Two Telling comments? The Answer Perhaps?

[Nathan]

Very interesting last few posts indeed. This thread and the other about wearing the kilt in Scotland have made me think a lot of about diaspora Scots travelling to Scotland and their internal motivations as well. It seems to me that what might not be understood by locals is that many of these diaspora Scots aren't just "living the dream" and hoping to find the Scotland portrayed on biscuit tins, I would posit that a good number of them are actually on something of a pilgrimage. I'm sure the locals of Rome, Jerusalem or Mecca have their own opinions of the throngs of people who revere their home cities and flood in every year to pay homage.

While Scotland is not a Religious site per se (Iona etc... aside); when people I know discuss visiting Scotland, it is about retracing the footsteps of their ancestors, visiting the battlefields where family members fell and paying respect to the land that birthed their ancestors and where these forefathers established their clans/families. It is about imagining what life must have been like for those cleared from the land. For some it's about digging into records and dealing with genealogists on the ground to identify more information about these ancestors that they can pass on to their own children. One person I know of flies to Glencoe every year to maintain the grave sites of his relatives.

For some who live in Scotland, this can sound very fanciful and romantic but I think many people the world over understand maintaining a connection with the souls of our forefathers and I think there is an almost innate desire in humans to figure out who they are and from whence they came.

Scotland may be a modern industrial economy with Universities, pop bands, sports teams, modern art, inventors etc... but it cannot be completely divorced from its history. The castles, ruins and cairns still stand, the heather still grows, the pipes can still be heard and shortbread is still pretty tasty, really. The Highlands are still breathtaking, they are still making tweed on Harris, lairds still laird and crofters still croft.

I can identify somewhat with the culture cringe. While it's not exactly parallel, I know some Cape Bretoners from our industrial area who are angry that the traditional, largely rural, Gaelic culture is what gets all of the attention. We have rock bands, jazz groups and even a small hip hop scene, but in the tourist magazines it's all ceilidhs and fiddles. This makes some locals for whom this is not their daily reality resentful. Some even mock the traditional culture as backward.

I love the traditional culture and see no conflict between the two so I have no problem with the tourist industry explaining what makes us different and worth visiting. When I encounter our staunch modernists, I remind them that everywhere has the internet, an indie rock scene and fast food restaurants but not everywhere has these special things that we have.

Perhaps Scotland will eventually come to the same conclusion that I have and that this website's existence proves; that being modern and traditional are not mutually exclusive.