Notes On What Might Be Called Propaganda? (pt.2)

(incomplete) First Thoughts On the Better Together Website:

The first thing you see when you enter the site is a short series of images that fade in and fade out which display links to different pages. The only notable image is of the  slightly menacing (to me) “No Thanks” logo. For some reason, the logo is sort of sinister (in a subtle way). Here it is:

The thing sort of reminds me of a dead face: 

Is it just me seeing this? (It might be) 

But if the decision I had to make on the 18^th of September was based on logos alone, then I’d probably vote Yes. The word “YES” is a lot more motivational and creates more positive feelings within me than this badge which, for some reason, something about it just reminds me of death. (This isn’t me being pro-yes or anti-no, by the way; it’s merely me being pro-logos-that-don’t-remind-me-of-cartoon-corpses-or-the-inevitability-of-death).

Apart from the logo, the only thing I can really say about the website is that, frankly: it’s dull. The colour scheme, the font, the 15 ‘fact’ sheets (which I will write about in more detail in a later post), the tone of the writing - the whole thing. It’s very, very dull. I might have yawned around 34 times while reading it.

But the more I think about it, how could it really be any different? The No Campaign doesn't seem to be offering anything new (I might be wrong here and have a mind ready to be changed). They are essentially arguing for things to stay the same as they are because they think we have the “best of both worlds” if we stay in the UK. And so the campaign seems to lack the sense of excitement that the other side has (or at least the sense of excitement that the Yes campaign’s website feels you need to be constantly reminded of in the mini-essays with many of them saying how ‘exciting an opportunity this is’).

I will say however that the 'fact sheets' (although dull) have at least the initial appearance of providing information. As to the accuracy of the information that is provided, that's another issue altogether.

   

(slight digression) A WORRYING REALISATION:

I’m already beginning to get the sort of horrible feeling you get when you realise you have spent too long procrastinating before an exam and it’s now too late to study everything. 

The reality of it is is that trying to understand the details of issues like ‘The Economy’ is hard. Believe it or not, the economy is something that is actually complex, it is actually kind of mind-bogglingly complex, and, although the general issues surrounding the details are interesting, trying to understand all the particularities and intricacies of the economy can fill you with an overwhelming, crushing boredom. If I want to be remotely informed I’ll just need to deal with being bored. But I’m telling you, I really am fighting the temptation to just say: pfft, whatever, I’ll never understand this anyway, bye bye ‘fiscal policy’, see you later ‘tax rates’, I’M OFF!  

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(image sources: 1) here and 2) here) 

Notes On What Might Be Called Propaganda? (pt. 1)

I'm starting with the main websites of the campaigns. First stop: YesScotland. I opened up the website and was met by what was probably meant to be a motivational video:     

(Said video is meant to appear above this writing. If you're reading on your phone, click here to see it)

CONTENT OF 'MOTIVATIONAL' VIDEO:

Violin or fiddle plays vaguely moving piece of Celtic music while an unborn child from the future asks you to support the Yes campaign. Looks like it was filmed by the same people that take pictures for university prospectuses.When looking at the different futures of Scotland (Yes = smiles and happiness. No = a grey world of sadness), the tone of the video oscillates from that of a Visit Scotland and a NSPCC advert. 

After the video, the home page of the website appears. A massive image pops up of a happy couple on a beach with (hopefully their own but possibly just random) three children. What strikes me most about the website is the amount of smiling on it. If you scroll down to the “REASONS” section then there are links to 15 mini essays that are supposedly by normal, ordinary Scottish people that have “look[ed] at and consider[ed] the issues” and decided that they will vote Yes.

The links to these mini essays are all pictures of people smiling. 4 men in suits: smiling. 1 man in a brown fleece in front of a slightly rundown area: smiling. One woman holding a plant: smiling. 1 picture of a possible university student. A girl. And it seems like the photographer wants to emphasise this point by making the room she is in is covered in pink – pink curtains, pink sofa, pink bedcovers, pink lamp and there is also a nice little (pink) Minnie mouse stuffed toy on her bed. She is also smiling.

There’s so much smiling on the site it made me distrust the site somehow.

Now, normal reasons for distrusting the site aside (bias/it’s a campaign site/etc), there is something so strangely off-putting and paradoxically sad about the sheer abundance of smiling here. Maybe it’s something to do with how (most of the time) when people are getting their pictures taken, their smiles are forced. Smiles given for the camera are rarely genuine expressions of happiness; they are mostly the result of the photographer asking the person to smile. I don’t know, but to me this whole website seems to have the same essence of a forced smile. To be plain: it just seems kind of fake.

Now that’s not me claiming that what the website (or what the Yes campaign) is saying isn’t true (but would you trust someone who was telling you ‘how excited they were about the future’ and ‘how very happy they were’ if you felt as if their smile was forced and there was a sort of deadness in their eyes?). It doesn’t help that the website actually doesn’t say that much and the mini-essays (that you can read if you click on the forced smiles) don’t actually have any details about, well, anything. I learned more about the lives and families of the people that supposedly wrote the things than I did about reasons for voting Yes:

Eg:

MARRIED WOMAN FROM ESSAY ABOUT AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE: “I’m looking forward to seeing Scotland empowered to take charge of its own destiny. I’m excited because 18 September also happens to be our 10-year wedding anniversary, so it’s going to be a big day all round!”

WOMAN FROM ESSAY ON SCOTTISH BUSINESS: “I have two boys and when they left home I didn’t think, ‘I’m so worried that they’ll be out there on their own.’ Instead, I felt proud that they were becoming independent and making things happen for themselves. I think we should feel that way about Scotland too.”

RANDOM ENGLISH MAN FROM ESSAY ABOUT HIS OPINION AS  SOMEONE FROM ENGLAND: It’s about creating something new, and that sends a powerful message of hope to our neighbours south of the border and across Europe. My family in England understand that and back my decision to vote Yes.

ELDERLY LADY FROM ESSAY ABOUT SCOTTISH NHS: “I’m three years from my eightieth birthday but I certainly don’t think of myself as old. I still love golf and walking”

SAME ELDERLY LADY: “I like to challenge these ideas in my own quiet way and my granddaughter has really taken up the challenge: she tells me how many people in her class support independence and then says, ‘Granny, that number is much higher now!”

There were some interesting points made however. I will write about them soon. But on the whole, the site is awful (in my opinion). It had a strong sense of being fake and the mini-essays written by (no doubt inherently valuable people but seemingly completely random) members of the public didn’t really explain anything. I left the site without feeling anymore convinced one way or the other. I just wanted to stop looking at the smiling.

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(Picture source: here)

The State I'm In

Imagine you’ve just been having a conversation with that person you see quite often (but not often enough to call them your friend) where you’re not really sure what to say to them next. Conversations with this person aren’t so much ‘conversations’ as they are an awkward exchange of statements being said to fill the silence. 

All the things you usually talk about have already been talked about. You’ve probably mentioned the commonwealth games – (the verdict agreed on the opening ceremony is that it opened badly but got better towards the end). You’ve probably mentioned the weather. You’ve probably begun to feel a bit bored (or anxious about being boring) and so you are grasping for subjects to talk about. Your ‘friend’ decides that the conversation should turn political:

“So, what do you think about Scottish Independence then?”

I don’t know about you but this is a question I dread. A question I hate being asked. A sort of dullness comes over me and I have a very strong urge to roll my eyes and sigh whenever I’m asked it. My reaction is mainly due to a bizarre and worrying case of Political Apathy. It is also due to a worrying case of Political Ignorance.

(This is a deadly mix: Political Ignorance makes you avoid discussions about politics because you don’t want to show yourself for what you are – completely and utterly ignorant – and this avoidance creates just the right amount of distance from political issues for the Political Apathy to kick in. This Apathy then means that you distance yourself even further from all things political because not only do you not want to reveal yourself as being Politically Ignorant, you also don’t want others seeing how little you actually care about what they’re talking about. This Apathy comes with a strong sense of shame – a good citizen is well-informed and cares about the future of the country he/she lives in, surely? The shame ultimately creates a strange kind of sadness. This process then repeats itself ad infinitum until you reach the worrying and bizarre state that I’m in. The state of being an Ignorant – with a capital ‘I’ – and Apathetic – with a capital ‘A’ – human being that the most he can do in a conversation about Independence is just say ‘awck, I know’ or ‘yeah’ in response to whatever the person he’s talking to has just said).

And with 37 days to go, this is a terrible place to be in. Everyone is talking about it. EVERYONE!

I intend to sort myself out.

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(Picture source: here)