They really don’t do themselves any favours, do they?
When the BBC’s former Scotland editor Sarah Smith revealed she felt safer working in the USA than she did at home, the correct response might have been sympathy.
A decent person would surely feel regret that the political debate in Scotland has become so febrile that a female journalist felt unsafe because of the abuse and misogyny she’d been subjected to.
Instead Sarah Smith appears to have opened the door to more of the same, from commentators who were only too keen to prove her point.
And this time the abusers were not just the keyboard warriors who have made the cybernat contingent such a toxic stew.
SNP politicians led the charge
SNP MSP James Dornan dismissed her concerns as “imaginary woes”.
Gavin Newlands, MP, liked a tweet suggesting Ms Smith was to blame and deserved the abuse directed at her.
SNP pile-on against BBC's Sarah Smith continues after her criticism of abuse in Scottish politics. Ex SNP MP Phil Boswell brands her a "traitor". Current SNP MP Gavin Newlands likes a tweet that argues "this is what happens when a journo with an agenda is rejected by the people" pic.twitter.com/hsWS70EHFo
— Chris Musson (@ChrisMusson) February 17, 2022
Former SNP MP Phil Boswell described her as a “traitor to the highest metric within journalism”.
What a disgrace.
And what an example to set the for the sorry ranks of misogynistic abusers who joined the pile-on throughout the day.
What hope for indyref2?
Tensions that were stirred up during the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence still simmer very close to the surface.
Social media has spread and grown immeasurably since then.
Today in Scottish politics:
Sarah Smith: I had to leave Scotland because of the vile abuse I suffered.
Cybernats: No you didn’t YOU LYING BITCH— Murdo Fraser (@murdo_fraser) February 16, 2022
It has amplified the voices of some of the worst people in society and encouraged people to act in ways which would never have been acceptable before.
As talk turns to another referendum there’s justifiable concern over the manner in which it would be conducted.
Politicians have a responsibility to lead by example.
And on the strength of this performance the country is in no fit state to re-open those old sores.
