By Rab Bruce’s Spider

Political commentator Alex Massie has been at it again. This time, he’s made the claim that support for the SNP is akin to religious zealotry, with voters virtually brainwashed into rejecting rational argument in favour of belief in a cult.

I don’t usually agree with Alex Massie on very much but, on this occasion, I think he is partly right while being mostly wrong.

Where he is right is that some aspects of human behaviour often resemble religious fervour. For example, the original TV series of star Trek became a cult programme, with devotees who still don pointy ears and dress up to attend Star Trek conventions. The thing is, though, that while some fans do this, many don’t. There are many who would be annoyed to miss a programme of their favourite series but who wouldn’t necessarily dress like a character from the show in order to display their devotion.

Another example of this trait of quasi-religious behaviour is football. Fans of most teams can display a devotion which denies reality. They observe rituals, sing their own songs, almost worship their players. This does not prevent them criticising individual players whose performances do not match expectations and it does not prevent some fans voting with their feet when overall team performance dips. Again, some fans take their support to seemingly extraordinary lengths. While most will attend home matches, diehard fans go to every game, home or away. Many wear the tops of their team and some will have tattoos emblazoned on their skin to proclaim their love of the club. In many respects, this approaches religious zeal because, no matter how many times their favourite team is thrashed by its nearest and most bitter rivals, very few fans will change their allegiance and begin following the other team.

Then there is the cult of the Celebrity. This is perhaps not quite as strong as the attachment to a football team but some fans do go to extraordinary lengths to meet their idols. I use that word to demonstrate the potential comparison with religious zeal although it must be admitted that, unlike football fans, many who idolise Celebrities grow out of their fascination or are jerked out of it by some scandal involving their chosen idol.

There is, though, one strain of celebrity cult which is very prevalent in Britain and which Alex Massie conveniently overlooks. That is the idolisation of the Royal family whose cult status is reinforced by the media at every opportunity and which retains a powerful hold on the minds of many of the Queen’s subjects. Thousands of people will turn out in all weathers to wave flags and sing, "God Save the Queen" no matter how many rational arguments people of a Republican sentiment can put forward to demonstrate that such devotion is irrational.

It appears, then, that needing something to believe in is part of the human condition. Many people seem to need that sense of shared belief. Even Political Parties are not exempt from this but, contrary to what Alex Massie would have us think, the SNP do not have a monopoly on this. You only need to look at the Scottish Labour Party for evidence that some people remain devoted to their chosen Party despite all the evidence that the Party itself long ago abandoned its principles and the people it was founded to represent. If that’s not irrational, I’m not sure what is.

It must be admitted that the same trait is less evident in people who vote Tory, perhaps because the only ideology they have is the perpetuation of a social and economic system which favours their own individual success. This isn’t so much quasi-religious as simple selfishness.

But, to return to Alex Massie’s main claim, can support for the SNP be viewed as a cult? Well, there’s no doubt that, given the breadth of support the Party currently enjoys, some of its members will display all the signs of being cult followers but, as with football fans, the extreme believers will be a minority of those who vote for the Party.

Where Alex Massie is very wide of the mark, though, is in his mistake, so common among Unionists, of confusing the SNP with the wider Yes movement. Because, at a fundamental level, it is Scotland that is the cause people believe in. The SNP are the means through which many Scots see the chance to obtain independence but it is Scotland, not the SNP which is the focus of their passion. And that is an important word because it’s not religious zeal, it’s passion which drives the Yes movement. Religious people may be passionate in their beliefs but passionate believers in a cause are not necessarily religious fanatics.

Some people believe in Scottish independence from a simple gut reaction but, for many, it is not an irrational belief, it is something we believe in because we have examined the arguments and decided that the democratic deficit trumps any other arguments. This is something that the neo-liberal mindset cannot understand. It is alien to their way of thinking, which is why they attempt to demonise the SNP who are, in their eyes, the manifestation of what they perceive as irrational belief. They push their economic predictions at every opportunity and assert that it is madness to go against their version of reality, failing to understand that, for many Scots, the idea of governing ourselves is a greater attraction than following neo-liberal ideals which, ironically, are themselves in danger of becoming minority cult ideas as a growing consensus of economists is arguing that the ideology is fundamentally flawed.

The fact is that Scots have not been brainwashed into believing in the cause of Scottish independence. We have instead woken up and shaken off the insidious brainwashing that once made us believe the great British myth. We have reaped the harvest of industrial decline and exploitation and we’ve had enough. We no longer wish to be governed by a rich elite elected by the voters of England. We want to govern ourselves and make our own place in the world.

To quote Alex Massie’s own words back at him, his arguments are both meretricious and tendentious. But, while his intended audience may be impressed by big words, the people of Scotland have learned that they are more impressed by big ideas. They have embraced the goal of independence with a passion, an emotion which is largely alien to the neo-liberal mindset and that’s why, eventually, Scotland will become an independent country. Not because we slavishly worship the SNP but because we believe in ourselves.