ayase said:
I guess I may have fallen into my own trap a little here, after saying people should try and understand each other and their points of view... It is hard to empathise with others if you don't understand them, and while I understand the basic reasons people want a 'homeland' I personally don't feel any great need for one, so I don't know what it's like to feel so strongly about it. I do feel strongly that we should be making the world smaller and tearing down barriers. It may sound a little idealistic but then I try to be positive about these things. ::shrugs::
I'm presuming you're English, in which case I accept it would be particularly difficult to understand the importance of a homeland because the English have never had their homeland or their people threatened in the past thousand years or so. But I ask you to consider how you would feel as an English person living in, say, France or something. And knowing that what was once the homeland of your people was now under the control of an Irish empire. And that you couldn't speak your own language any more because it had died out, and that your history was forgotten, etc. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't feel too happy about that hypothetical situation?
The Zionist position I understand from this perspective - As a race the Jews have been put in very weak and powerless positions at various times through history culminating of course in the Holocaust, and I can certainly understand that they never want to be in a position where anything like that can happen again. That, I believe, is why they fight so hard (and some might say rather ruthlessly, but that's a different topic entirely) to secure a place for themselves which they are in total control of. This would be next to impossible without physical territory, granted - But for people who aren't ever likely to suffer that kind of racial or ethnic oppression I don't see why a physical, political entity is needed for them to enjoy that same independence, provided the laws of the nation they inhabit are fair to all. In the UK, the Scots or Welsh aren't treated any differently to the Irish or the English.
I think this is a misrepresentation of Zionism. It has existed for hundreds of years, well before the Holocaust. Even the Jews of Poland (before the 20th century, obviously), who were accepted by the Polish people, were their equals in that country, they still longed for their homeland, Israel, too.
I think you are being overtly idealistic and somewhat naive.
skikes said:
This is exactly what i'm talking about. This is all i've heard from i moved here. It's easy for people who have learned irish history from a text book. I've lived it. I grew up on the shankill, in the heart of troubles, i remember soldiers roaming the streets with rifles. I remember having to leave my home during a riot because there was a bus set on fire outside my house with a bomb inside it. I had an ira bomb bought for me disguised as a ghostbusters car by mum for christmas when i was 2. seriously i **** you not.
But the troubles are just a small, recent part of Irish history. Everything in Irish history does not revolve around the Troubles, obviously. And most people in Ireland understand that these were horrific times in this islands history. But you must surely understand why the Troubles started? Everything was more or less fine between Catholics and Protestants (although it was really all about Ulster Scots and Irish; religion was just a convenient indicator) in the North until the late 60s when Irish people, identified as such by their Catholicism, were denied good housing, good jobs, etc. and were harassed by the RUC. The treatment of Irish people in the North was so bad for a while that the government of the Republic in Dublin was actually considering invading the North to secure the rights of the Irish people there. Just think about that. Irish people were being treated so badly that the government here was actually considering taking on the might of the British Empire, a battle it could never, ever win. So, while we accept the Troubles brought great suffering and pain to a lot of people, there's also an understanding that the resurgent IRA had a reason to exist.
My opinion on this is that no country is exempt from its share atrocities but ireland is so unwilling to draw a line in the sand. They love holding onto this grudge. A grudge which was partly brought on by themselves. At every given opportunity the Irish would conspire against Britian with her enemys incudling but not limited to the Spanish and the Nazis.
It's funny you should accuse anyone of revising history to suit his own biases. How on Earth did the Irish bring the invasion and subjugation by the English, as well as the ensuing 700 years of horrific oppression including the penal laws and culminating in an attempted genocide, on itself? The Irish of the 1100s had not attacked England - they didn't have the resources to even try. Ireland did ally itself with Spain, yes, because the Spanish offered freedom from the oppression of the British. And I really have no idea where you've gotten the idea that Ireland supported Nazi Germany. This country was neutral in the war. The Irish helped both British and German soldiers whose ships had been sunk off the coast of Cork or Kerry. Even during the first world war, when conspiring with Germany would have been much more acceptable, there hung a banner over the GPO that read "
We Serve Neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland". This is the exact same stance of neutrality that Ireland has taken in every single war that's ever been fought since it's independence.
Something i think alot of people forget also is that Ireland doesnt want Northern Ireland back and hasn't for a long time. It would financially cripple this country.
Uh, I don't know where you got that idea (maybe you're only friends with economists?
) but ask any ordinary Irish person what they think of the idea of a united Ireland and they'll tell you it's a good idea.
What? I'm Northern Irish and British from a protestant background.
If you have a Protestant backgound then it's fairly likely that you are Scottish. There's no such thing as a "Northern Irish" person in terms of ethnicity. There are Scottish people and Irish people in Northern Ireland.
Ireland is infamous for its whitewashing of its own history.
Maybe among Unionists, this is true, but AFAIK, I've never heard, ever, of Ireland being infamous for whitewashing it's history.
I'm not going to turn around and say that irish catholics didn't have it rough because they did. But irish history always leaves out when they are the instigators. A good example being a popular story about a young irish lad who was killed by British soldiers. Its always refered to as a tragedy and he's always depicted in murals but what is never mentioned is that he killed 6 soldiers the week before.
You're really clutching at straws now. That incident hardly seems like it's important in the grand scheme of 700 years of Irish history. I also don't know what story you're talking about, so I'd appreciate hearing that name also.
I couldnt tell ya, i dont speak Irish.
Then how do you know that they are English slanders? :s In any case, as someone who is fluent in the language and who speaks it fairly frequently, there are no specifically English-related slanders in the language. Sure, one could construct some kind of slander about the English but I really doubt most Irish people have good enough Irish to do that. Most Irish know how the greetings and perhaps "póg mo thóin" which means "kiss my ass" in Irish. The whole idea that the only Irish people here know is related to slandering the English is absurd.
How much tax payers money goes on getting kids to learn a subject which never going to be any use to them whatsoever.
This isn't the point. I mean, mathematics beyond the basics is largely "useless" too, right? Wrong. Maths helps the mind work logically and enriches our ability to solve all kinds of problems. Learning Irish, too, enriches our minds and helps us connect with our history, etc. While it may not be of any use practically, the benefits of learning the languages are definitely there.
How many people is there in ireland who speak only irish? How many people outside of ireland speak irish?
I would say about 40% of Irish people speak the language fairly well. There are no people living any more that speak only Irish; those people used to live on the islands but have since died out. Irish is actually being taught in universities all over the world, particularly in the U.S. where Irish-Americans are taking the opportunity to connect with their heritage. But it's not just Irish-Americans taking the courses, lots of different kinds of people are. There are lots of documentaries made about the Irish language abroad and they all report an overwhelmingly positive reaction.