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Re:In U.K. Vote, Online Disinformation Is the New Normal by thu2111 on Thursday December 12, 2019 @04:58AM (#21770651)
I took a brief look at the Wee Blue Book but it seems to be old pro-independence campaign material, rather than specifically about "shite, filth and corruption"?

If Campbell wanted to criticise bad electioneering he would need to get his own house in order first. I don't think re-litigating the old campaign is necessarily a good use of time but the first page of his Blue Book has several exceptionally dodgy claims in it, really, claims I'd consider to both completely false and some are extremely offensive. How can he criticise his opponents for relying on "scare stories" when his own positions are on such thin ice?

e.g.

the only reason terrorists might attack us is because we’re part of the UK.

It's staggering to me nationalists really made this argument. Did Campbell miss the terrorists killing people in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia and many other places that aren't the UK?

This claim can only be rooted in delusional racism and hatred of the English, to believe that somehow Scotland wouldn't have the same problems as everywhere else in the world or that terrorism is a specifically English problem.

Many of the other claims don't make sense (e.g. "We don’t affect the outcome of UK elections"), are self contradictory (e.g. "Scotland is a country" but the point of the campaign is to make Scotland a country), or have been proven wrong by subsequent events (e.g. the oil wealth related claims). They're very far from bulletproof and remind me of why I soured on the SNP's campaign despite being a natural supporter of devolution and local government. There certainly are good arguments for Scottish independence, but the material in the Blue Book is a good example of mendacious and manipulative campaigning.

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