Oh boy, I can't resist this thread! Two issues, folks:
ISSUE ONE: A good song is a good song, be it green, orange or brindle. And the Irish on both sides of the Question write bloody beautiful songs. Glorifying bloodshed and murder? Yes, I guess it is, if you look at it that way ... the way medals for valour (or valor for my American friends, if I have any left at the end of this), homecoming parades and special pensions/low loan rates for returned soldiers might be said to glorify bloodshed and murder. Anyone getting mad yet? If so, consider issue two ...
ISSUE TWO: Who in a fight is right? Some of you will say "no-one", and good on you ... but do you then turn your back if you see a big brute assaulting a little girl? Maybe I would, but then, I'm small and gutless, and would be wrong to do so. I submit that the "rightness" in a fight entirely depends on your point of view. Consider the Christian ethic of "love thy neighbour (neighbor?)", and then have a look at the history of Christianity. Have a re-read of the words of Bob Dylan's "With God on our Side". Now, tell me who is right and who is wrong.
I sing both Orange and Green songs (mostly Green, as I cut my teeth on The Clancy Brothers and a local wild Irish rebel ... and raised a Protestant, too!) , although I don't have any "kill the bastards" style in my repertoire. I shall continue to sing them, because they are great songs, not because they glorify murder.
Shimbo "The Pacifist" Darktree any overtly
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