We have reached the end of 2016. What are your thoughts on the year? — Sam, Glasgow

I RECALL there was once an episode of the TV programme Red Dwarf that featured a creature known as the Despair Squid. This monster poisoned the show’s protagonists and caused them to experience their own personal hells.

At times, I have felt that 2016 is the result of such a dark hallucination. Indeed, the combined ludicrousness of Brexit and Donald Trump’s election win have made many people question whether any of this is real at all.

Moreover, horrendous terrorist attacks, countless celebrity deaths and the ascendance of 21st century Nazism have made many people wish it wasn’t. Nevertheless, we cannot remain in denial. We must come to terms with the fact that Alan Rickman is dead, Katie Hopkins is thriving and David Cameron is raking it in telling dinner guests how to cripple a nation.

As tempting as it might be to put one’s head in the sand and pretend none of 2016 happened, to do so risks normalising its dreadful events.

In year where we lost so many gifted, kind-hearted and groundbreaking stars, it would be deeply disappointing to see the rise of the idiotic, compassionless regressives continue into 2017. As it stands, we are witnessing the media sugar-coat Nazism by referring to it as the “alt-right”. This appears to have been done in the name of upholding freedom of expression.

However, alt-righters seem to think that free speech means to speak without empathy or intelligence. Being able to say something doesn’t necessarily make it responsible, sympathetic or correct. If you ask me, the alt-right aren’t champions of freedom. They are champions of insensitivity, ignorance and hate. They aren’t rebels, they are chumps.

It is true that we face major threats such as radicalised religion, but to listen to the alt-right on these matters would be like taking swimming lessons from a brick. Fighting extremism with extremism is like pouring gasoline on a fire and expecting it to turn into an iceberg. We cannot allow this mentality to become accepted as normal, no matter how much some aspects of the media would like us to.

As the saying goes, the night is darkest before the dawn. Maybe 2016 is the necessary evil we needed to witness to fully understand what has been bubbling away beneath the surface of our society for a long time.

The enemy is now in the open. No longer are the sexist, racist rantings of insecure bullies limited to the loneliest corners of the internet. Now they have found a home in the Oval Office and the corridors of Westminster. This, combined with an increasingly aggressive Russia, unpredictable acts of terror and tensions with China make 2017 look like a powder keg waiting to explode.

This year has taught us that remaining vigilant to the voices of extremism isn’t just about protecting the future of Scotland, it is about protecting the future of humanity.

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Why are unionists so angry? — @karenandmimi

THERE are different types of angry in this world. There are those who are angry about injustice, bigotry and greed, and then there are those who become angry when such things come under threat.

Unionists are becoming very angry people to be around as much of what they represent – outdated tradition, political lethargy and 20th century finance – are becoming increasingly unpopular.

One thing that has stood out recently is the number of English voters who have become just as disillusioned with Britain as Yes supporters. Brexit has engaged people with politics below the Border in both bad ways and good.

Just like the Better Together campaign showcased how the UK establishment was willing to lie its way to victory, the Leave campaign did an outstanding job in highlighting everything wrong with modern Britain. This has acted as a rallying call to those who wish to stand up for social justice down south, and hopefully we will see an impassioned campaign against the Tories and UKIP take form in 2017.

Unionists, or British nationalists, are desperate to reclaim an age that never existed, one where everybody looked to the Union Jack as a symbol of generosity and peace. This might have been something the upper classes deluded themselves to believe, but to the working people in the streets there has never been any doubt about what this propaganda exercise wishes to achieve – obedience to the gluttonous.

The anger which Scots, and all people with a sense of injustice, feel is a healthy type of anger. It is the type of anger that leads to civic nationalism. Civic nationalism, also known as liberal nationalism, is identified by political philosophers who believe in a non-xenophobic form of nationalism compatible with values of freedom, tolerance, equality and individual rights.

This, by its very definition, is miles away from the British nationalism that is being promoted by the Tories, UKIP, and to some degree, Scottish Labour.

Post-Brexit UK has come to represent the erosion of freedom and human rights, more intolerance, inequality, xenophobia and greed. Those who wish to break up the UK wish to bring an end to these terrible traits and build a future where their own nations can stand for something better.

By supporting The National you are supporting civic nationalism, and that is something you should be proud of.