Orange Order Marchin' season (wave that union jack!)

An.fear.bocht

The following text is a verbose rant on the orange order's marching season (also known as summer time to the rest of the Northern hemisphere of earth) The following account contains strong opinions, do not read it is you are easily upset by headstrong eijits.


Well, it's now the 7th of July... only a few days left until the big ole unionist bonfires are set alight... God oh the excitement!

The thing i love most about the old "bonies" is what they represent.. The burning of a tricolour and/or effigy of the pope, it's so hopeful and inclusive!

Well this year has been fairly quiet so far.. A few upsets over flags etc...
Upsets over flags?!

Q-- But why? Aren't we (that being the people of the north of ireland) all proud of our national heritage, and don't we all want to celebrate that by the flying of union jacks from every lampost?!

A-- Well i'm quite sure we would be but, it seems that some crazy folk have it in their heads that they're not british!

Q-- WHAT!? :eek: To hell with these madmen! If they are not willing to celebrate their clear british heritage, then they must keep quiet whilst the rest of the good people of this british land do so....


And that's why i'll be in Sligo in a couple of days.
I don't like to seem 'stuck in the past'.. But you see the main problem is... that the north is stuck in a timewarp.. The cities move on, houses get broadband, there seems to be progress - but under it all things remain essentially unsettled, unresolved and sore.

But it's ok, because now they have a solution (is it foolproof, of course it is!)

As you might expect the solution is to give the orange men a 100,000quid to make the 12th more "inclusive" - making a parade which celebrates the 'vanquishing' of catholicism from ireland... yes inclusivity comes gratis with that sorta thing!

- [reconstruction of the possible conv. of the brit government, starring Tony blair (TB) and Peter hain the Secretary for N Ireland (P)]

TB- i say petey, what's the haps in Northern ireland, have they all started waving their flags yet, I say they've got a great sense of british pride, i mean especially considering they live over in ireland..

P- yep tony, things sure are good...
*phone rings*
Hello?... What? Leaving you say? But where for?.. Why? WHAT?...

TB- what is it petey?

P- well prime minister, it seems... *gulp* that everyone who has the means has left northern ireland for... the south!

TB - What? why would they do that?

P - we just don't know, apparently they feel threatened by the "overtly sectarian" nature of the orange parades!

TB- PIFFLE! I say give that orange order 100,000 pounds and that ought to sort those conchy irlanders out!

ETC.. To be perfectly honest, i'd be suprised to find out if that wasn't exactly what their conversation went like!

my_house

do they still block back roads and all that malarky?

An.fear.bocht

Ah the orders up to it's usual bigotry - Marching around in nationalist/catholic areas banging their 'lambeg' drums..
As for road blocking - there's lots of that during the marching season.. firstly in that the psni close of roads every other hour for some sort of "traditional route" to be marched along...

It's completely idiotic!

But the parades comission must allow the orange order to carry out their trad marches.. which is to say their militaristic expression of anti-catholic sentiment in the form of military style marching bands... through catholic areas, because -- it's an expression of their "culture"!

The KKK have a feckin culture.. but nobody aids them in their expression of it! Because it is racist!
And in the same vein, the orange order is sectarian.

:mad:

spanner

ignore them,
if catholics just ignored them, go in and watch the tele, they will soon die out. If they think that we do care about their "traditions" they will soon give up.
The Orange Order was nearly dead before the troubles, with the troubles brought a surge in membership.

With the troubles now ended if people and the press just didnt even bother commenting on them they will soon give up, realising what they are at is just stupid and out of date

jimmycrackcorm

So how is that no one has any problems with the Orange Order march in Donegal?

spanner

jimmycrackcorm wrote:

So how is that no one has any problems with the Orange Order march in Donegal?

it seems that their is many small towns and villages in the north were the marches pass off peacefully. This is because they both live and work together in the same community and there is a degree of respect on both sides. It seems in the cities were divisons between communties and their is no respect is were the problems happen. I think because the protestant community in donegal inmingle there is no trouble

gandalf

My theory is this. If Catholics actually went along and cheered the OO on while marching the event would die out in a couple of years. It only survives because it causes such division.

Maybe they should kill it off like Paddy's Day down here. Set up a Festival committee and change it to the Orange Festival sponsored by Ki-Ora and it will die in the cool cold embrace of consumerism.