The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #16543 Message #157682
Posted By: Brendy
03-Jan-00 - 10:41 PM
Thread Name: Bobby Sands
Subject: RE: Bobby Sands
You haven't really just got it to yourselves Richard, and truth be known you did say earlier on that you were going to be too busy to continue this discussion.
But WIPO and emergent nations notwithstanding, this thread was about Bobby Sands.
Debating, and the posession of awards for it does not make your argument any more valid.
Further up this page - way up there somewhere, you said that you didn't hold up much hope for the Peace process, and we know that you do not recognise the legitimacy of the IRA.
Give us your solution Richard. Tell us how you would manage it.
There is one fundemental weakness in your argument. You believe it too much. I'm sure you're an intelligent bloke (and I'm not being condescending here), you speak and think, for the most part, intelligently.
But sometimes black is white, and conditioning to one point of view makes it even more difficult to accept the arguments of others.
Too many English people feel that they have to support the actions of their govts. In these days of compensation being paid to survivors of the Haulocaust, The German and Japanese govts. apologising for their conduct in WW2, I think the psychological damage that would be done to ones sense of patriotism and country would be a very deep one if the English govt. had to make similar compensation to India, for example. Or Bangladesh maybe, where the overcultivation of the tea plant is one of the main reasons why the country is gradually washing out into the Bay of Bengal
Don't judge us Richard, Dave, Bev, and others. We are only playing by the rules that were laid down for us, not by you personally, but by Kings and govts. down through the centuries.
Please don't feel as if you have to defend something which you had no part in instigating. But tell me one thing. Do you think it was right that England had such a progressive foreign policy?. If you answer yes to that, well, we don't have too much to talk about then on issues such as these.
If on the other hand you disagree, well then lets take that a bit further. If England had not converted God into a bullet and shot him into the hearts of men and women, maybe we wouldn't have half the wars in the world as it is. Don't you see that the IRA is England's legacy. You (metaphorically) gave birth to that monster.
Live with it. No. Do something about it. Saying that England never 'declared' war on the North must be one of the most ill-informed statements so far this millenium.
What have the SAS been doing then crawling aroung our back garden then?. Why did the RUC beat the shit out of the folks at Burntollet, the Paras kill them in Derry, the 'death squads' of the RUC/UVF set up 'road blocks' dressed as policemen. Come on Richard what were they doing?
The difference between the IRA and the likes of the UVF etc. is that the UVF etc. are committed to the extermination of the Catholic population. The IRA have made no such targets of the Protestants, nor the English peole in general people. Imagine if the IRA adopted those tactics as an integral part of their cause.
Try and look it a wee bit from our side. I want peace there like everyone else who has been touched by our 'normality', but I also want justice.
Please let this one go, because any other discussion on this matter will not solve anything, as long as an un-willingness to accept that the other's argument has some validity exists. I hope I have enticed you into the idea of re-evaluating your angle on all of this. Is there any possibility that your government, and their masters, have been feeding the English people dis-information for years? If you accept that, then there are grounds for reasonable doubt. Breandán