Happiness and unionism

There are but moderate unionists always get shouted down by extreme ones

A lot of the miserable attitude stems from a biblical viewpoint where most things considered fun by most people are instead thought of as sin. Even folks who don't go near a church are still affected by this methodology as it's handed down from generation to generation.

A small example was the very common practice of wrapping swings round the swing frame on a Saturday night so kids couldn't play with them on Sunday. The practice is now rare but the thinking behind it is not.

Ally that way of thinking to an attitude that genuinely can't understand any validity in a viewpoint that is different. The thinking is "I and my forefathers have it sussed, what I do is correct, you also need to do this and you will be correct also. It is my mission to make you see this".

Also don't underestimate the effect on mental health that living for 30 years in a country where most days someone was shot or something was blown up has. It was not a fun time.

I am sure the majority of unionists are moderate in their views but some would put you in mind of this song by Dick Gaughan. He did a brilliant version of the song in Whelan's one time.

People who claim to be 'British' having to live in Ireland amongst the Irish tends to cause that dourness; the gnawing realisation that no matter what happens there's not a damn thing they can do about it. Unionists are a people without a country, whose culture is based on long-gone supremacy of the 'natives', 'natives' who are gradually taking over the running of the place that they once dominated.

In b4 the resident unionerzzzzz come in to tell us that they are perfectly happy. And if they aren't happy, well that's because it's definitely Irelands fault.

20 year tidy up. 

Unionists have been a majority for the guts of the 100 years that the north of Ireland has been an utter sectarian basket-case, when it was the only self-governing UK jurisdiction it had the worst poverty and health rates in all of the so-called 'Union' until it was rescued by the welfare state that unionist refused to fund. Let's see how it gets on from now on when the back of belligerent unionism has been broken.

Seems a bit odd to be doing the very thing that being totally opposed is the core of your belief system

No skin off my nose if the English want to pay for the north's upkeep while we prepare for unification, it's the least they could do after several hundred years of disastrous misrule in Ireland.

Very interesting @L1011. Thanks. It's nice to see the detail rather than going on hearsay.

I don't for a minute think structured education is the be all an end all when it comes to broadening ones mind. What's important though is to equip people with the skills to think and learn for themselves. If it's not through structured education then you would hope it would be attained via socialising yourself outside a very small peer group through through both work and play but it's less inclined to happen.

For the record: Like a lot of commentators. who don't really help matter, I'm not proposing any particular solutions 😀. It's just an observation I was making.

The stereotypical difficult, crabbit unionist was satirised by well by Harry Enfield as William Ulsterman.

I think the unhappiness stems partly from strict puritanical religious background. Partly from the fact that it is not a positive political position but a list of things that they oppose.

The fact that the future is pessimistic for their way of life. People are less religious, supporting the monarchy is a bit silly. They will never have the power and control they had in the early days of the creation of Northern Ireland.

It is sad really, the fact that extending rights and co-operating with your neighbours on this island is seen as a bad and a terrible thing from their perspective.