Edited by Neil Anderson, Monday, 15 Sep 2014, 20:26
I don't do social media but I have been reading the comments about the indyref on news websites for the last couple of weeks. I must admit that I've been a wee bit taken aback by the bile that was on show. Now I'm no stranger to the bile of comments and the reality dis-connect that it usually goes along with them but..
A lot of the writers of these comments seem deranged in the same way that the media are. Somehow, somewhere there must be an evil purpose at work in the background. Salmond or the BBC? Or who knows who else? The illumnati, the freemasons?
That the BBC was biased, that there was violence on the streets, that people were being beaten up in the streets, that we... Words fail. Nowhere, anywhere can I find a report of actual violence beyond an egg being thrown or voices being raised.
And I'll say that Peston has shot down every lie that anyone cares to retail about the economics of the deal.
It isn't my experience. I don't see this violence, this lust for revenge. All see are people debating something that they know might change their lives. All I see are people who are glad of the debate.
I stood in the Indian summer sun outside my school the other day, talking to my business manager. He was a no, I am a yes. Did we try to hit each other? Did we attempt to convince one another? Did we just walk away from the question?
Hardly.
We are both Presbyterian, him Ulster, me Scots, we were talking as an Orange March was taking place in the centre of our town. Both of us know our poisonous heritage, Irish history, and the stakes involved.
Whatever people say, whatever the result, there will be no recriminations.
There are the mad here, on both sides. And they always will be with us.
But let me say something that you might not expect, Cameron is a statesman. He gave us our referendum without any spite and bile, I've talked to many people who feel if he had campaigned we wouldn't be here, he gave us our chance.
divisive...
I don't do social media but I have been reading the comments about the indyref on news websites for the last couple of weeks. I must admit that I've been a wee bit taken aback by the bile that was on show. Now I'm no stranger to the bile of comments and the reality dis-connect that it usually goes along with them but..
A lot of the writers of these comments seem deranged in the same way that the media are. Somehow, somewhere there must be an evil purpose at work in the background. Salmond or the BBC? Or who knows who else? The illumnati, the freemasons?
That the BBC was biased, that there was violence on the streets, that people were being beaten up in the streets, that we... Words fail. Nowhere, anywhere can I find a report of actual violence beyond an egg being thrown or voices being raised.
And I'll say that Peston has shot down every lie that anyone cares to retail about the economics of the deal.
It isn't my experience. I don't see this violence, this lust for revenge. All see are people debating something that they know might change their lives. All I see are people who are glad of the debate.
I stood in the Indian summer sun outside my school the other day, talking to my business manager. He was a no, I am a yes. Did we try to hit each other? Did we attempt to convince one another? Did we just walk away from the question?
Hardly.
We are both Presbyterian, him Ulster, me Scots, we were talking as an Orange March was taking place in the centre of our town. Both of us know our poisonous heritage, Irish history, and the stakes involved.
Whatever people say, whatever the result, there will be no recriminations.
There are the mad here, on both sides. And they always will be with us.
But let me say something that you might not expect, Cameron is a statesman. He gave us our referendum without any spite and bile, I've talked to many people who feel if he had campaigned we wouldn't be here, he gave us our chance.
And I respect him for listening to a people.