Hypocrisy and cultural appropriation
This week Whoopi Goldberg and her colleagues on MSNBC's the View, gave Candidate Tim Waltz a 'Dad in Plaid' shirt ... but by their own standards this was cultural appropriation
The crest of Clan Gregor, the motto translates as ‘Royal are my people’
This week on the MSNBC daytime chat show ‘The View’ the ladies who host the show gave American Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Waltz a gift. This was a tartan (plaid for Americans) shirt with The View’s logo on the breast and ‘Dad in Plaid’ on the back.
Tim Walz is presented with a ‘Dad in Plaid’ Shirt in MacGregor Tartan.
It got my attention because the tartan in question was what is known as MacGregor Red and Black. Which just so happens to be our family tartan. I raised an eyebrow because The View is a highly partisan show and is open and unapologetic about its opposition to the GOP and especially Trump. It is extremely woke and intersectional victimhood narratives feature loudly. In the past this has included host Whoopi Goldberg criticising white people who wear braids in their hair of ‘cultural appropriation’ of a black hairstyle.
So what is ‘cultural appropriation’. Well, Encyclopedia Britannica defines it thus:
“cultural appropriation, adoption of certain language, behavior, clothing, or tradition belonging to a minority culture or social group by a dominant culture or group in a way that is exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical.“
Now my personal view on ‘cultural appropriation’ is that it is bollocks, a trope dreamt up by an increasingly censorious and authoritarian ‘progressive’ left to give it power over others, another tool to drive the endless victimhood narrative.
However, this incident made me wonder if we should hold Ms Goldberg and her colleagues to the same standards they demand for others. For by using our family tartan in this way was Ms Goldberg not committing cultural appropriation by her own, exacting standards. She certainly was by the definition in Britannica.
First, a bit about tartans and Clan Gregor.
Tartans emerged in the late 18th C as peculiar to a particular Scottish Clan. The ‘set’ or patten of the plaid and the colour combination which had previously been associated with geographical regions of Scotland became increasingly associated with the Clan living in that geographical region. By the early 19th C these tartans were firmly associated with specific Clans.
‘Clans’ are essentially tribes and the Clan system emerged in the late middle ages as an extension of the previous tribal system of the indigenous inhabitants of what we now call Scotland. Uniting people under a Clan Chief, who essentially followed a blend of the ancient tribal system and the feudal system in his relations with members of the Clan. In return for their tenancy on his lands, the Clans folk would pay rent in goods, cash and military service. This last was very important in what was a warlike society. Some of these Clans were very powerful indeed, for example, until 1500 the entire North West of Scotland and the Isles was ruled by The Lord of The Isles, the Chief of Clan Donald (MacDonald). De Jure he was a subject of the King of Scots but De Facto he was an independent ruler of the whole area enforced by most powerful standing naval force in the British Isles for much of the previous 800 years. The Clans fought for the King when asked, but mostly fought each other, feuding being one of the main interests of us Celts, (anyone with Celtic family will be nodding sagely at this point).
The Clan system persisted until 1746 when Charles Edward Stewart, grandson of the deposed King James VII of Scotland and II of England, was defeated at Culloden Moor by his cousin, the Hanoverian Prince, The Duke of Cumberland. Most of Charles’s force consisted of Clansmen, answering the Firey Cross (the traditional method of summoning the Clan to war). Some did willingly but many did so under the threat of eviction by their Chief and ostracisation by their Clan, literally a death sentence for the family who would be cast out, losing the protection of the Clan. Involvement in the Jacobite Cause of the 17th and 18th Century destroyed the Clan system in Scotland, a way of life that had persisted for over a thousand years and was to eventually to lead to the depopulation of the Highlands in the late 18th and early 19th C in what became known as the Highland Clearances where the indigenous population was turned off their land to be replaced by sheep. The people either fled to the coast and became fishermen, resettled in the Lowlands or England and many of them emigrated to America, Australia and elsewhere, seeding the Scottish diaspora which is now so prevalent across the world and is probably the reason why the ladies on The View didn’t consider their hypocrisy when handing Govenor Waltz that shirt.
The Clans were brutally repressed after Culloden, the British Government, fed up with the Chiefs being a law unto themselves, passed a series of laws banning the wearing of tartan, the playing of the bagpipes, and the bearing of arms and all other signs of Highland culture. The Clan system was to be destroyed. Those who resisted were arrested, hanged or transported to the American and Caribbean colonies where they were forced into indentured service. Even Clans loyal to the Crown were subject to the laws.
From a ‘cultural appropriation’ perspective exploiting a traditional form of clothing from a culture that was oppressed for a cheap political stunt is bad enough. But it is considerably worse to appropriate a MacGregor tartan, because few tribes were ever persecuted and oppressed to the extent of Clan Gregor.
The Children of the Mist: Clan Gregor.
The history of Clan Gregor is long and tragic. Gregor was one of the sons of the first King to unite the Kingdom of the Picts and the Kingdom of the Scots: Kenneth MacAlpin (d.850). Gregor was appointed Standard Bearer to the King and his sons and grandsons became known as the MacGregors (Mac is a patronymic). As one of the ancient Celtic ‘Royal’ Clans – those founded by a son of Kenneth, the Gregoraich went on to become a powerful Clan with their lands across the central Highlands. They continued to be a dominant and powerful clan until the Davidian Revolution under King David I in the first half of the 12th C. David brought Scotland kicking and screaming into the European Middle Ages reforming the Church, building the first Towns (Burghs), and most notoriously, adopting the Feudal system and introducing Anglo-Norman government which centered power on the monarch. To enforce this he invited Norman adventurers from England and Normandy to settle in Scotland, granting them the lands of those of the indigenous aristocracy who resisted his policy. The Stewards, Ramsays, Umphravilles and De Brus (Bruces) all came to Scotland bringing that distinctive Norman from of government, where others did the work and they did the fighting and partying.
The MacGregors were too powerful for David to cross and given most of the Norman incomers were granted lands in the Lowlands, this wasn’t an issue for them, During the Scottish Civil War in the early 1300s they fought for Robert Bruce, who would become victor and fought for him at Bannockburn. The relationship between the De Brus family and the MacGregors was always strained as most of Bruce’s opponents were of the old Celtic aristocracy whereas all his allies were from Norman descent. However, oil was poured on the fire when Bruce granted Neil Campbell, one of his knights, strategically important lands on Loch Awe, right in the middle of MacGregor territory.
Over the next 200 years Clan Gregor steadily lost its lands to increasingly rapacious Campbells who had perfected the art of exploiting Royal favour and of strategic dynastic marriage. Many of the lands were lost as dowries or through inheritance and sometimes through the sword. By the 1500s Clan Gregor was a shadow of what it has been and by the 1560s they were under extreme political and financial pressure, having lost almost all of their lands to the Campbells of Glenorchy, many members of Clan Gregor were forced into theft and crime to survive. Homeless and living in the forests, hey became known as ‘The Children of the Mist’ and they received support from some other Clans, notably the Lamonts of Cowal and the MacDonalds. However, their reputation as thieves and beggars became increasingly universal especially in the Lowlands.
Archibald “The Grim”, Earl of Argyll and Chief of Clan Campbell was tasked by the Edinburgh government with keeping the landless MacGregors under control and he did this with a combination of charm, threat and violence. The Campbells of Glenorchy continued to apply the screw, having seized almost all MacGregor lands, in 1570 they had captured and executed the Chief, MacGregor of Glenstrae, his brother and older son. Alasdair MacGregor, a younger son inherited the Chiefdom and, his mother being a Campbell of Glenlyon, The Earl of Argyll was keen to embrace young Alasdair into the Campbell fold and solve the ‘problem’ of the MacGregors once and for all.
However, many in Clan Gregor were furious over the injustice that the Stewart Kings had inflicted on the Clan over 200 years. They were proud, indignant and despised the Campbells for their perfidy they certainly did not want their young Chief under in thrall to a Campbell, Things came to a head when in 1590 the King’s Forester, John Drummond caught some MacGregors poaching near Balquidder and hanged them all without trial. In revenge a group of young MacGregors seized Drummond, decapitated him and placed his head on the altar of the Kirk at Balquidder. King James VI was furious but he forgave the MacGregors.
By 1602 Archibald The Grim had clearly had enough of trying to win his young relative over to the Campbell faction and decided a more drastic solution was required. Thus the young Chief Alasdair MacGregor was to fall victim of political machinations that were to have disastrous consequences for the clan and my family.
An opportunity for Archibald’s plot soon emerged. Following an old grievance, members of Clan Colquhoun refused the right of hospitality to two MacGregors during a storm. This was deeply insulting as the custom of hospitality was deeply ingrained in Highland culture and was to be extended to enemies, when asked, both parties respecting a sacred truce for the duration of the stay. This is fairly common in societies where there are few inns and where you can die of exposure in the winter. Turning away the two MacGregor men sought shelter in a ruined barn nearby, they stole and killed a sheep to eat. They were found by the Colquhouns who had turned them away in their need and promptly hanged.
Alasdair MacGregor was furious but at a loss what to do, he wasn’t popular at court. With his wily eye on the remaining MacGregor Lands the Chief of Clan Campbell, the Earl of Argyll Archibald The Grim and “Black” Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy, (whose father had executed Alastair’s) Clan Campbell powerbroker and a favourite of the Queen; urged young Alasdair MacGregor to take revenge on the Colquhouns. However, the Campbells as always were playing a double game. Black Duncan had been pouring poison into the ear of King James VI for some time. The Gregoraich were painted as villainous, impoverished, desperate men – thieves and scoundrels and – most appalling for James, Roman Catholics at a time when James was positioning himself to inherit the throne of England from Elizabeth I. James had secretly commissioned Clan Colqhoun to suppress the MacGregors for once and for all, breaking their remaining power.
The Archibald The Grim and Black Duncan Campbell knew about the commission and they saw their opportunity. Despite warnings from senior MacGregor advisors, Alasdair looked to Archibald for advice, Black Duncan and Archibald urged Alasdair to take revenge on the Colquhouns. So, in 1603 Alasdair led his 400 men into Colquhoun land at Glen Fruin. They were confronted by a force of Colquhouns numbering 500 foot and 300 horse. Despite the 2-1 odds Alasdair and the MacGregors were victorious.
They gallantly won the battle but they went on to lose the war. As Archibald the Grim had plotted, King James VI was furious. Here he was, about to inherit the Kingdom of England and at home, there was feuding and chaos between his subjects. He must have been very conscious of the impression this would make in England and one wonders if Elizabeth’s advisors like Robert Cecil had any hand in urging James to come down hard. Certainly, Archibald the Grim and Black Duncan saw the union of the Crowns as a huge opportunity to gain influence in England and to cement their power, on behalf of the absent King of course, in Scotland.
So James Proscribed the Clan. All members of Clan Gregor were outlawed with immediate effect. Any remaining lands and property were to be seized. The mere use of the names ‘Gregor’ and ‘MacGregor’ were to be banned, adult male members of the Clan could be killed on sight for a 100 merk reward. Female MacGregors and children were to be seized and sold into slavery in the Caribbean, and no, this wasn’t ‘chattel’ slavery, this was the sugar plantations. Female MacGregors were to be branded with a key on the cheek so they could be immediately identified.
The Clan was scattered as the proscription came into force, MacGregors went into hiding and my family changed their name to Palmer, several family members were unlucky and were seized and sold into slavery.
Desperate, Alasdair turned to Archibald the Grim once again to ask his advice. By this time King James was in London ruling his new Kingdom. Archibald urged young Alasdair to take eleven of his most senior men with him and travel in peace to London to throw himself on James’s mercy. He pointed out that James was a reasonable man and Alasdair would win him around with patience. After all, hadn’t James already forgiven him for Drummond once before?
Alasdair left hiding and, with his closest advisors including another member of my family, the Clan Tutor (advisor to the Chief) they headed to London. Unprotected by the swords of his Clan, Alasdair was arrested by English soldiers at Berwick. They had been tipped off by Archibald The Grim and, with the entire leadership of Clan Gregor, Alasdair was taken, in chains to Edinburgh.
What followed was a farce of a trial and it ended on the 20th January 1604, as the snow whirled around the Merkat Cross on the High Street in Edinburgh, Alasdair Ruadh MacGregor of Glenstrae, 11th Chief of Clan Gregor was hanged with all eleven of his companions, including my ancestor.
What followed was brutal oppression. James fully intended to stamp out the Clan entirely. Over the next few years over 100 MacGregor men were hunted to their deaths, shot or hanged. Over the next 50 years, including the reign of Charles I and The Commonwealth, further proscriptions were passed including a notorious instruction to transport all MacGregor children over the age of 7 to Ireland, any who returned were to be hanged. It was strictly forbidden to have any dealings with a MacGregor and anyone who helped them in any way would be committing a serious offence. Despite all this, despite their appalling treatment at the hands of the Stewarts, the MacGregors fought for Charles I in the Civil Wars, possibly because the hated Campbells were on the other side. Charles II lifted the proscription as a reward but James II and VII reinstated it. The MacGregors fought for the Old Pretender and the Young Pretender during the Jacobite rebellions. Again, why they would support the Stewarts is anyone’s guess but I suspect it had to do with rage against the Campbells, who again fought for the winning side.
The proscription lasted until 1783 when it was eventually repealed mostly due to the efforts of my father’s ancestor Major John Boich MacGregor (who went by the name ‘Drummond’) and who was a favourite of the Prince Regent. Sir Walter Scott helped with the publication of Rob Roy (my 10th Great Grandfather) in 1817 and by the middle of the 19th Century, we were almost respectable again.
The legacy of the proscription persists to this day, MacGregors are scattered all over the world often living in ignorance of their heritage and origins. Their inheritance and their lands were seized by powerful men with nefarious means. Men were murderer, women and children perished in the irons of slaves. After the proscription many didn’t change their names back to MacGregor, having been their new names for nearly 200 years and many many more had forgotten that they ever were Gregoraich, the Children of the Mist.
So perhaps you can understand why I was a ever so slightly irked to see Whoopi and the Girls, who are ever so quick to point the finger about ‘cultural appropriation’ at others, handing around my family tartan as part of a grubby political stunt on American daytime television. If they wanted to use the tartan, they should have sought permission from the current Chief, Malcolm and it would probably have been given.
So let’s judge the cultural appropriation:
1/ adoption of certain language, behavior, clothing, or tradition belonging to a minority culture (in particular an oppressed minority culture) – Check!
2/ by a dominant group? Check – millionairesses on a major TV Network
3/ exploitative, disrespectful, or stereotypical. – Check for exploitative and disrespectful
I must again stress, that I do not believe this is cultural appropriation – I don’t believe cultural appropriation exists and if people do appropriate culture they’re usually doing it because they are interested in, admire or are passionate about that culture. What I am doing here is judging The View by their own standards because Ms Goldberg has already been quick to accuse others of cultural appropriation.
I will always call out double standards. But one question still persists:
Why is it that the respect to our indigenous culture is not extended to us, why is the persecution and oppression many groups within the history of our islands never acknowledged by those who are so desperate to accuse us of the same? Earlier this week I pointed out the Archbishop of Canterbury doing public penance for his slave owning ancestors to justify his implementation of radical critical race theory policies within the Church of England. I wonder if any of the slaves he owned were descendants of the MacGregor slaves who died in the sugar plantations?