Revenge of the Straw Man

Revenge of the Straw Man

This cartoon was created to accompany an article about straw bale houses in the Orkney News column of iScot magazine in October 2018. It shows a straw man who hates his own creator, and is about to strangle him.

The Orcadian farmer spouts various oft-repeated logical fallacies on the theme of Scottish independence:

• The economic argument based on GERS (Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland), which is an annual document examining the performance of the Scottish economy. GERS is merely an indication of how Scotland’s economy is performing as part of the United Kingdom, under the management of Westminster. It does not reflect how Scotland would look as an independent country.
• The conflation of an individual and their alleged personal ambition with the sovereign status of a nation. In 2014 it was “I just hate that Salmond.” This is not a valid reason to reject self-determination and democracy.
• The assertion that people that support Scottish independence hate the English (English Scots for Yes notwithstanding). The real issue is the democratic deficit, which affects everyone living in Scotland regardless of where they were born.