The flippancy defence

Over the past few days, the word “flippant” has been doing a lot of heavy lifting in fair Caledonia.

Firstly a hat tip to the folks at Call It Out.

They organised hustings for the upcoming Scottish election.

Representatives from the main parties were questioned about issues of concern to Catholics and the multi-generational Irish community.

James Dornan was fronting up for the SNP.

The following was his reply to a question about his party colleague Ms Mhairi Black MP and her comment about “Plastic Irishmen”.

“Flippant”.

The Irish Voice did not share the Dornan’s view on the matter when it reported on the British MP in 2018.

Just to be precise, this comment was made by Ms Black in December 2017 in an interview with the in-house magazine of the Holyrood legislature.

 

 

Funnily enough, Mr Dornan didn’t appear to have any issues with his colleague’s interview in December 2017.

If he read the interview in 2017 and  Tweeted about it at the time, then that would surely count for being fully aware of the context.

Awkward, Mr Dornan, very awkward indeed…

Then tonight, I heard ex-Rangers player Maurice Ross on BBC Scotland’s Sportsound give his version of events as to why Notts County no longer employs him as a coach.

Once more, the word “flippant” was also deployed several times.

Mr Ross, in his playing days, was employed by a club whose matchday experience is marinated in racism.

The preferred anthem of the home crowd at Ibrox loving remembers in song a street gang founded by a self-identifying Fascist and member of the Ku Klux Klan.

 

Of course, heretofore, any discussion within Scottish football about combating racism always ignores the subject of anti-Irish racism.

In that sense , the people involved in the national game in Fair Caledonia merely mirroring Scottish society as a whole.

Now, there is an important difference between the football coach and the politician in one important sense.

What Ross said cost him his job.

Of course, Ms Black’s sneering jibe about the multi-generational Irish community was consequence-free.

A cynic might conclude that she knew that she was safe enough in punching down on Paddy in Bonny Scotland.

I, of course, couldn’t possibly comment.