Degrees of stupidity

Finally, if we are to fully examine Scotland’s role in the slave trade, we should endeavour to avoid clumsy conflations. The Scottish millworker and the Scottish crewman did not “benefit” from slavery. They were part of a dynamic of capitalist accumulation in which they had little say and little power. They led miserable lives characterised by long hours, disease and premature death. If Sir Tom wishes to insist they did benefit then he should at least employ some form of calibration and differentiation. The slave owner and the merchant stole the lives of the slave and the wage slave.

Alex Porter

Stirling

BEING a naturalised Scot of mixed West Indian/British heritage, I have a concern that the more admirable aspects of the Black Lives Matter campaign are being ruined by a very sinister development.

“Taking the Knee”, originally a meaningful gesture by black American sportsmen and equality campaigners and later adopted by supporters of all races, has been devalued by the way the media are using it. Singling out a public figure who is not a “knee taker” for opprobrium makes the act compulsory for anyone who does not want to risk their reputation, job, or harassment by an angry segment of society.

Many non-believers living in extremely strict religious communities will attend or comply with the requirements of that religion in order to fit in and avoid persecution – even though they live otherwise blameless and good lives. Compulsory gestures of solidarity or belief have no real value to any cause as they make it impossible to judge the true extent of “belief”.

Neither politicians nor anyone else should be questioned or criticised about their non-participation in someone else’s gestures or rituals. Instead, judge them by what they are actively doing in life to make things better now and in the future. Mark Openhsaw Aberdeen

I AGREE with Priscilla Douglas’s rebuttal of Iain Macwhirter’s conflation of education and intelligence (June 21).

Some years ago, I worked for a public service organisation whose basic entry requirements were numeracy, literacy and physical fitness. Practicality and common sense were also advantageous.

News came that one of our bases was to receive a recruit who had been educated to a high degree. After he had completed his basic training, I asked his supervisor how his recruit was doing.

“You mean ‘Three Degrees’?” he asked, rhetorically. “He could tell you the square root of a jar o’ jam, but he couldnae open the lid!”

Dougie McNicol

Bridge of Weir