Soup, Burns and Woke.

Epitaph for James Smith

 

LAMENT him, Mauchline husbands a',
He aften did assist ye;
For had ye staid hale weeks awa,
Your wives they ne'er had miss'd ye.

Ye Mauchline bairns, as on ye press

To school in bands thegither,
O tread ye lightly on his grass,—
Perhaps he was your father! 

 

Rabbie Burns

Poem Hunter 

On 'Burns Night' it is the thing to celebrate the Bards birth by eating haggis, reciting 'Address to a Haggis,' and gulping down whisky all night.  Whichever one is the most important aspect varies from house to house.  I suspect however the majority of Scots have not purchased a Haggis for tonight, though some have the whisky, and many a Scots child is refusing haggis and choosing instead a home made 'MacDonald's' for tea instead.  Personally I had a haggis over the weekend and did not find it very enjoyable.  Too dry, I did not find it gave me energy, and I was somewhat disappointed with it.  Maybe my Forres butcher makes a better one?  Anyway tonight, having spent time breaking apart the chicken bought from Tesco, I should have killed it first, and then making soup, better than last weeks but not great, I cared little for haggis, or indeed anything else.  So chicken and chips flung together with scraping of veg had to suffice.  It was not great.  I would like to hear Rabbies poem based on that!

 

There is something to be said for that cartoon.

I took time out from my busy day to upset the 'woke.'  

The Urban Dictionary describes 'Woke' as being:

 

'The act of being very pretentious about how much you care about a social issue.'

Now I am not saying these people do not care but I am saying their care was not 'Love.' 

This came re an item about those searching Edinburgh for people involved in the slave trade in the distant past.  Now we all agree, today at least, that this was a repugnant occurrence.  We also agree that many in Scotland, especially in Glasgow, were involved.  However, I am not one who is convinced those pointing out, indeed writing books and leading tours, round houses built or lived in by those benefiting from such trade is done for the correct reasons.  Some wish to remove statues, some wish to knock down houses, others want the present day descendents to 'cough up the cash.'  Fat chance! 

You cannot change History, you cannot forget it.  However, this History was not taught when I was young, though the slave trade was abhorred.

Naturally lots of white, middle class 'woke' are jumping on the bandwagon.  These I encountered today.  I indicated that Scots miners, my family among them, were enslaved by the Lairds of their day.  This of course was rejected as irelevant or off a 'different hue.'  I am not sure my folks in Fife digging coal deep down with no prospects to speak off would agree however.  

The point that annoys is the eagerness to join the mob, not from love of black slaves, white slaves exist also, but belonging to the right crowd is what matters.

These folks share the same causes, join the same protests, believe the same things, none of them stopping to really consider what they are doing, indeed their limited world does not allow this.

Of course we have all done similar in past times, that is why we see it for what it is.  I have joined the cause, then realised it was the wrong way to do things or indeed a wrong cause.  Have we not all been there?  I am left wondering how many of these anti-slavers will pay money to those fighting slavery today?  It never fails to amaze me how such enthusiasm disappears when cash is required.  

Another example comes to mind.  For long years a protest stood outside the South African embassy in London.  Fight for freedom they said, free the black man in South Africa.  After Mandella was released they all went home.  However, when Zimbabwe leaders were killing black and white men no protest appeared.  Black led nations could go to war, no protest was found.  Why was this?  Because these people did not 'love their neighbour' they just took up a popular cause.  

When they gather together to stop todays holocaust, the murders of the unborn child, then I will believe they really care about slavery or any other cause today.