Things That You're Not Supposed to Talk About the Everyone Asks About Anyway

Good Evening Readers!  First, apologies for the lack of updates.  I've been trying and failing to stick to an every-other-day schedule due to a combination of not having things to write about and having too much to do.  I'm trying to work on getting back on the schedule and may be back-updating shortly so look forward to it!

Today, I want to talk about the things you're "not supposed to talk about".  These are topics that tour guides and orientation leaders will generally warn you not to bring up like politics, religion, and the "Old Firm".  Despite this being the case, it's been my experience that everyone, from friends to taxi drivers, will ask you for your completely uninformed opinions on them at times when you're utterly unprepared to give them.

U.S. Politics

Those are Europeans

By far the most prevalent inquiries concern U.S. politics.  I'm not sure why Scottish people are so interested  in U.S. politics but somehow it pervades here claiming newspaper articles and TV programs.  I have gotten asked about my feelings on U.S. politics and President Obama more times while being here then I was ever asked about at home.

 And people here really, REALLY seem to like Obama.  More than many Americans do.  This, despite several minor to moderate things that the Obama administration has done to piss off the British.  I'm sure there are people in Britain who don't like Obama, but by far, most people who ask me about U.S. politics seem to like and support him.  Soon into the conversation, however, the average British citizen gets lost in the swamp that is the U.S. political scene, and we move on to topic #2.

British Politics

The Shiny and New Scottish Parliament

British politics don't seemed to be as focused on religious rhetoric as those on the other side of the Atlantic, but the sheer number of elements involved makes it just as confusing.  Currently, Scotland is going through this thing where they're kind-of-maybe-not-really considering devolution/independence.  I'm not exactly sure of the intricacies of the whole thing, other than the fact that Scotland was once its own country and now isn't.

Being an ignorant American does not prevent anyone from asking my opinions on the whole thing, however.  Basically, right now Scotland is under the authority of the United Kingdom, but has its own parliament which allows Scotland to be autonomous in certain things like education and some public programs.  Somewhere around 10-30% of people believe Scotland should be entirely independent. While it all sounds very nice on paper, finding money for things like free education and healthcare might be difficult in the current economic climate.

The "Old Firm"

Football is not as big of a deal here as people made it out to be.  In fact, I've yet to meet someone from Scotland who is even as interested in football/soccer as my dad is interested in American football.  That being said, the Old Firm rivalry between Glasgow's two major teams - the Rangers and the Celtics - is real enough that 33% of religious-related violence that occurred during football season was directly related to football.  Again, being an ignorant American, I don't know why I would have any opinion on this, but people (mainly tipsy older gentlemen in pubs), continually ask me about it.

The reason you're not supposed to talk about it is this: the Old Firm is one of the biggest football rivalries.  When people talk about football riots in the UK there's a good chance they're referring to Glasgow.  Certain pubs will not allow you in if you're wearing team colors - especially if they're the "wrong" team's colors.  I'm not sure if the teams are as closely intertwined with religion as popular myth makes them out to be (The Rangers are traditionally Protestant and the Celtics traditionally Catholic), but as illustrated above they're often attributed to religious violence.  I haven't yet had anyone hackle me for one opinion or the other yet though.

If I had to choose, I'd be a Rangers "fan".  Green just doesn't look good on me.