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The Celtic Family Has Enemies. Don’t Ever Forget They Are Out There.

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Yesterday, CQN published a thank you article that would have gone largely un-noticed by many of our fans. It was to inform those who donated money to the Resolution 12 cause of where that money went to. As most regular readers know, it was raised for placing ads in The Guardian, who accepted the text, lawyered it and then turned it down. They then lied about the process and the submission, which asked more questions than it answered and caused a lot of anger, but ultimately helped give the campaign some free PR.

Yesterday’s announcement was important for two reasons.

First, it was to let fans know that their cash went to a wonderful cause. The £7900 that was left in surplus went to the Mary’s Meals project in Africa, where it has helped feed hundreds of children in Ebola ravaged Liberia. This is the Celtic Family, again, making a huge difference to people’s lives and doing great things at home and abroad.

So, that was the main reason for the piece, and congratulations to CQN and the Requisitioners for finding such a life-changing use for the cash. Beautiful.

But there was another good reason for writing the article yesterday, and not even an acknowledged one, kind of unspoken, and it’s that I want to talk with you about for a little bit, because it bears its own scrutiny. The public announcement finally put to bed a series of internet rumours – or to call them what they are; outright lies – which have been going around of late, and for a few months now.

This Family largely ignored them, realising their genesis, but those lies could have done real damage and hurt real people. I would have tackled those lies before now, but people were of the mind to let this run its course first, and not give additional publicity to what was nothing more than some shit stirring and muck raking, by people who appear to have more time on their hands than those with day jobs should. There’s still a suspicion that they do so “on the clock.”

This particular set of stories suggested that there was some kind of police investigation going on in relation to the money; in short, that it wasn’t accounted for and someone had reported that. It was utter nonsense, as yesterday’s article proves, but it’s not the veracity of the claim that should concern us; it’s that it was made in the first place.

I have lots of friends in the blogosphere, some who might surprise you. Some of us chat frequently, with others it’s the exchange of an odd email from time to time. We keep an eye on each other’s work. We borrow stories, help chase leads, pull on threads and try to make sense out of a swirl of information. Some of it we can use, some of it we can’t. Some of it we can prove, some of it we cannot. We can’t write everything, and there are things we choose not to.

For the most part, we all operate according to a few golden rules.

They aren’t written down anywhere, but we understand them to be inviolate.

One of those is that we don’t stir up the lynch mobs. We don’t target individuals. Even those who we frequently write about – this week it’s Joey Barton, of course – are subjected only to the same scrutiny as those in the media should give them. We don’t publish personal information.

We don’t give out details which could get people hurt.

Barton is in the public eye. So are the hacks and those key personnel at clubs. Certain supporters have made themselves media stars. We can expose their hypocrisy if they deserve it. But we do not target “civilians”, which is to say we keep our focus where it belongs, and not on anyone we don’t like who has a twitter account.

Broadly speaking there are two types of blogger, much as there are two types of journalist.

For all I slate the likes of Keith Jackson and co, I know which category of journalist they are and it’s not the one which writes muck-raking scandal and “take down” articles, such as those which were the province of Gawker and other such sites.

Likewise, no matter my issues with guys on sites across town (and not a few of our own) it’s not simply unprofessional to use blogs to settle personal scores and attack named individuals but it’s also a bit creepy and dangerously reckless at best. Even when it sticks to pure fact, it is also borderline illegal, akin to cyberstalking, and I for one wouldn’t hesitate to test the limits of the law if I had to put up with what people I know have.

I am a passionate advocate of free speech, but I’ve always recognised that there are people out there who will abuse that for all they think they can get away with. But who knew that tweeting about a football club and its soap opera goings on could get you “targeted” by some faceless wonder? That it would result in your name, picture, job and even address being published on some website, and deranged people encouraged to “drop by and say hello”?

These people are out there, toiling away in the dark, putting together “dossiers” and “enemies lists”, activity not far shy of that which links political fanatics, terrorists and spree killers. They are deeply disturbed, of course, and dangerous, because although most of them are gutless creatures they know their audience contains a lot of folk who aren’t, who do believe the blade, the bomb and the bullet count as articles of modern discourse.

Just this week, the prominent Celtic blogger, writer and film-maker Paul Larkin received a visit from the police who told him they had received information suggesting there was a credible threat to his life; this is a stunning example of how bad things are, and this kind of thing is encouraged and fed and watered by the people I’m talking about.

Johnjames, who this site and Fields have lauded for the work he’s doing on Dave King was another targeted by the Faceless Wonders, and this one, taking sinister to new and depraved levels, involved a threat to his “sister”, who turned out to be a woman not even related to him.

What he and Paul have had to put up with … this isn’t some goons on Twitter sending out abuse.

This is the Real Deal, inspired by those out there who would try to shut up every dissenting voice.

Friends in Celtic, I have no intention of winding my neck in or backing off from doing what I do best; telling it as I see it and writing the kind of stuff the media won’t and I wouldn’t ask that any of you do it either. Keep on tweeting and keep on spreading the inconvenient truth … but watch yourselves out there on the shop floor. Mind your P’s and Q’s and every word you say; don’t give these people anything they can use. I am loathe to write this, but try to protect yourselves as best you can by limiting the amount of your personal information that is out there.

And keep an eye on the lies.

The scum who are writing blogs and “naming names” are only the tip of the iceberg; under the surface are the really dangerous people, the ones who are sophisticated and smart and motivated by more than just blind hate. Their objective is nothing less than to divide us, to fracture this family, to alienate its leaders and its spokesmen by whatever means they can.

The CQN lie was manufactured for that very purpose, as a weapon, as an attempt to discredit the people behind one of the most important supporter led campaigns in the history of the Scottish game. It failed, partly because it didn’t gain the traction the authors were hoping for, and partly because those guys have built up enough goodwill that even those who heard the stories weren’t even remotely convinced by them.

But this story – and the death threats to bloggers – takes us into new, darker territory … and you get the impression that it’s just the start.

The truth has enemies, and this Family has enemies. Don’t ever forget they are out there.

If we’re going to see them off we need to stick together. Keep the faith with each other and remember how we got here; when the chips were down this Family fought for what was important. Our revolution toppled a board and made us the strongest club in the land.

Part of their hate for us comes from knowing they failed to do the same when their time came.

Never let them forget that either.

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