by Jason Michael McCann

Twitter @Jeggit

The most imaginative work of fiction, is always a “redescription,” a “truth,” a reenactment of the world of the author

LISTENING to the national debate over the past few years it is fair to say that, at least in their heads, Scottish nationalists and unionists inhabit two entirely different worlds. The closer we got to the date of the 2014 referendum the more we read and heard the No campaign describe the independence movement as a romantic utopianism populated by unicorns and flag-waving dreamers. In retrospect it is easy to see how many unionists came to this conclusion; Yes Scotland may have been led by media savvy and wellinformed people, but the Yes movement was – and thankfully so – very much the Tartan Army at home.

It wasn’t until Boxing Day, with a discussion on Scotland’s favourite films on the Wings Over Scotland website, that real evidence appeared, suggesting a real difference in worldview between independentistas and unionists. Wings commissioned a Panelbase poll the week before Christmas, the results of which demonstrated – among other things – that Scots in favour of independence and those against it preferred different Scottish films. Where Yes voters, women, working class people, and SNP supporters were more likely to list Braveheart as their favourite, middle class folk and Tory and Liberal Democrat voters opted for Trainspoting and Whisky Galore.

Stu Campbell, the author of the piece, concluded: “We perhaps shouldn’t be all that shocked that Unionists prefer to see Scotland depicted as a country of squalid, backstabbing, violent and essentially useless heroin addicts than as a proud nation struggling for its freedom from a brutal oppressive invader, but at least now we can put some solid numbers to it.”

How could it be, I remember thinking during ScotRef, that we – Yes and No supporters – see Scotland in such radically opposing ways? At the time it was feasible that we all saw the same things, but that in order to keep the union together the No campaign was telling bare faced lies. This is still a possibility, but now we have evidence pointing to another possibility; that we just don’t think the same. Perhaps it is the case that the more pessimistic soul is incapable of seeing the romance, the unicorns, and the saltires in the clouds we were all enjoying on “Freedom Square.”