CitizenGeek said:Mutsumi said:To be honest, the past is the past, & people should grow up. Germany has done far worse to England far more recently than England ever did to Ireland, yet we've been mature & moved on; we don't hate Germany or German people. Those in Ireland who are anti-English because of history should grow up & do the same; as no Englishman alive today had any part in whatever events in history some of the Irish are sore about.
You obviously have a pretty narrow, or non-existent, understanding of even basic history. German planes bombed London for many months. It was horrible, yes, but it doesn't even compare to the maltreatment of the Irish by the English that took place over 700 years. I think your kind of attitude riles up Irish people an awful lot; whenever an English person refuses to acknowledge the suffering of the Irish for silly nationalistic reasons. No one in Ireland expects English people to accept responsibility for the horrific cruelty of English aristocrats over the centuries, I don't hold you responsible for Oliver Cromwell's reign of terror on this island, but I do expect you to have some kind of understanding of, and a respect for, the facts. Especially if you are going to have an opinion on the issue.
None of it happened to any person that it alive now, nor was it done by any person alive now. Nor is there anyone alive now who even knew in person either of the above. Simply, it is in the past. The Britain that did mean things to Ireland is long dead, as is the Ireland that was the victim of assorted mean things.