  But left leaning Pro-Indy foks always gravitate back to Labour in my experience and that is their choice.

I don’t care how Cat votes and neither should anyone else.  I hope in the next Referendum Campaign she is involved with us because we need her.  But that will be her choice.  But my God we all need to spend less time arguing on Twitter and get a bit of life back into ourselves.  It’s the summer, go out and have an ice cream.  Switch yer phone aff.  Or here’s an idea arrange to meet for a coffee and discuss things face to face, like grown up’s do not on the Twitter playground.  Not with 140 characters and emoji’s.  Fuck sake people there’s a bigger picture here.