Was Tartan ever actually banned?

[Slag101]

I know a lot folks subscribe to the John Ford School of history -- "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend" -- while I love John Ford, as a historian, I fight against that way of thinking everyday.

T.

That statement wasn't meant to teach a way of thinking, it was an artistic reflection of the reality of the world. John Ford used that line to represent that people want "legends" and what they symbolize. The average person doesn't want the real history behind William Wallace, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, etc. To quote yet another great movie that made the same point (My Favorite Year, starring Peter O'Toole), "People don't want the real Alan Swan, they want their Alan Swan larger than life, they want him as big as he comes."

This explains the reason why you have encountered resistance to the truth behind the Kirkin O the Tartans. I bet most people, if you really sit down with them, will admit that the legend is BS, but they like the story, and if you tell them the true story, they will say it is nice that "we" helped people out, but after all that, talk to them the next time and they will still be talking about the legend. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I love history too, but I don't believe in teaching it to people, who don't want to learn it, at gun point.