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‘World Man of the Year’?
Mr Salmond should beware
the cult of personality
Ronnie Smith
Recently a Facebook acquaintance of mine sent a post to me and, presumably, to all her other Facebook acquaintances exhorting them to take part in Time Magazine’s popular poll for ‘World Man of the Year’. Her post included a photograph of a gleaming Alex Salmond, leaving me and my fellow acquaintances in no doubt about whom we were expected to vote for. I found myself being disappointed and a little depressed by this piece of virtual junk mail, for a number of reasons.
Like literary awards, inbred soirees celebrating the annual performance of parliamentarians, Time Magazine’s ‘World Man of the Year’ and other similar exercises are rather childish. My Facebook acquaintance is a well-known and generally respected, though not universally revered, Scottish journalist and columnist. Frankly I expect better from people in her position, people who can be regarded as mature opinion formers and leaders, helping us to navigate our way through the next few, possibly transitional, years. Banal cheerleading is not what we need at the moment.
One of Mr Salmond’s numerous achievements in successfully taking his long game strategy forward, thus far, has been to channel the historically over-exuberant approach of some of the SNP’s members into positive and rational action. Mr Salmond has been able to complete their transition from a movement high on romance to a modern political party without losing their campaigning imagination and creativity along the way. He and his colleagues have managed to stay focused on their main objective without rejecting all the necessary political stages en route including finally turning devolution, which many of them initially opposed, to their certain advantage.
This journey has been quite long and complicated and has required tremendous faith and patience within the SNP leadership over the past 25 years. Therefore I can’t believe that they are going to jeapardise the entire project by allowing a self-generated personality cult to grow around their leader. Are they finally to get the attention of the Scottish people only to piss them off as the final hurdle looms into view?
My unshakeable Calvinist-lite upbringing tells me to abhor and distrust show-offs, loudmouths, braggarts and those found at the front of every photo opportunity. Our national characteristics include tempering any success we have with modesty, retaining a knowledge of our roots and making sure that we don’t get ‘cocky’. Think of the problems that Billy Connolly had in Glasgow where many thought he had become too big for his banana boots. Note that George Galloway may now be unelectable in Scotland because of his often absurd campaign of self-promotion. Could Mr Salmond’s supporters be about to sabotage their own referendum campaign by constructing an un-Scottish cult of personality around their leader?
Yes, that’s right. I accuse the SNP of harbouring un-Scottish traits. They are a political party like many others, nothing special.
The chances of any attempt to create a cult around Mr Salmond that tries to take his popularity beyond the political arena and his effectiveness beyond the SNP and the Scottish Parliament is certain to fail.
Ronnie Smith was born in Largs and now lives in Romania, working as a professional training business consultant and communication coach. He is also a teacher of political science, a political and social commentator and a writer of fiction
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