Hello everybody, how are you doing Welcome to today's episode of the vlog
My name is Shaun and I'm a youtuber from Edinburgh in Scotland and in today's episode
We're talking about something a wee bit contentious
But also I think a topic that is pretty important to avoid future confusions because this is a question I get quite a lot
especially from people from America who have visited Scotland and or maybe a little bit surprised about
the differences in the people
They saw in some of the reactions they got when they asked certain questions in Scotland and like this is a fully loaded topic really
Interesting topic actually, it's something I think we should all learn about
I definitely need to learn more about this why things are different and why I think there is this division between the way people from
other places in the world
Especially America see us, and how we react to that and it really builds on from this awesome community that I've started to build with
People from around the world who are interested in my content about Scotland and all that type of stuff
Really really finding this fascinating and I'm just enjoying it immensely
So, thank you so much to all you guys
For joining him with this is great to have you here and listen if you're new, please do not forget
You need to hit the red subscribe button in the bottom corner, then you will be part of the family
You will be part of the conversation going forward and really enjoying this. I'm really looking forward to get to know you guys better
So I found out today right by total surprise
April the month of April 2019 is the month of
Scottish ancestry in America. Is that exactly right Scottish American Heritage Month?
That is pretty cool month of April Scottish American Heritage Month. So
Congratulations, everyone who is part of that and like let's just celebrate this
I'm quite shocked to be honest that such a thing even exists
But when you look into the the websites that are talking about this actually becomes really clear like how big a thing this could be
because apparently they say ten percent of Americans 10 percent of 300 or so million people that's like 30 million people are
Of Scottish heritage that blows my mind. Obviously we've over 5 million people here in Scotland. So right away just in America alone
We've got so many more people who celebrate the Scottish heritage then actually we have here in Scotland. So
pretty cool awesome fact
And there's also some other bizarre facts that these websites talk about for example and in we know this but Uncle Sam apparently is Scottish
His parents came from Greenock. I don't know Uncle Sam is but know he's a big deal
Maybe that is a video I need to do, talking about Uncle Sam who he was where he came from what he did
Because he sounds like an important fellow right. Anyway, that's for another day because in today's vlog
I want to talk specifically about Scottish people and how they react when
Americans specifically come to Scotland and like have certain
expectations about the way we are and operate and stuff like that just to be absolutely Frank and honest with you guys a lot of
People here in Scotland cringe when they hear people, especially from America talking about certain expectations
They have of what Scotland is and who we are, right
And I know it's that really really touchy subject and it could have the potential to offend both
Scottish people and Americans equally, but listen, I think the context is important
We need to talk about this as it's fascinating
I do think the title of my video could be a little bit misleading perhaps because like
Scottish people don't necessarily reject Americans when they come here, that's not true
Actually what they reject is
The kind of image that people from America tend to have a Scotland and Scottish people that is more, is more
rejected and guys what I'm talking about isn't necessarily my opinion because I'm really open to these discussions but a lot of people here are
like that and a lot of you guys who have come here already know this and have experienced that but anyway,
Nonetheless is Scottish Heritage Month in America. I thought to celebrate this amazing fact, right?
I'm going to be giving away a couple of merch items
from my store which contain a lot of
Kind of Scottish American joint cultural themes and I'll be giving away details of how you can enter to win some awesome marriage
Totally for free at the end of the video
Context is so important on this and I think it's also gonna take two videos to do this properly right today
I'm going to explain the background
context of why things are different and why the
Expectations are certainly separate and the actual specific things that Scottish people get annoyed with will be covered in a next episode
There are literally
Hundreds maybe even thousands of Scottish parties and festivals that happen in America every year. I'm going to one of them this year
We're in North Carolina and I can't wait but that is replicated around the states
Especially in places where you've got higher levels of Scottish heritage, right
I'm just so amazed to see all these parties and festivals and I wanted I
Wanted to tune of America and really see all of them and kind of document that in like a major video series one day hopefully
Fingers crossed I will be able to me that happen
but being honest guys
Listen those types of festivals and the way you celebrate
Scottish heritage like that is not celebrated here
Even in the slightest nowhere near in the same fashion that we do have like Highland Games here for example in Scotland even just down
the road and ingleson right right outside Edinburgh
They have one of the biggest ones I think in the world, big Highland Games events
But do Scottish people do people from Edinburgh go?
Not really - Scottish people - They don't get involved in these types of things that often
So, well you guys like these festivals and when you come to Scotland, you'll talk about your clan affiliations and your Tartans
for example
And you expect us to kind of know about these things when in reality
Scottish people have no scooby-do about clans. Most Scottish people and guys
I'm generalizing right now and throughout this video, but most people don't know about the clans
Don't know what their clan tartan and color is or even if it exists, that is a reality
Most people in Scotland don't even know that something because it's not a part of Scottish culture today
most people here if they know about it think it's something that died long ago and establish in the
Context of how that could have happened, right? We have to look at the modern day education system
Things are a little bit different right now 2d as in what is happening in schools at this moment, right?
But when I went to school in the 90s
There's a lot of discrepancy between different schools in areas around Scotland as to who got taught what
But I think I could safely say that a lot of people in Scotland do not know our own history and a lot of that
Is because we simply didn't all get taught in school I grew up in the nineties
like I said, I went to school in Edinburgh in the nineties a Scottish capital and
Like I can say in my school and most of the kids I knew in Edinburgh did not get taught anything about Scottish history whatsoever
So there is a big level of ignorance of Scottish history right here in this country, right? We don't understand that
We don't know it. There are people who studied in different regions of Scotland who were taught more and
individual schools of Scott and I think it depends on teachers or whatever but
Largely, most people in Scotland don't know us today at all. And I put my hand up. I am definitely included in that
Okay, the Battle of Culloden a major massive event that changed the course of Scotland's history
I would say I mean most in Scotland
Wouldn't know anything about Culloden wouldn't know how to place it on a map and I couldn't either right I learned about Culloden
You know how I learned about culloden? because of an American author called Diana Gabaldon wrote about it in her books Outlander
Which became a TV series and that is how I learned about Cullodenand I'd only been there for the first time last year
because of the show, I mean I was quite sad, but that is literally what we're dealing with here in Scotland, but we also got
Apathy a lot of people in Scotland are definitely apathetic when it comes to history and certainly towards Gallic as well
And we already know what the Scottish independence result was. Right? We will touch more an independence movement in a little second
Okay
but given that
Level of support for being British and Britishness right not just today but also in history right here in the central Bell
Edinburgh Glasgow the main population
Areas for Scotland haven't only been unionist nowadays, but if you look way back in history
Edinburgh certainly if you look back at the Jacobite era, it was largely Highlanders who supported that type of movement right and Edinburgh?
we've always been an Edinburgh pretty
Unionist UK take per se and it was the Highlanders who by these movements like the Jacobites for example
Who were the ones who either emigrated from Scotland who or were kicked out, right?
most of the population lives in the central Bell Edinburgh Glasgow but back in those days three
four five hundred years ago
The highlands were thriving right there was a massive population of Highlanders who lived among the clan systems. They farmed learned
It was bustling. It was a really important part of Scottish population, right?
But that is gone all of those people all those communities moved away
emigrated and went off the United States of America in the early days of the colony forming, went to Canada and other places in the
World and even back then in those days people from the central belt, Edinburgh looked upon Highlanders in a derogatory way
I think it'd be very fair to say that so there's always been that division in
Scotland between lowlannders and Highlanders after the Highland Clearances, the Highlands became pretty much deserted
Right, so that culture of Highlanders basically no longer
Existed it went to America it went to Canada
So really the culture that you guys celebrate in North America is essentially that Highland culture which doesn't exist really here anymore guys
Listen, I think Outlander is tremendous series, of course is fictional
Okay
It's not all real but it tells the basic
Principle of the story of Scottish Highlanders during the Jacobite era and how they ended up having to go over
To North America and start a colony. They actually started the colony and Outlander and North Carolina
I would highly recommend any of you guys that haven't watched it to check it out for that reason alone
Okay, I think the interesting thing those people who emigrate those Highlanders who went to North America
Even though they were in a new land they were starting a new life and would never ever return to Scotland
They held on to their traditions their cultures that they had at that time as Highlanders
and it's never left until today and that is a basically a carry on of what you guys in North America are celebrating as
Scottish culture, you know skip forward to today in present time, Scotland
however
And I think our country Scotland know has evolved in a different path to how that culture moved on
That is a clear separation
In the fact that there way people who have Scottish heritage in America celebrate the Scottish culture that that they've always known right it literally
Does not exist in Scotland anymore the modern Scottish culture is so differently
It's almost like two different evolutions of Scottish people and all we kind of tie back
It is similar themes and types of people and all the rest of it
But basically that's what's happening and let me just give you a few
Real-life examples of how that has worked out today what I'm about to tell you guys is not necessarily my own personal beliefs on everything
It's just facts about how things have happened. Okay, so Scottish independence the Scottish independence movement the referendum we had in 2014
Oh boy. No, there is a heavy topic that brings up all kinds of emotions and people from Scotland. Yeah
tread carefully
Basically, that's what I'm gonna have to do
Okay, it has re emerged recently and but I want to talk specifically about what happened in 2014
I think it's safe to say that most people with Scottish heritage = in the world
Especially in North America were probably quite keen on the idea of Scotland becoming an independent country
and in fact
I've received so many comments from people from this community who've said: how come you didn't do
Why did you not do it ? Of course the reasons why Scotland did not vote for independence are many vast and complicated
It's a real complicated issue. Okay, but I want to tell you a couple things that you might not know again for context
Okay
So would I be right in thinking that a large proportion of people who are of Scottish heritage in america
fall under the brackets of being conservative? I mean, I don't know if that's definitely a thing, right?
I'm just judging this based on comments
I receive on YouTube for example
Certainly seems to be the case where Scottish people emigrated to in North America became quite conservative states
And if what I just said is true, then the following really goes to outline the differences between the two cultures
okay conservative people in Scotland are
largely the ones who voted for Scotland to remain as a member of the United Kingdom and if you think that's bizarre, okay?
It's actually titled in the main Conservative Party's name
Okay, the Conservative Party in Scotland, which is a branch of the main Conservative Party in the UK
Which teresa may is head of at the moment their actual title is the Scottish Conservatives and unionist party
So conservatives in Scotland largely voted and are largely backers of the UK and Union and that has always been the case
Meanwhile, the people who voted for Scottish independence
largely speaking in the main political party who backed that are pretty
Left-of-center probably something similar to what you guys might refer to is liberal
It's not a straight cut as that
But that's largely speaking Scotch independence backers were on that side of things and while most Scottish Conservatives backed
Remaining as part of the United Kingdom
There were also more likely to vote for Brexit in Scotland while people who supported Scottish independence are more likely to have voted for
Scotland to remain a member of the EU and actually over 60% of people in Scotland voted to remain in the EU as well
So that is a muddy picture, right?
But it does give you a bit of an idea of how the kind of scenario is here in Scotland at the moment in terms
of our cultural and political makeup
And then if you look at this kind of thought and image of Scotland being the rebel and a rebellious nature
That people always have a Scotland like William Wallace and freedom and Braveheart and all the rest of it
I think Scotland's independence movement is quite keen to be honest with you, to squash that image
Scotland because it could be portrayed as being a bad Look
and the reason for that is if you think about it is
Scotland wanting to be independent because it wants to manage its own affairs or as Scotland wanting to be independent because it has a grudge
Against the UK Britain and wants to avenge it?
I think the latter of these two options is not something Scottish independence backers would really want to be portrayed
It doesn't go down
Well on a media doesn't go down well and you get context in terms of getting New votes and all that kind of stuff
So now that you guys know that it would be really interesting to get your thoughts on what you just heard
Is that something you already understood or is that something that was new to you down in the comments?
I would love to know your thoughts
But I think it definitely does highlight a real difference between Scottish culture the modern Scotland as we know it now and then a Scottish
cultures who were forced off the land
Hundreds of years ago and had to go to new places and basically start new lives
And as I said, I'm making massive generalizations with what I'm saying here
But I think this does get to the heart does get to the point of why there are differences sometimes and how Americans expect Scottish
People to be and how Scottish people are often
Dismissive of the way Americans portray and think of us and all this is kind of like a long waiting conversation
But I think it's definitely necessary as to what we're talking about here the crux of the matter and it's going to lead on nicely
For when I actually talk about you know
the specific things that Americans say that tend to make Scottish people cringe a little bit and I think that's
Americans when you guys come to Scotland, there's a little bit of a difference in
Expectations versus reality you guys have probably seen that meme that goes around internet, right?
Expectations versus reality now. I think that definitely is pertinent in this context. How can we think of a Scottish version of that?
Let's make one right now. Yeah, let's make sense. This will do it
expectations versus reality a Scottish style
im having a laugh here, but this is kind of really what it is
right what people think of Scotland and how we actually are I think modern Scottish people most people here really reject this idea of the
The tartan kilt wearing, in shortbread images of Scotland. I don't really know why that's the case
I don't think people here should reject that
I think we should celebrate and really understand where it comes from
But the problem is and that is the problem that people don't understand where that image comes from
They think it's an invention when actually it's not something that's really been invented now
It's something that is more deeply rooted over hundreds of years
Today's Scottish people like to think of themselves as a kind of a modern society of people
Moving forward and totally rejecting that kind of old images
however, whereas Scottish people and to be honest with you
That's really the crux of the matter this story right there
Is this difference in the way that
Americans think the Scottish people are based on how the Scottish people were and how they were when they emigrated in that culture that's continued
and how modern Scotland is there's a definite clash they are and
Expectations reality but like as I say, I think this is a great shame. I want to learn more about this
I want to get that discussion going I am fascinated by
These kind of Scottish cultures who emigrate hundreds of years ago and what's happened to them now and how you guys celebrate it
I really want to get into that deeply and understand it and I think more people in Scotland need to know this because actually that
Culture while it doesn't always survive that well here in Scotland has survived in other places
So I think instead of these two different ideas of what Scotland is getting further apart
I wanna bring them closer together learn more and open our discussion, right? That's part of this American Heritage Month in April, right?
How amazing is that? What an opportunity is for us to come together and learn more and some thinking right?
I've got a number of merch items in my store that really kind of go with that theme of Scottish and American cultures coming together
I'm gonna give away two t-shirts
To start off with now to celebrate this there might be more and a very very near future
But right now I'm gonna give away a couple of t-shirts and I'm also going to start a brand new kind of mailing list
of people who are interested in this theme in this discussion that we can
Continue and for anybody who joins up with this mailing list down below the link will be there
You'll be automatically entered for the draw to win a couple of t-shirts i'll announce the winners this Sunday
another great way for us to communicate and continue with this discussion
I think anyway guys like I said
This video has two parts because in tomorrow's episode on this theme
I'm going to be talking about the
specifics of the things that Americans who come to Scotland who are of Scottish ancestry might see
They make Scottish people cringe and like I said
This is not my personal belief because I definitely don't follow this line of thinking about
Speaking to a lot of people in Scotland on this people work in tourism etc. I know how it is
So there will be a part two to this video coming up in the very near future on this channel. Anyway guys, thank you
So much for watching
Please do drop your comments down below because I'd love to know what you think about all of this and until the next adventure
I hope you have a good night morning evening afternoon or whatever time idea is wherever you are in the world. Take care