The WSJ (USA edition) is one of the most politically conservative papers in the world. Under the heading "Orange Makes Irish Catholics See Red" there are four letters, one reads:

My mother grew up in a mixed village in Col Derry, N.I., in the 1940's and remembers that for three weeks each July, her Protestant neighbors did not speak to Catholic neighbors, with whom they normally lived peacefully, Protestant kids were not allowed to play with Catholic kids as their parents prepared, their society prepared and their government prepared for the annual"celebration" of what is now more than 300 years of hatred.

The local celebration of "the glorious 12th" was capped off by bonfires and the village police sergeant riding a large horse and carrying a bull whip at the head of the local Orange Order parade down Main Street. Your writer, Mr. Pollock, is having difficulty grasping that someone would want to reroute one of these hate parades. There is no point in trying to preserve a horrible anachronism that has divided neighbors and brought centuries of persecution and killing. (Massachusetts)

There are three more similarly strong letters (shortened versions)

Another asks,....... "Mr. Pollock insinuates that the Protestant-Only Oramge Order parades (which celebrate the defeat of Catholics nearly 400 years ago) should be allowed to pass through Catholic neighborhoods because they have since 1807. Because something is a tradition does not make it right. Mr. Pollock states that "[claims that they (Catholics) actually have something to fear from a bunch of old men playing the flute and banging an occasional drum are just silly." Well, maybe the Catholic populace does not like the drunken parader passing by the houses yelling and calling the Catholic women "whores and the men "taigs" (akin to the American "n-word"). Whoever doesn't want this is silly? (Illinois)

A third states,...."The gun will be removed from Irish politics when the reasons for the guns are removed. This is commonsense and the goal and purpose of the GFA." (Georgia)

The fourth, "Here are a few facts: The IRA has held a cease-fire for more than two years, the Loyalists/Unionists have not. The march by the Orange Order is not peaceful. As for Tony Blair trying to "bully" the Ulster Unionist Party, there is precious little sympathy for those who have blocked the democratics process, especially with the violent means displayed thus far by the Orange Order. (Minnsota)

So publishing these letters make the WSJ "pro Republican"

???

let's boycott

Wall Street Journal, Friday July 16, 1999
Letters to the Editor