Nicola Sturgeon opines that social media is damaging political debate. What social media is damaging is politicians' ability to control political discourse. It is damaging their ability to dictate the terms of debate. It is damaging their ability to totally exclude and suppress the voice of dissent. The degree to which a politician detests social … Continue reading Democratic media
There's something in today's National that we don't often see in "the newspaper that supports an independent Scotland" ─ an article taking a pop at a leading figure in the SNP. I guess it's fair to say that Pete Wishart is a leading figure in the party of independence. Although the term 'leading' seems particularly … Continue reading Wishartian censoriousness
Few would disagree with Ruth Wishart's observation in her Sunday National column that "it's always a mistake to confuse social media with real life" but I have lately begun to suspect that the difference between the two may be rather less than it pleases us to suppose. Ruth goes on to allow that social media … Continue reading Social media and real life
I'm not 'dealing with a very difficult situation'. I'm not in a difficult situation. I'm just in a situation. Same as always. It's up to me whether and to what extent my situation is difficult. I choose to make it less difficult. Not difficult at all, in fact.
I am content that all should have a voice even if that does result in an often discordant, sometimes impenetrable and occasionally ugly cacophony. After all, we get the same kind of thing in real life and deal with it with barely a thought. Listen to some pub conversation and it's like Facebook Live! Now there's a scary thought!
Everything comes at a price. And that includes freedom of expression. We accept that, in return for a service which delivers letters and packages to our homes, there will also be some junk mail littering the doormat. In exchange for the convenience of email, we accept a certain amount of unsolicited clutter in our inboxes. … Continue reading The right to hear
Peter A Bell 