The Self-Arming Trap of Bigotry

Self fulfilling cycle of lies told to Americans by Scots and the anger that comes of it

This is something I've come across at both work and in online circles. I've mainly seen it from Scots and aimed at USians, specifically those who claims Scottish heritage.

The cycle goes like this:

  1. USian claims Scottishness
  2. Scot gets grumpy at this, tells lies to USian
  3. USian on-boards lie, perhaps they know it's a lie but thinks it's funny
  4. USian repeats lie to another Scot
  5. Scot gets grumpy because USian is shiting on their culture
  6. Scot tells a lie to USian
  7. Repeat from stage 3

I've likely butchered aspects of this pathway but the bones of it is there. At my palce of work USians are held in contempt and viewed as cash-cows. Apparently USians all claim to be descended from some Scottish king or claim some other actually harmless thing that doesn't affect anyone. The Scot at work assumes that “Hey I'm Scotch” (this tends to be the form the Scots project, not actually used by USians) means that they are ethnically Scottish, not that they are of Scottish descent, heritage or diaspora. It somehow means they are apropriating the heritage and culture of Scotland despite never being in Scotland, except they may have and currently are. Without even thinking deeper on it they hatch this gotcha to catch the USian unaware. This gotcha is to blatantly lie about some aspect of culture or heritage to them. We don't really have colour TV, we only wear kilts on Thursdays, or some such shite, as an example.

What my colleagues and I think a lot of people online are unaware of is this cycle they're creating. They're manufacturing their own future outrage. Why? Because they're from the United States of America.

I'm using bigotry because it is clear to me that it's a thin veil surrounding an accepted racism. When called on it, the bigotry doesn't really withstand any scrutiny at all.

As a whole it irks me on multiple levels. There's the outright racism, which is disgusting to begin with. The other aspect is that USians that visit, in my experience and knowledge, are the more engaged visitors. They really want to know the truth, even if it hurts their oral-history. They are keen to try just about anything. As a result scumbag tour-guides and tour groups prey on them. Take their money, feed them lies and send them home packaged in Royal Stewart.
To this point, I've heard a tour-guide state that the reason that Jacobites lost the Battle of Culloden was the lack of archers on the Jacobite side. An aspect forgotten or maybe not even begun to be understood is that a lot of Scottish history, in Scots world, is on-going and for those who stayed in Scotland, it never got on to the boat. In North America, Scottish history was frozen at the point they got on the boat and kept refreshed or amended or even fabricated from when they got off the boat. The USian who says “I'm Scottish” is getting across their Scottish heritage, many a Scot chooses to lose that in translation.

Anyway, I think we Scots should drop the bullshit and be the truth speakers were purport ourselves to be and how we are seen. Us telling lies to other about our own history and culture does a dis-service to everyone, especially the speaker of the lies.

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