Some people on here make me want to vomit out of my eyes.

dlofnep

Theres a collection of people on here. They have no principals and only live for today. Anything that has happened in the past, stays in the past - despite of the outcome. What I'm referring to is the North.

I'll spare you the for Y amount of years X happened to us, but at one point there were thousands of young and old ready to give up everything they had to rid the ruthless imperialism of Britain from their country.

Nowadays, it's a bunch of yabs who couldn't care less about anyone or anything but themselves. They turn a blind eye at our friends up North who are and have been constantly oppressed by bigot politicians like Ian Paisley who is known for his criticisms of catholics and biased police forces up North.

These are the same people who sing, march and keep our history and culture vibrant through their unmatched passion for their country. The long for a day for Unity in what should never have been divided in the first place. They are second class citizens and have been for a long time in their own native land. And what do we do about it? Some of us actively do our part on elections or through marches, or through debate. The others? Too busy, Eastenders in on the box - No time for those what-ya-macall-its up North.

This is a just cause, our history, doing something right and yet many pass up the chance to help out for their own selfish reasons. They would rather see our culture and history fade away. Our very own language to be scratched off.. and for what? Because a stand needs to be made for simple changes to happen in order for us to revive?

Face the facts. Our country was ripped in half right in front of our eyes, our very own countryment and women brutalised, murdered, raped, mistreated, had their rights and voting ability removed for time. We were colonised by a brutal and vicious sect who are known the world over for mistreatment of the native people. it is our downright duty to maintain our history. We are Irish, not British. I think it's time some of us acted like it.

For those who shed a tear everytime they read our history and feel like they can not do enough, I salute you. For the others, other than tax - you've nothing to offer this country.

r3nu4l

/ hands flak jacket and helmet to dlofnep

Dave!

800 years of oppression....!!!!!!! :mad:

dlofnep

r3nu4l wrote:

/ hands flak jacket and helmet to dlofnep

Heh, I'm already prepared Feck em. Sometimes, things have to be said. Too many people are afraid on here of these yabs and can't voice their opinion without ridicule.

dlofnep

Exhibit A

DaveMcG wrote:

800 years of oppression....!!!!!!! :mad:

Thanks Dave!

InFront

dlofnep wrote:

The others? Too busy, Eastenders in on the box - No time for those what-ya-macall-its up North.

If everyone took that attitute the world would be a much safer place. Hopefully there will soon be a day when everyone is too busy with their own lives to get wrapped up in silly political, tribal and extreme nationalistic meanderings.

country was ripped in half right in front of our eyes

You say it like it's a living being. Hundreds of years ago ireland was invaded, then it gained back independence, and now the democratic majority of one province, including many of those whose ancestors would have been the displaced landowners, want to remain in that union. March all you want, democracy is very simple.

Saruman

WTF? Ripped in two? split?? When was there ever a united Ireland in the past... oh yes.. during British rule!! NEVER before British rule was there ever anythign even approaching a country called Ireland with one people and history/culture.
Britain United the island and brought some sort of order.. so they oppressed the people... And left. So what? It was a long time before most of us still living were born.

The vast MAJORITY of people living in the North want to be part of the UK!! The republicans are a minority!

As for not caring! I dont for sure... Britain did not oppress me, they did not do anything to me.. or to anyone who is left alive in my family!!! Get over yourself and move on.

connundrum

I agree in principle. But do you not think that people have simply become bored with the issue? It has dragged on for quite a bit, and in todays world where commercials appear on the tv every 10-12 minutes I'm surprised that quite a number of people still do care.

vomit out of my eyes.

Nice

The Hill Billy

I can understand where the OP is coming from, but a balance needs to be achieved. I'm all for remembering the past & honouring those heroes of the past. However, I don't think that living in the past will achieve much. I prefer to live for the future.







Cliché-ridden, but there ya go.

Sleepy

LOL - I assume this was aimed largely at myself.

History provides many useful lessons but imho the future is a far more important concern.

TBH, there's a thousand other threads on here discussing Northern Ireland. Why not keep your posts to one of those?

Oh, wait, that's right, because if you posted such a load of vitriolic nonsense in one of them you'd probably get a ban for flaming. I could easily write a tirade against republicanism, living in the past, seeing violence as means of political persuasion and all the ignorance that goes with it but I'm not going to.

projectmayhem

request: youtube video of you vomitting out of your own eyes.

Lord Oz

I didn't read your post but was disappointed by the lack of eye vomiting pics.

bustershark

I prefer to look to the future than constantly look at the past.
I find it offers more solutions to problems and less bitterness to swallow.

dlofnep

InFront wrote:

If everyone took that attitute the world would be a much safer place. Hopefully there will soon be a day when everyone is too busy with their own lives to get wrapped up in silly political, tribal and extreme nationalistic meanderings.

Countries could also be colonised at will. It's people like me who stand against it. It's the people who sit on their arse who do nothing to prevent it.

InFront wrote:

You say it like it's a living being. Hundreds of years ago ireland was invaded, then it gained back independence, and now the democratic majority of one province, including many of those whose ancestors would have been the displaced landowners, want to remain in that union. March all you want, democracy is very simple.

It's a small majority, and the majority is a majority of people who weaned out the native owners. I'll spare you the babble, I'm sure your aware of our history, but choose to ignore it.

Saruman wrote:

WTF? Ripped in two? split?? When was there ever a united Ireland in the past...

I think you'll find that incorrect. Ireland was always united by the same common traditions and the same people. It was seperated through provinces, but then again - All countries are seperated in some form - It doesn't neglect the fact that it's still one country.

oh yes.. during British rule!! NEVER before British rule was there ever anythign even approaching a country called Ireland with one people and history/culture.

Sorry, that's wrong again. One language, similar customs.. One name. Ireland has always been Ireland. Brian Boru had control of Ireland. I think you should invest in a history book instead of paraphrasing some other idiot's post on here.

Britain United the island and brought some sort of order.. so they oppressed the people... And left. So what? It was a long time before most of us still living were born.

People were consistently oppressed up North, very recently in a historical timeframe.

The vast MAJORITY of people living in the North want to be part of the UK!! The republicans are a minority!

It's a small majority, not a vast majority.

As for not caring! I dont for sure... Britain did not oppress me, they did not do anything to me.. or to anyone who is left alive in my family!!! Get over yourself and move on.

Of course you don't care. That's been obvious from the get-go. It's about principals, of which you have none. You care not of the loss of life for those who made a stand against Britain and spit in their faces. I'd expect no more from you.

dlofnep

Also, I'd like to note - I apologise for lack of videos of this eye vomiting.

Oh, wait, that's right, because if you posted such a load of vitriolic nonsense in one of them you'd probably get a ban for flaming.

Sorry, it's all historical fact. Not nonsense. And certainly not nonsense because you have labeled it so.

I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to voice my opinion. Just because my opinion varies from your lack of one, doesn't mean I'm here flaming. I'm expressing my passion on the subject and I have every right to do so.

I understand some people on here would much prefer moving on with their lifes.. by all means, do what you wish - But I refuse to forget history. This doesn't mean I'm going to resolve it through violence, but I will rally at all times to ensure that when my children are born, they understand how their country came to be.

I will leave this thread take it's course now. I have made my opinion clear.

Miguel_Sanchez

This thread title made me laugh. Then I read it. And I had another bit of a laugh.

Vomit out my eyes. Classic.

Shouldn't this be on the politics forum?

petes

Thanks for reminding me. Probably would have forgotten about Eastenders.

InFront

dlofnep wrote:

Countries could also be colonised at will. It's people like me who stand against it. It's the people who sit on their arse who do nothing to prevent it.

actually, if everyone was busy focusing on their own lives and kept to themselves, there wouldn't be colonies...

Originally posted by dlofnep
I'm sure your aware of our history, but choose to ignore it.

The history of Waterford, one of the southernmost counties in the republic? Right.

InFront

Jeff_Lebowski wrote:

This thread title made me laugh. Then I read it. And I had another bit of a laugh.

Vomit out my eyes. Classic.

Shouldn't this be on the politics forum?

The last line made me laugh:D

Boston

Which friends are those, the bomb planting murdering scum friends is it or the kneecapping violent drunken drug dealing arsehole friends?

dlofnep

Boston wrote:

Which friends are those, the bomb planting murdering scum friends is it or the kneecapping violent drunken drug dealing arsehole friends?

Why can't someone be passionate about their country without having to be tied to murder? Nice ad hominem.

r3nu4l

Hill Billy wrote:

I can understand where the OP is coming from, but a balance needs to be achieved. I'm all for remembering the past & honouring those heroes of the past. However, I don't think that living in the past will achieve much. I prefer to live for the future.

Cliché-ridden, but there ya go.

That about sums it up for me I understand what the OP is saying and I think we should publicly celebrate 1916 but I don't think there should be any hate involved.

Boston

dlofnep wrote:

Why can't someone be passionate about their country without having to be tied to murder? Nice ad hominem.

It's the killing thats makes them murderers, nothing else.

CiaranC

Face the facts. Our country was ripped in half right in front of our eyes, our very own countryment and women brutalised, murdered, raped, mistreated, had their rights and voting ability removed for time. We were colonised by a brutal and vicious sect who are known the world over for mistreatment of the native people. it is our downright duty to maintain our history. We are Irish, not British. I think it's time some of us acted like it.

I think it was right about the time when the supposedly oppressed disenfranchised minority started slaughtering innocent children and pregrant women out doing their shopping that people started losing interest in the cause.

dlofnep

r3nu4l wrote:

That about sums it up for me I understand what the OP is saying and I think we should publicly celebrate 1916 but I don't think there should be any hate involved.

My original post might come off as a bit aggressive, but it reflects the mood I was in when I wrote it. I'm sure most people will brush off some of the stuff I said and understand my true intentions.

humanji

dlofnep wrote:

Countries could also be colonised at will. It's people like me who stand against it. It's the people who sit on their arse who do nothing to prevent it.

Well until the advent of time travel there really is nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Why hate people who realise that dwelling on the past does absolutely no good? And why assume because people don't go around campaigning for a united Ireland that they don't care about what happened before?

What happened in our history was terrible, but isn't it better to try and make a better future, you know, something you actually can do something about?

stooge

DLOFNEP,

Its true that a lot of people in the republic nowadays don't care one bit about the north and the years of opression/bias/murders and collusion.

In the past (30/40 years ago), it could be said that the south was at the very least, interested in the wellbeing of northern catholics, most likely due to the fact that neither was much better off than the other.

The recent boom in the economy, Celtic Tiger etc, has led to the standard of living/availability of jobs in the south being significantly better than that in the north. As a result, southeners have become fixated with wealth, too wrapped up in this to care about the divide.

Its a prime example of how power and wealth matter more to a lot of people than principles, courage and honour.

Just in case you think I'd advocating a mass invasion of the north by the south, I'm not...I'm merely saying that a change of attitude is needed by the broad majority of people in the republic. Theres more to life than wealth and cowardness. After all - the south sold the north out in the first place....

dlofnep

Boston wrote:

It's the killing thats makes them murderers, nothing else.

What are you on about? I could do without your red herrings. My original post has nothing to do with anything you're trying to glue.

humanji

dlofnep wrote:

Also, I'd like to note - I apologise for lack of videos of this eye vomiting.

And apology not accepted until we see vomit!!!

dlofnep

humanji wrote:

Well until the advent of time travel there really is nothing you or anyone else can do about it. Why hate people who realise that dwelling on the past does absolutely no good? And why assume because people don't go around campaigning for a united Ireland that they don't care about what happened before?

What happened in our history was terrible, but isn't it better to try and make a better future, you know, something you actually can do something about?

Hi Humanji - I don't hate anyone. I was just a little tempered posting. I mean no harm in my true nature. And I'm not referring to those who campaign. I was referring to the people who outright say that we should get rid of our language and culture and forget about our history.

stooge wrote:

DLOFNEP,

Its true that a lot of people in the republic nowadays don't care one bit about the north and the years of opression/bias/murders and collusion.

In the past (30/40 years ago), it could be said that the south was at the very least, interested in the wellbeing of northern catholics, most likely due to the fact that neither was much better off than the other.

The recent boom in the economy, Celtic Tiger etc, has led to the standard of living/availability of jobs in the south being significantly better than that in the north. As a result, southeners have become fixated with wealth, too wrapped up in this to care about the divide.

Its a prime example of how power and wealth matter more to a lot of people than principles, courage and honour.

Just in case you think I'd advocating a mass invasion of the north by the south, I'm not...I'm merely saying that a change of attitude is needed by the broad majority of people in the republic. Theres more to life than wealth and cowardness. After all - the south sold the north out in the first place....

I salute you sir.

Celticfire

dlofnep wrote:

It's people like me who stand against it. It's the people who sit on their arse who do nothing to prevent it.

What exactly is it that you do? Apart from ranting on a forum...

Nevyn

Ireland was never 1 nation or 1 kingdom it was always a group of provinces and smaller kingdoms and even when there was an Ard Ri that did not give him total rule over the country and there were still boarder disputes and fighting and raiding.

A nation once again is a load of bollix, who the hell wants to live in a hemonginsed Ireland ? I certainly don't it is bad enough what was done to the irish language to make it all the same and conform the same can not be done to a country.

humbert

The OP reminds me of the episode of "give my head peace" when the southen republican comes up to stay with da and co. and he's a complete ranting zealot who'll only watch tng etc.

dlofnep

Celticfire wrote:

What exactly is it that you do? Apart from ranting on a forum...

Apart from voting? I take an active interest in my country, it's history and it's culture and share those views where needed. Isn't ranting is what forums are for? Besides polling about what your favourite colour is of course.

CiaranC

dlofnep wrote:

What are you on about? I could do without your red herrings. My original post has nothing to do with anything you're trying to glue.

Actually, it has everything to do with it. Nationalism is dead because weve all seen the hatred, criminality and violence it breeds and we reject it.

Welcome to post-nationalist Ireland!

skywalker

dlofnep wrote:

Hi Humanji - I don't hate anyone. I was just a little tempered posting. I mean no harm in my true nature. And I'm not referring to those who campaign. I was referring to the people who outright say that we should get rid of our language and culture and forget about our history.



I salute you sir.

What exactly has the Irish language got to do with the original post about the north?

And yes, because I have an opinion which differs from yours about a language thats little more than a distraction for most of modern Ireland, that makes me a bad person. Good job you told me, I was too busy ignoring my national heritage and watching , god forbid, a soap made by them across the water (dare not say British for fear Id offend you again and make myself a worse person). Jesus christ Im such a vapid empty hollow.

PS Do you want me to hold back your eyelashes while you inevitably puke after reading this.

dlofnep

humbert wrote:

The OP reminds me of the episode of "give my head peace" when the southen republican comes up to stay with da and co. and he's a complete ranting zealot who'll only watch tng etc.

I'm glad you find the time to post ad hominem attacks on me instead of backing it up by addressing anything I've said. Congrats, you are cliché.

Thaedydal wrote:

Ireland was never 1 nation or 1 kingdom it was always a group of provinces and smaller kingdoms and even when there was an Ard Ri that did not give him total rule over the country and there were still boarder disputes and fighting and raiding.

A nation once again is a load of bollix, who the hell wants to live in a hemonginsed Ireland ? I certainly don't it is bad enough what was done to the irish language to make it all the same and conform the same can not be done to a country.

I think you'll find it was under control under the tenure of Brian Boru. Even if it never was, it is 1 nation by customs, culture and language. The difference is, that culture is being removed at a quicker pace up North because it is under British rule.

It also doesn't change the fact that it was colonised in an unjust manner, that the rights of the Irish people were removed through penal laws and so forth. We should forget all of this because it's easier?

GLaDOS

Anything that has happened in the past, stays in the past

If we had that attitude there could be a lot more people alive today...

dlofnep

CiaranC wrote:

Actually, it has everything to do with it. Nationalism is dead because weve all seen the hatred, criminality and violence it breeds and we reject it.

Welcome to post-nationalist Ireland!

Sorry Ciaran but violence is only correlated with it because you want it to be and it makes it a little easier for you to shy away from. Whatever gets you by your day.

skywalker wrote:

What exactly has the Irish language got to do with the original post about the north?

And yes, because I have an opinion which differs from yours about a language thats little more than a distraction for most of modern Ireland, that makes me a bad person. Good job you told me, I was too busy ignoring my national heritage and watching , god forbid, a soap made by them across the water (dare not say British for fear Id offend you again and make myself a worse person). Jesus christ Im such a vapid empty hollow.

PS Do you want me to hold back your eyelashes while you inevitably puke after reading this.

I was referring to another thread on the Irish language on signs and so forth. As far as eastenders goes - My intention was never to suggest watching any UK soap was wrong. It was an arbitrary choice. I could of choosen fair city. It was really not all that important.

And I never said it made you a bad person.

dlofnep

ScienceNerd wrote:

If we had that attitude there could be a lot more people alive today...

We also would be under British Rule, and thousands of injustices to people would of went unheard of. It's not all black and white SN as you'd like it to be.

magick

Posted by Saruman: Britain United the island and brought some sort of order.. so they oppressed the people... And left. So what?

Yeah dam right , just like the Nazis brought order to Europe and left so what?! :rolleyes:

dlofnep

lol..

jor el

stooge wrote:

The recent boom in the economy, Celtic Tiger etc, has led to the standard of living/availability of jobs in the south being significantly better than that in the north. As a result, southeners have become fixated with wealth, too wrapped up in this to care about the divide.

I'm struggling to understand what exactly you're on about here, so I think I'll just not bother. So what if Ireland has become a wealthy country, you'd prefer to go back to the 70's or pre-EEC times would you? We'd all be much better off if we could stand united with Northern-Irish Catholics in the dole queue wouldn't we?

Its a prime example of how power and wealth matter more to a lot of people than principles, courage and honour.

That's a prime example of horse sh*t right there. Give an example of your principles, courage and honour.

[qupte]Just in case you think I'd advocating a mass invasion of the north by the south, I'm not...I'm merely saying that a change of attitude is needed by the broad majority of people in the republic. [/QUOTE]
What exactly are you advocating? What should we do? Demand that the British government hand back the six counties, even though the people there don't want that? We in the republic have no right to tell British people what to do with their country any more than we could tell the French or Italians what to do with theirs.

Theres more to life than wealth and cowardness. After all - the south sold the north out in the first place....

Wealth and "cowardness", that's a good one, it's not even a real word :rolleyes: Tell us of your brave struggle why don't you.

Ireland today has changed. I for one don't particularly care about what happens in the North, except when you see acts of sectarian violence on both sides that shouldn't happen. I care that there was collusion between Loyalist forces and the British Army and the RUC. This shouldn't go unpunished, but it's not up to us. There's no place for this "us against them" attitude that some people have. That's the stance of the paramilitaries and I have no time for them. The people of the North are responsible for themselves, and it is only them that can change things, if they want it.

Futureman

I'm curious as to what the OP has done to make a DIFFERENCE besides ranting on the internet.

dlofnep

Jor el - I think his point was that now we are caught up in money, we forget about alot of things that previously would of mattered more in our lives. That's all.

Futureman wrote:

I'm curious as to what the OP has done to make a DIFFERENCE besides ranting on the internet.

I've already answered this. I vote where needed, debate where needed, rally where needed and make sure I have a grasp of my own history. I'm a single person, I'm not going to over-exagerate my importance - Neither should you expect me to with a post like that.

Nevyn

dlofnep wrote:

We also would be under British Rule, and thousands of injustices to people would of went unheard of. It's not all black and white SN as you'd like it to be.

Actually there is a good arguement that we would have been better of as a memeber of the common wealth rather then as a republic but that is in the past and done with we have to look forward.

Yes for a lot of people they are not socailly or historically aware and to change that you have to look to the education system and what is taught in school.

Modren Ireland's history is not being taught to our your people or anything about civic responsibility or how our political and repasentaive government works.

That would be the place to start so that people feel they can take part in grass roots politics and make a difference and aren't either apethic or being spoon fed and riled up by the siners.

dlofnep

Thaedydal wrote:

Actually there is a good arguement that we would have been better of as a memeber of the common wealth rather then as a republic but that is in the past and done with we have to look forward.

Is there? I'd like to see it. We're pretty well off as it is. NI however appears less well off under British rule. But hey, that's here nor there. I think the republic is doing very well as a member of the EU and as an independent nation.

Thaedydal wrote:

Yes for a lot of people they are not socailly or historically aware and to change that you have to look to the education system and what is taught in school.

I agree with this.

Sleepy

Ok, I'll bite on this once and once only. Not because I think I can de-program you but because I'm aware there are younger posters on these boards who don't need to be poisoned with republican rhetoric.

dlofnep wrote:

Countries could also be colonised at will. It's people like me who stand against it. It's the people who sit on their arse who do nothing to prevent it.

You completely missed the point there. If everyone just got on with their daily lives instead of harbouring old grudges that are best left to the history books we'd be in a much better world. I'm not saying we disavow, or even stop teaching history, far from it. There are valuable lessons to be learnt from history. Chief among those is what happens when people are so concerned with what are pretty much arbitrary lines in an atlas that they forget their humanity and concern for other human beings. And for one prattling on about history books so much, please go read a few. Ones written by authors that don't necessarily take the same slant on things as those of your political persuasion. In all other cultures it seems to be the victors that write the history, we Irish have to do it rather backwards for some reason. And no, I'm not advocating that you read only historians who's interpretations would agree with my political leaning, read them all. It should provide you with a far less black and white view of the world.

It's a small majority, and the majority is a majority of people who weaned out the native owners. I'll spare you the babble, I'm sure your aware of our history, but choose to ignore it.

So should the current minority wean out the current natives who have lived in Northern Ireland for generations? Many of those 'natives' you're discussing would have been Viking or Norman settlers here. The great thing about living in the present is that it gives us a chance to change the future for future generations. Don't you imagine that it was that chance that spurred the republicans of yesteryear to act? Do you think they'd still want people fighting over a line on a map? Or do you think they'd rather their forebears lived peaceful, happy lives free from the opression they fought against? Look around you. That opression doesn't exist any more. The only people to be hurt in the north for the past two decades have been those innocents caught in the crossfire of extremists on both sides and the extremists themselves.

I think you'll find that incorrect. Ireland was always united by the same common traditions and the same people. It was seperated through provinces, but then again - All countries are seperated in some form - It doesn't neglect the fact that it's still one country.

Sorry, that's wrong again. One language, similar customs.. One name. Ireland has always been Ireland. Brian Boru had control of Ireland. I think you should invest in a history book instead of paraphrasing some other idiot's post on here.

Again, go back to history books (and again, read many of them to get a reasonable overview of things). Ireland didn't have the same language, never had one undisputed leader or unchallenged 'government'. It had many very similar languages but never the unified (and many scholars would argue bastardised/anglicised) language we call Gaelic. Are you confusing the geographic definition of an island with the political definition of a country? Yes, looking at a map it's simple to say that this island should be a single country but when you look at the different peoples, communities, political views and social structures it's not that simple. Nothing is. There is no black and white, no good and evil, it's all just different shades of grey and the precise shade of grey is dependent on where you look at it from.

People were consistently oppressed up North, very recently in a historical timeframe.

Recently != now.

It's a small majority, not a vast majority.

So that makes it okay for the minority to determine the fate of the majority?

Or is it just okay if the minority see things from your perspective? :rolleyes:

Of course you don't care. That's been obvious from the get-go. It's about principals, of which you have none. You care not of the loss of life for those who made a stand against Britain and spit in their faces. I'd expect no more from you.

Of course Saruman has principles. They're just different to yours. My own principles go strongly against the slaughter of innocents in an attempt to make one's political voice heard. They also, it may surprise you to know, go against gerrymandering, the oppression of a minority group in society and to be quite honest I can identify with the defenderist stand of the early provisional movement. What differences us is that I realise there has been enough bloodshed on both sides, that I realise the sins of the father cannot be held against the son and that instead of seeing a black and white view of the past and becoming obsessed with it, I try to learn from the different shades of grey there to paint a colourful brighter future for all.

If that's unprincipled. I'm happy to stay unprincipled, because what you call principles, I call ignorance.

InFront

Support+1 ^^

DeepBlue

dlofnep wrote:

Face the facts. Our country was ripped in half right in front of our eyes, our very own countryment and women brutalised, murdered, raped, mistreated, had their rights and voting ability removed for time. We were colonised by a brutal and vicious sect who are known the world over for mistreatment of the native people.

Very true. But Fianna Fail/PDs will probably still be re-elected in the next election .

dlofnep wrote:

The others? Too busy, Eastenders in on the box

Fair City ftw.

jor el

dlofnep wrote:

Jor el - I think his point was that now we are caught up in money, we forget about alot of things that previously would of mattered more in our lives. That's all.

I'm not caught up in money, I need it to live as does everyone else. I also work hard to earn what I do, but it's not the reason I don't particularly care about the North, and I'm sure it's not for most people. I can't say that events in Northern Ireland, either in the recent or distant past, ever mattered to me. I'm sure they didn't effect a great number of Irish people. Some people just seen to think it should matter, or want to make it mean something. I think the majority of those people are the "Up the Ra" crowd that don't really know what's going on at all. The kind that organise marches on the streets with pictures of Bobby Sands on them and banners that have "800 years" and "We shall never forget" written on them. I saw one of these recently and they forced everybody off a busy street so they could march through. It made me not particularly proud to be Irish.

As far as I'm concerned that attitude has no place in 21st century Ireland. Our history is our history and will never be forgotten, but it doesn't, and shouldn't, rule our lives now. Ireland has changed and the world has changed, people should stop living in the past.