Poisonous Scottish bigotry: not dead yet

If you thought peace had broken out everywhere between Protestant and Catholic bigots, think again.  The Neanderthal football-supporting community north of the border keeps it going.   The Scottish Sunday Herald has been forced to print a full page apology  after a sports writer referred contemptuously to 'bead-rattling' Catholics apropos the Celtic/Rangers rivalry .  The paper -which seemed unbothered by contempt for rosaries  at the copy-checking stage - has now said such expressions are "clearly unacceptable in a quality newspaper", following an outcry from Celtic supporters. But if you think it's an isolated outbreak of nastiness,  read the blog responses on the Celtic site.  Like this:  "One good example of Glasgow catholic solidarity was your wee pals the McCanns milking their catholic backgrounds for all it was worth at a special event for their 'missing' daughter at Celtic Park." 
  Don't you just love the inverted commas round 'missing'?   Eugh.

Comments

[Alistair]

The apology from the Sunday Herald puts them 1-0 in the lead against Bishop Joseph Devine of Motherwell, who has issued no apology at all, far less a full page one in a newspaper, for mocking gays attending Holocaust memorial services, and accusing the gay community of exploiting Holocaust memorial services so to align itself with oppressed minorities.

I recall Sir Iqbal Sacranie saying this about freedom of speech when Kilroy did his infamous anti-Arab rant in a newspaper back in 2004:

"The issue is not about the freedom of speech - which we all must value and cherish - it is about abusing freedom of speech to vilify and demonise an entire group of peoples. "

Is "bead-rattling Catholics" in the same league as Bishop Devine's anti-gay and anti-secular rant in terms of vilifying and demonising an entire group of peoples? I hardly think so.

Maybe it's just that Catholics mustn't ever be offended by anything, but must have the right to offend everybody else?

It never seems to occur to some people that if they stopped dishing out bigotry, they might then not get any payback in kind. Some of the biggest bigots in Scotland are the likes of Bishop Devine in the Catholic hierarchy, but no apology is ever forthcoming from them for their bigotry.

[BillQ]

Is Alistair suggesting that the 'bead rattling' comment is a retaliatory response to Bishop Devine's (whoever he is) anti gay rant? Must we therefore assume that the sports writer who penned the offending article is gay and incensed (not of course the incense so beloved of the old Catholic church)and getting his/her own back?

I think we should be told

[Alistair]

"Is Alistair suggesting that the 'bead rattling' comment is a retaliatory response to Bishop Devine's (whoever he is) anti gay rant?"

No, of course not. Two isolated and unrelated incidents but with the same sub-text - bigotry.

In one case, a Scottish Catholic bishop gives grave offence to gay people in a public speech because, of course, that is his religious right. Many ordinary Scottish and English catholics voiced their disgust with the Bishop's speech, but no apology was forthcoming. But why would there be - Catholic bishops are clearly allowed to vilify gay people with impunity.

In the other separate and unrelated incident, one ill-chosen adjective in a football report in a Scottish newspaper results in grave offence to Catholics and full page apologies.

If all kinds of bigotry are to be stamped out, whether between religions or between the religious and the secular, then self-appointed leaders of fundamentalist religious sects should be giving a lead, not just Scotland’s newspapers. Otherwise we are condoning a situation where the religious can practise bigotry with impunity because of their beliefs, no matter how much offence is caused to their targets, while also reserving the right to be protected from bigotry themselves because of those same beliefs, even where the offence is more imagined than real.

Perhaps the Bishop will learn from the Sunday Herald's example, but I for one am not holding my breath.