BY JOHN ISMAEL
It seems Nicola Sturgeon is still struggling to control extremists in her party. The modern political scourge of SNP’s cybernats doesn’t seem to be going away despite her party’s efforts to sort the problem out during that low point of abuse when former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy faced a torrent of foul online messages from nationalist supporters in the weeks before his death in June 2015. ‘Cybernats’ attacked Mr Kennedy on Twitter telling him he was an ‘alkie c***’ and a ‘drunken alcoholic ****hole’ who should ‘get back in the pub’. Mr Kennedy died from a haemorrhage linked with his long battle with alcoholism soon after reading those messages.
The SNP has been dogged by links to violent supporters – from the pseudo henchmen who followed Alex Salmond around in the run-up to the independence referendum to the street brawls in Glasgow which interfered with legitimate Labour Party campaigning by comedian Eddie Izzard. But the SNP’s use of cyber armies to wage war for Scottish independence and SNP domination are causing the most harm. The SNP seems happy to use these immoral hordes as long as it suits them.
Just last week, SNP cybernats launched a vicious online attack on an SNP whistle-blower, Aidan Kerr, who lifted lid on the party’s controversial councillors. The Glasgow University student revealed in the Daily Record that four SNP councillors suspended in December for burning the Smith Commission report on more powers have been handed senior leadership positions in the party’s Renfrewshire group. But his scoop sparked a meltdown from hard-core independence supporters. According to the Record, SNP member Nick Durie took to Facebook to brand Kerr – who campaigned for independence last year – a “defector” who should be “castigated, shut down and prevented from operating”. Durie said: “We were told by his friends that we should not point out the danger of the defector Aidan Kerr. This shows that those who argued this position have been taken for fools. We should not tolerate defectors to the forces of reaction. They are right wing scum bought for the bosses’ bawbees. Anyone with an ounce of honour would never make that journey. Never, ever trust or tolerate defectors to the forces of reaction.” The Record concluded that “the unseemly incident is a further sign that Nicola Sturgeon is losing control of independence hardliners operating within her party.” A Labour spokesperson commented that “Calling for journalists to be ‘castigated, shut down and prevented from operating’ is something you’d expect to read in the history books about the days of Stalin, not 21st century Scotland.”
A Labour spokesman said: “Calling for journalists to be ‘castigated, shut down and prevented from operating’ is something you’d expect to read in the history books about the days of Stalin, not 21st century Scotland.
The Tory surge in last week’s local elections seems to have wound up the cybernats even more as they realise that “peak SNP” has passed and the idea of another Scottish Independence Referendum is seen as an increasingly unattractive prospect by Scots, who are warming to a Post-Brexit UK and its global opportunities. They have been peddling around increasingly desperate graphics like this one going around Facebook & Twitter over the weekend:
The nastiness online from SNP cybernats has noticeably gone up a few decibels since the disappointing local election results:
As the SNP’s flaws have begun to show and the party’s links with the IRA and even its Nazi sympathising in World War 2 have come to the fore, there is a sense out there that the SNP is losing its appeal, the more transparent it becomes:
The hypocrisies of the SNP are reflected in their two-faced attitude to the abuse-spewing by their cybernats. They can walk away from the problem, saying they do not control them. But the truth is out there. The SNP are well aware that their cybernat presence is part of their strategy in waging political war against opponents. Straight out of the Moscow handbook. Alec Salmond’s pal Putin will be proud.
