Actions Speak Louder (21/08/15)

As a rule, I am very wary of people who constantly refer to themselves as 'socialists', 'nationalists', 'feminists' and so on because I take the view that actions speak louder than words, so why do such individuals feel the need to convince the rest of us that they are what they say there are.

Take Jeremy Corbyn, the London MP was quoted in The Herald newspaper the other day as saying: "I'm a Socialist not a Unionist"

Now the reason for this careful choice of words is that Jeremy is sending a message out to disaffected Labour supporters who voted Yes in last year's referendum on Scottish independence - in the hope that by emphasising his 'socialist' credentials that these Yes voters will give Labour (and Jeremy) a second look.

But none of this cuts any ice with me, I have to say because Jeremy is about as much a real socialist as the Labour administration in North Lanarkshire Council which introduced and subsequently defended blatantly discriminatory pay practices for years.

Or to give another example, Jeremy is about as much a socialist as the union leaders in South Lanarkshire, where the Labour supporting trade unions actively discouraged their members from pursuing equal pay claims against the Labour-run council.  

The emphasis on what Jeremy says he is (a Socialist) is also meant to distract attention from what he says he's not (a Unionist), but that flies in the face of his reported views on Scottish independence and his recent negative comments on the prospect of a second referendum, or 'Neveragaindum' as I described Jeremy's stance on the blog site yesterday.

So I say when people insist on describing themselves in a certain way - as 'socialists, 'nationalists' or even 'feminists' then ask yourself whether they are really just terrible self-publicists.

After all, I imagine Julian Assange refers to himself as an 'internationalist' whereas I think he is more accurately described as a self-obsessed 'narcissist'.