Having heard that the home of Peter Lawwell was firebombed last night we can say two things with total clarity; the first is that this was no random crime and the second is that it marks a new low point for all of us who are sick and tired of the escalating levels of hatred. What is it with people who have to immerse themselves in this?
I am not casting blame at any social group.
Anyone who does that is making a mistake but we’re not stupid and can’t pretend to be.
The police are in charge of sorting this out, and no-one should be playing amateur sleuth … the culprits are guilty of destruction of property and endangering life.
I would suggest it’s attempted murder as well and should be investigated as such. On this one, I am entirely confident that Police Scotland will do fine.
What is it that drives some of these people to such acts? Winning leagues? Losing leagues? Do they believe that anything – anything – remotely justifies this?
Whoever did this is a psychopath and a psychopath needs neither a reason nor an excuse. This is raw hatred and that someone sat down and thought about this and then executed it is chilling stuff … we’re in a bad place unless this is halted.
There should be no whatabouttery here, no deflection, no casting about for others to blame … the whole of our country should be, and will be, united in disgust and condemnation.
All except for the cowards responsible, who will keep their heads down as guttersnipes do. If they broadcast this act to a living soul, they should be turned in and jailed.
Peter Lawwell is not just the CEO of Celtic. This is a man with a family, a human being, and whatever disagreements exist or paranoid fantasises warp people’s minds, first and foremost Peter Lawwell is a person deserving of peace and security for himself and those around him … that’s non-negotiable and if you’re sitting out there telling yourself different then you’re poisoned and deranged and even dangerous and you should seek help at once.
I can’t pretend to understand the motivations of such a person.
You can believe Lawwell is the controlling hand of all Scottish football and blame him for what happened to your football club in 2011 without wanting to burn the guy’s house down.
You can think he is accountable for the collapse of this season without wishing him harm … one thing does not follow the other, not in a civilised world.
But it’s clearer more and more every day that we don’t live in a civilised world but one that has become increasingly dangerous … and we really have to get a grip on that.
I don’t understand these people, but I know that the only way to beat them is to remind them that they are alone in it, that the rest of us despise them, that they don’t represent our thinking, that they are outriders and outcasts … today when they look at the reaction to their diabolical deed they should be left in no doubt of that.
Both sides of Glasgow should be, and I’m sure will be, united on this … whoever did that represents no club or cause, and whatever phony justifications they have invented in order to commit an atrocity against fellow human beings … nobody is on their “side”.
Today, we are all Peter Lawwell.