I fear that I am going to lose the will to live before getting to cast my YES vote. Every week is another absolutely obvious lie from the No camp. This week we are not going to be able to use the pound. Why not? I know that economics is well beyond my ken, but surely it’s not just because Alistair Darling, Danny Alexander and George Osborne say so? I heard more than one economics professor on the radio state that they were playing political games and there was no reason why we couldn’t use the pound. Other countries have managed to become Independent of their larger neighbours without disappearing down a financial black hole and they didn’t have the natural resources already in place and being developed as we have. Oooops, speaking to the converted?
Seriously though, the message is not getting through. Not just the wittering of the NO campaign. Nothing seems to be getting to a large section of the population.
After the anti nuclear rally in Glasgow on 13th April my other half saw the chance to go to a well known bookstore. I saw the chance to go to a woman’s clothes shop (well I do live in the country!). We had a bit of a chat with the young security guard and I nearly fell over when he asked what the YES sticker on our coats was for. I thought back to our journey on the train and realised that this age group live in a little digital bubble. When not working (if they are lucky to be working) they are permanently plugged into one digital device or another. I am betting that the news programme is not one they bring up on their screen and if it is it will be BBC 24 or Sky or some equally non Scottish programme that doesn’t carry anything Scottish unless it’s a disaster.
How do we break this cycle? I don’t pretend to have the answers but I am learning about social media. My social media circle is SNP, YES and the world of crafting. At first I was cautious of posting political stuff in case I offended my crafting circle. I started with a few funny pictorial posts and was surprised that I was getting “likes”. I started to put links in to serious pieces of policy. They don’t get so many likes but I haven’t noticed anyone “unfriending” me. Mind you I am very tolerant of others who post NO stuff (not many) and religious stuff.
I suppose I am just reinforcing what the YES campaign leaders are saying. TALK. If we hadn’t spoken to that young security lad he might still be blissfully unaware of the referendum. Always challenge the negative statements from people. Turn it around and ask what’s so wonderful about the way things are just now. The only way to make sure the untruths from the unionists don’t stick is to challenge them person to person and also via social media. There is a huge chunk of the population who don’t read newspapers, don’t watch political programmes or Scottish news programmes and we need to speak to them. We won’t get them all. Even if we did they won’t all vote, but we need to take every opportunity to put the positive argument over without being abusive. There is no place for abusive argument in the future of our country.
YES have designated Saturday 27th April as a National Action Day. Please talk. You don’t need to convert………..just get them thinking.
From the yes campaign
Finances are the topic of the leaflets at the moment. Here is a link to how your pension will be affectedhttp://www.yesscotland.net/pensions_in_an_independent_scotland?utm_source=yesscotland&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pension_q_as&recruiter_id=37030
Can we afford to be Independent? http://www.yesscotland.net/firm_foundations
Why vote yes? http://www.yesscotland.net/the_benefits