Scotland benefited too

Unionists will tell you that independence supporting Scots have no right to talk badly about the British Empire. That as part of Britain Scotland benefited too from the suffering of others by willingly taking part in the administration and expansion of the British Empire.

These Unionists claim that if the Empire committed atrocities then we must accept that Scotland was a willing participant. So let’s break this claim down.

Of course people born in Scotland took part in the Empire as willing British citizens this is a fact. But if Scotland hadn’t become a colony of the English no Scot would have been eligible to take part in the British Empire. So participation would have been limited to those with dual nationality who choose to live in England or its colonies. I would say its perfectly logical that those people thought of themselves as British above all else don’t you?

These peoples entire identity existed due to the nature of Scotland’s colonisation by the English. It was not solely to rule over us as a distant colony but to eventually merge it into England. Essentially Scotland was to be an area of England with no cultural difference or greater autonomy than Yorkshire or Norfolk. In this form of colonisation you want the locals to participate. To gain from collusion and to eventually give up their unique cultural heritage to embrace yours. People born in Scotland who embraced the British nationality, were doing exactly as the English planned. Victims of colonisation as much as anyone else.

What Unionists will deny when they claim that Scotland benefited too from the horrors of the Empire is this. To have participated you must have proved that you were British. Be it by joining the military or working with the various government departments and companies concerned with administering the Empire. Which British patriot back then would hire someone proclaiming undying loyalty to an independent Scotland above being British?