SEAN Damer's essay on White Settlers (November 8), which received such gentle criticism from several correspondents today, says more about the need to keep a word processor and thesaurus under control that it does about his subject. When he talks about ''empirical referent'' I for one thought he was referring to someone like David Livingstone in Bechuanaland!
Everyone in Scotland knows what ''white settler'' means and its inference. It is a cry from the heart from some remnants of a once large Highland entity at the sight of rich Sassenachs treating their land as a play park or retirement home.
There are also large numbers of English refugees from the desolation and hopelessness of the multicultural, economic, and social hell of English urban nightmares. They are obviously different in socio-economic class but all the same are just as welcome. Sean Damer equates this antagonism with ''racism''.
''Racism'', as I have said before, is a Humpty Dumpty word. Its original meaning of racial superiority, totally inappropriate as a theme throughout his essay, has all but gone and nothing acceptable has been put in its place.
We have a situation in Scotland whereby tribunals have decided that Scots cannot bring actions for racism against English/British companies since they are deemed to be from the same race as their employees.
We also have the case of a Lothians police officer being allowed to proceed with a complaint of racism in Scotland because he is regarded as being from a different race from the Scots.
Rabbie Burns was lucky it was the 1790s not the 1990s when he wrote ''England in thunder calls - 'The Tyrant's cause is mine' '' (Ode to George Washington, 1794).
There is a crying need for this invasion of English into Scotland to be investigated properly. I use the world ''invasion'' advisedly. Conservative estimates put the numbers of English immigrants at 500,000 in the space of 30 years. That is 10% of Scotland's population. The equivalent would be the whole population of Scotland emigrating to England over a similar period.
The social, economic, and political effects of this influx have not been addressed and contributions like Sean Damer's are unhelpful, to say the least. If anything, his intemperate utterances could exacerbate a potentially dangerous situation.
A correspondent today, Bill Craw, wonders whether Dr Damer's essay was prejudiced by his past and mentions a commission in the UK armed forces and attendance at an English university for two years.
Sean Damer entered Dartmouth Naval College in 1959 as a cadet. By 1960 he was a serving soldier in the army of Southern Rhodesia, protecting the white settlers of that land. Shortly after that he ''left'' the Rhodesian Army and served as a mercenary in the Congo. After being arrested by the UN contingent sent there to restore peace, he went to Edinburgh University to study sociology. Does his ''essay'' now make sense?
Iain Johnstone,
124 Craigentinny Avenue,
Edinburgh.
November 11
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