by Paul Kavanagh
I’M A BIGOT. I thought I should get that out there. I’m bigoted against Tories, and apparently that makes me a bad person who doesn’t want a Scotland that’s diverse and tolerant. Substitute what you say about Tories with gay, or English, or women, or disabled and you’ll see how bigoted you are, I was told by a person who really needs to go and look up the meaning of the term “category error”. The decision to vote Tory is not remotely comparable to being a member of a group whose membership you did not actively solicit. I’m bigoted against Tories, and wear it on my sleeve.
People don’t choose to be gay. Voting Tory is a choice, it’s a bad choice, a selfish choice, and a dangerous choice that threatens to destroy the social fabric of this country and consign untold thousands into poverty and despair. Voting Tory is a choice to defend privilege. It’s a choice to entrench established inequalities. It’s a choice to uphold the interests of the rich, the powerful, and the corporate. Voting Tory is a choice to protect the Union without caring what sort of a Union you are voting to protect. For a working class person to choose to vote Tory is an act of epic self-harm that harms others in their own community. It’s like deciding to throw yourself in front of a train, but first you’ll push your neighbours off the platform too.