KNEE-JERK AGGRESSION IN NATIONALIST ABUSE
THIS week, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson posted a job advert on Twitter.
‘Fancy coming to work for @ScotTories?’ it said. ‘We are advertising for a researcher to join our team in Holyrood. Apply here.’ The litany of abuse which it attracted says a great deal about Twitter and possibly about Scotland too. I hope it is just the former.
‘Anyone want to destroy their CV?’ said one.
‘I would rather put cocktail sticks in my eyes,’ declared another. These were some of the more grown-up responses. Most of the others referenced excrement or poison or evil or indoctrination.
The depressing thing is politics needs new blood, researcher jobs are a gateway into politics and this gateway, within minutes of appearing online, was left dripping in noxious Scottish intolerance.
It was the kind of reaction one might have expected decades ago if an Old Firm scout had gone looking for fresh talent in the wrong part of Glasgow.
Is it Twitter that drives this wave of knee-jerk aggression, or has Scotland turned into a nation of toilet wall graffiti scribblers who can’t even let an innocuous job advert go without piling in with the poo gags? I’d prefer to imagine there are still sections of the population who adhere to the maxim that, if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing.
I do not wish the SNP electoral success but if it is serious about what it believes in and wants to make a difference in politics, I wish its researchers well. The party is not about to leave the political stage any time soon. It might as well get its facts right.
I wish the successful applicant for this post well too. Jobs with any mainstream political party should look good on CVs.