I thought long and hard about writing a list, but in the present climate of hostility towards this site for re-tweeting a tongue-in-cheek photo of people who are perceived to be at the centre of various campaigns against our club over the last few years, I decided it wasn't worth giving the "forever-offended" another reason to be mock-offended.
Let's get one thing clear shall we? Vanguard Bears did not create the so-called 'hit-list' that has been doing the rounds and being compared with other similar lists: http://www.deathlist.net/ and this http://rt.com/news/n...-deathlist-457/
Yes, they can be seen to be in poor taste, but it is black humour, and there are groups of people all over the world who put together celebrity death sweepstakes at the start of each year. Of course something like that was obviously going to be targeted by the "forever-offended" who have asked Police Scotland to investigate it.
Lists like the one in question are commonplace throughout the internet, and some make the one which has caused so much mock-offence look tame by comparison. Compare the list in question to these:
http://londonist.com...reveals_lon.php
http://www.dailymail...an-hitlist.html
http://articles.lati..._1_ira-list-hit
http://www.independe...d-29798824.html
and this:
Now if we are going to look at lists, I'm sure I know which I find more offensive. In fact, I'm sure every single UK citizen would, particularly those who saw members of their families, friends and members of Her Majesty's Armed Forces murdered by cowardly sectarian attacks carried out by the IRA.
I read an article written by a person who calls himself Phil McGillivan or similar earlier. I had already been forewarned that Phil had been tarred with the sectarian brush due to some of his previous scribblings, but even those warnings did not fully prepare me for the type of bigoted, sectarian bile which spewed from his article.
Phil started by writing about a Rangers supporter who has been found guilty of committing a religiously aggravated breach of the peace. I do not condone the type of behaviour displayed by the Rangers supporter in question, and he had long been considered to be a loose cannon, and likely to end up in trouble due to his behaviour, however while claiming that he is the target of a smear campaign, Phil then goes on to use this incident as an excuse to smear every Rangers supporter with the use of derogatory terms such as 'klan', 'fascists', 'underclass' and 'Herrenvolk'.
Phil also refers to the truth as being 'kryptonite for the klan', and that is where his bigotry and sectarian hatred has really blinded him. You see; it is by examining the truth, that the article becomes nothing more than yet another poison-filled sectarian attack on the Rangers support. Perhaps Phil has forgotten who sided with the fascists:
'Former IRA commander and founder of the Fine Gael Party General Eoin O'Duffy became a leader of the fascist 'Blueshirt' organisation in 1932–33. Although Fine Gael were not in power during the war. He was active in creating links between the IRA and German Nazi politicians. The pro-Nazi sympathies and anti-semitism of some Irish politicians during World War II were once airbrushed from history, but Ireland is now beginning to acknowledge them'.
Perhaps Phil needs a history lesson?
Phil is also fond of the term 'underclass', as he seems to use it a lot when describing Rangers supporters. Perhaps Phil is referring to the term 'untermensch'?
Untermensch (German for under man, sub-man, sub-human; plural: Untermenschen) is a term that became infamous when the Nazi ideology used it to describe "inferior people”, such as Communists, Bolsheviks and "the masses from the East," that is Jews, Gypsies and black people to name but a few. Jewish people were to resettle and when that proved impossible be exterminated in Holocaust, while according to 'Generalplan Ost', most of the Slavs from East-Central Europe were destined to be removed from European territory under German control through murder and ethnic cleansing. While the Nazis were inconsistent in the implementation of their policy, its genocidal death toll was in millions of victims.
As we have already seen the IRA were friends of the Nazi's so it shouldn't be a surprise to see Phil using those terms to describe Rangers supporters.
Rather oddly though, Phil's use of the term 'Herrenvolk' to describe us contradicts his use of the word 'underclass'. Again it is a word widely attributed to the Nazis, and I'm beginning to see a pattern emerging here.
'Herrenvolk', or 'the master race' is not a term which could accurately describe Rangers supporters or Protestants in Scotland at this moment in time. In a country where the Roman Catholic minority of the population currently enjoy prominent positions in politics and in the majority of councils, companies and media positions, it is clear that any suggestion that Irish Scots are victims of some kind of religious apartheid is entirely without foundation.
There's another term commonly used by Phil: 'Irish Scots'. Does he mean all Irish Scots, or purely Roman Catholic Irish Scots? You see; I really struggle with Phil's thoughts on this, and what he described as 'the racist famine song'. Is Phil trying to say that the potato famine only killed Roman Catholic Irish people? Is the fact that Phil does not recognise the deaths of thousands of Irish Protestant people, further proof that he thinks Irish Protestants should be removed from history, much like Adolf Hitler wished upon the Jews?
In his article Phil likens the word "Taig" to the use of "the N word" in America and describes it is a racist and sectarian word used to describe Irish Catholics in the North of Ireland and Scotland. Well I will only accept that, as long as Phil accepts that the use of the term 'Hun'; a word he is fond of using to describe people like myself, is equally as racist and sectarian.
After reading a few more of Phil's scribblings, it is clear that his comments, articles, and descriptive terms for Rangers supporters wouldn't be out of place at a Nuremberg Rally.
Phil started his article with the words, 'an attack on a journalist is an attack on journalism', and ends it with, 'an attack on journalism is an attack on democracy'. Perhaps Phil should remember that: but for the people of the United Kingdom, and the soldiers, sailors and airmen of every religious denomination who fought against Nazi Germany, he would not be living in a democratic society where he is free to spew his sectarian hatred, instead he would be living under the rule of a dictatorship.
Actually, reading the content of some of his articles, he would have been right at home!
So, what do I want for Christmas?
Would it be too much to ask that someone within the National Union of Journalists who Phil described as brilliant when supporting Angela Haggerty, would show the same level of support for people like myself: a victim of the sectarian, bigoted and racist poison which Phil seems free to spout with impunity? Is there anyone within the NUJ who has the courage and integrity to address this bigoted man?
Is that too much to ask for?
*** ADDENDUM from Admin ***
For the avoidance of doubt, and as pointed out on a number of previous articles, @VBCommunication is the ONLY official VB Twitter account.
We have not created a “Death List” or "Hit List" - which is the lie being spouted by the many Rangers-haters out there. In particular we would like to single out Scotzine Editor, serial Rangers-hater Andrew Muirhead for his vicious attack on us, twisting what any reasonable person considers an attempt at humour, from an unofficial Twitter account.
Mr Muirhead has a history of distorting the truth when it comes to his favourite obsession - The "offending" image that is currently circulating has been doctored from an original one we used in an article from February of this year. The original article highlighted those people and organisations (the logos of the BBC and ESPN featured on the original graphic - Is it even possible to 'kill' a company?) who, through their actions, we considered to be the enemies of Rangers FC.
The doctoring of our image was carried out by persons unknown, therefore beyond our control, however we would like to point out that our original graphic did not intend to, nor did it achieve any unwarranted attention towards our football club at the time of publication, and that anyone attempting to associate the club with this doctored version now is simply clutching at straws.
It is never our intention to harm our club in any way.
We also take exception to an inaccurate report in today's Daily Record which claims that our group are “Ultra's”. Our membership comprises of many individuals who form a significant part of the wider Rangers family – Vanguard Bears do not claim to be "Ultra's".