Scotland

THE ECONOMIST OFFERS TEACHABLE MOMENT IN ITS OFFENSIVE ‘SKINTLAND’ MAGAZINE COVER ……..

 

Scots don’t like their country being besmirched? 

The Scots have been pulling for independence from Britain for awhile now, but since it’s not a 3rd world developing country, much of the press they receive is in the form of condemnation and belittlement, just like the Vlaams Belang has received in the failed fake state of Belgium, though the latter receives far worse.

So does Israel for that matter, being badly maligned, besmirched and demonized in much of the world’s media on a regular basis, and with some gusto, and I can safely assume that that includes the Scottish press as well, which has resulted in some boycotting of Israeli goods there.

It’s never fun when one’s country is the center of ridicule and demonization on a daily basis, especially when it’s a fully working democracy and not deserved, so I can totally understand an Israelis POV, and to some extent, a Scot’s view of this magazine cover. I have personally seen the Finnish press rake the US over the coals all during the Bush years, but interestingly enough, much of that has tapered off since Obama took office.

Gee I wonder why that is?

The Economist’s front page

 

By ANDREW WHITAKER
Published on Friday 13 April 2012 20:47

THE latest edition of The Economist, in which post-independent Scotland is labelled “Skintland”, has provoked an angry backlash with the First Minister Alex Salmond claiming that the parody “insults every single community north of the Border”.

The front page of the news magazine has mocked up a map of Scotland with place names replaced by puns that suggest poverty, financial incompetence and economic chaos – including “Glasgone”, “Edinborrow”, the “Loanlands” and the “Shutland Islands” – under the headline “It’ll Cost You”.

The accompanying article warns that if Scots vote for independence they “could end up as one of Europe’s vulnerable, marginal economies”, possibly faring as badly as crisis-torn Greece.

Yesterday, Mr Salmond claimed The Economist will “rue the day” that it published the map. He did not comment on an illustration of him wearing a crown, dressed in robes and holding an empty petrol pump.

More here.

4 Responses

  1. Depends on how Scotland manages itself. They have fish, whiskey, golf, and oil. If they need more power, they can get it from Iceland. They need to control immigration and social spending and stay out of the EU. They can learn from the horrible social mistakes England has made. Their priorities are not the same.

  2. I agree with joy52.

    And Scotland has a population of 5.2 million – more than a number of countries around the globe, possibly even more than Finland now.

    If I were a Scotsman I would be voting for independence mindful of the mess the UK have made of the Union over the past thirty years.

    And nothing much would change for sports buffs like me given that even now Scotland fields its own teams in football, Rugby Union, etc.

  3. This article makes the salutary point that countries are besmirched by the press in other countries all the time – why should Scots get specially angry with this Economist front page? However, in this case the besmirching comes from the mainstream press of the United Kingdom of which Scotland is part: it is a potent symbol of the current disunity of the UK. I’m not sure if there are precisely analogous examples elsewhere – would the New York Times publish such a map of California? It seems unlikely.

  4. Well if this is a wrong judgment in the case of the Economist magazine, than why don’t the Scottish Govt just simply sue the Economist company for slander?

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