AIBU - England couldn’t care less about Northern Ireland

[ThisThatTheOther]

Northern Ireland has seen a return to violence , petrol bombs etc every night for a week now. It’s dominated the headlines here in Ireland. People are worried as peace up north is so fragile. Listening to the radio yesterday an old advisor of Tony Blair was on to discuss. The radio host read out the top 8 listed stories on all main English sites and the violence of Northern Ireland didn’t even feature. It’s the top headline again in all major Irish publications this morning but not in English publications.

@AbsentmindedWoman

As a child I had no idea what side these soldiers were on, or where they were from, but I remember them being so friendly and lovely to the children.

My most memorable encounter with British soldiers as a small child was having a soldier point his gun at me and keep it trained on me for half an hour, as two more pointed theirs at my mum and teenage sister.

I was scared so my sister fibbed and told me they didn't really have any bullets in the guns so it was nothing to worry about.

Yeah, friendly and lovely sums it up

I am sorry that happened to you, and I respect your experience. It goes to show that the British Army were made up of Individuals, some were good,some were bad, like everywhere else.

I always remembered the British soldier that was posted on our street. He was so young, he was a teenager.

@yeOldeTrout

.

Or presumably someone else already posted this.

brilliant! Loved that!

I care. My ex husband who I still have a very close relationship with and his family live there and when I see stuff like the his being torched it makes me feel sick. He works close to Belfast and I've been texting him every morning and evening to check he got to and from work OK.

[quote UnreasonablyPissedOff]@Alwaysandforeverhere the difference is NI is part of the UK! It's not Bali or China!
Part of the problem I think is the minimising use of language around what actually happened in NI. There was a civil war in the UK which raged for many many years. Yet the careful language used to reference it 'The Troubles' utterly minimised it. Always making it an 'Irish problem ' too when in fact it was a civil war fought mainly on UK soil...[/quote]
@UnreasonablyPissedOff
What is the origin of the term "The Troubles"
Are you saying it was coined in England to minimise the events?

Sarah me again. Very interesting as always.

Where did you grow up in NI? Where did you see the IRA members? Did they make themselves known to you as a child? I thought the IRA was an illegal organisation?

@MadamBatty

Sarah me again. Very interesting as always.

Where did you grow up in NI? Where did you see the IRA members? Did they make themselves known to you as a child? I thought the IRA was an illegal organisation?

Hi MadamBatty. Me again. Go away as always.

38Mmn654123
The population of a country are governed by that country and must abide by the laws of that country. So of course England, Scotland, Wales and NI ‘belong’ to the UK. Just as Munster, Leinster and Connaught ‘belong’ to the Republic.

What!! That's a load of rubbish. Nobody would ever say Munster, Leinster and Connaught belong to the republic.

There are FOUR provinces in Ireland - Ulster too, which includes the 6 counties in NI, as well as Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan. You can't say the provinces 'belong' to the republic as NI definitely does not. And you can't just conveniently include 3, as you leave out 3 counties that aren't part of the UK. I really doubt anybody from there would be too impressed with your sweeping statements.

@Sarahtrue11

Oh don't be mean now. Maybe @Madam is just finding the thread "so exciting". Surely you'd understand that!

I wonder if you've always been such an inflammatory, offensive and patronising twat?

Sadly, I agree with you - the history of Ireland and the impact of British rule is simply not taught in English schools (I can't speak for the rest of the UK).

I lived in Dublin for nine years after living in London with a huge crowd of Irish friends and was still surprised when I saw reports of violence and car bombs at the border reported on the local news that didn't feature at all on the English news (and this was from 2011 onwards), apparently all was rosy with Anglo-Irish relationships from the other side. It is just not reported. The mainland UK is left completely blind of the day to day reality.

I was extremely happy in Ireland but once the disastrous Brexit result came in we made plans to leave and a large factor in the decision was that I knew full well that any English people in Ireland would be in for a difficult time - I had already been very aggressively "accused" of being a protestant by a young work colleague which made me quite aware the old prejudices were still alive and kicking (the concept of being agnostic seemingly did not compute, it was one or the other). Once it turned to fighting on the streets, (as I had feared and as now seems to be happening) I didn't want to be there to take my chances. I ended up taking a job opportunity on the other side of the world as I couldn't recognise anything in the UK that I could possibly identify with, I am ashamed of being English right now.

@MadamBatty

Sarah me again. Very interesting as always.

Where did you grow up in NI? Where did you see the IRA members? Did they make themselves known to you as a child? I thought the IRA was an illegal organisation?

I wasn't going to say this, as at first I thought it was none of your business.

But this was it:
I lived in Northern Ireland as a child, and then we moved to the republic of Ireland.

My time in Northern Ireland inspired me to go back and work there for a period of time when I was an adult.

When I was in my mid twenties, I went to work on a peace project in Belfast. There were a lot of peace projects being funded at the time.

This was after the troubles were over, but there was still a lot of tension in the area. Through working on this peace project I met many ex UVF members, and many ex IRA members. I never took sides. Some of these men were tough, but I got along with them all.

[quote Jurassicperk]@Sarahtrue11

Oh don't be mean now. Maybe @Madam is just finding the thread "so exciting". Surely you'd understand that!

I wonder if you've always been such an inflammatory, offensive and patronising twat?[/quote]
Inflammatory, offensive and patronising,

Are you describing yourself? I think you left out "stupid"

Thank you for your clarification Sarah, I can see how your natural charm & diplomacy was invaluable working on a peace project & getting on with ex terrorists. I can imagine the jolly japes that you shared.

You’re an international woman of mystery.

You have a very exciting life.

@Mamimawr

The Metro's front page had to be changed at the very last minute.The front page they announced last night had referred to next Monday (when Covid restrictions in England will be relaxed) as the "Glorious Twelfth". This headline was to be on the same page as the story about the riots in Northern Ireland. This lack of knowledge by the media about Northern Ireland and its past doesn't help the present situation.

I saw that post on the Metro front page and did wonder if they were aware of how the two headlines together looked! 'The glorious twelfth' takes on a whole different meaning here in NI

07DynamoKev

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/the-troubles-a-euphemism-for-bloody-conflict-1.3983352%3Fmode%3Damp&ved=2ahUKEwiytdOH1_HvAhXRXRUIHeXbDt8QFjAKegQIChAC&usg=AOvVaw1HQqLf81-ohuEokGQIAjGj&ampcf=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/the-troubles-a-euphemism-for-bloody-conflict-1.3983352%3Fmode%3Damp&ved=2ahUKEwiytdOH1_HvAhXRXRUIHeXbDt8QFjAKegQIChAC&usg=AOvVaw1HQqLf81-ohuEokGQIAjGj&ampcf=1

@Sarahtrue11

Think what you will. At least I know I've never called a civil war "exciting" to people who are concerned about violence escalating and progress (made over the course of many difficult years) regressing.

Perhaps I did leave out stupid, but it would still be the measure of you.

@Totallydefeated

It’s the media who decide what gets reported, not the people.

I’m English and care very deeply about this. The potential for violence was a big part of my worries over Brexit. I don’t want anybody to have to live with violence.

I feel the same (about the media and sad at the violence).

What the UK government have brought about, by not taking the fragility of peace seriously, is fucking criminal.

@MadamBatty

Thank you for your clarification Sarah, I can see how your natural charm & diplomacy was invaluable working on a peace project & getting on with ex terrorists. I can imagine the jolly japes that you shared.

You’re an international woman of mystery.

You have a very exciting life.

I fit a lot in, that's for sure. Life is short. As you remembered , I have worked remotely from four different countries in the last two years. But that is nothing. I met a woman from Cork in Mexico, who has been working remotely from 12 different countries in the last two years.

[quote Jurassicperk]@Sarahtrue11

Think what you will. At least I know I've never called a civil war "exciting" to people who are concerned about violence escalating and progress (made over the course of many difficult years) regressing.

Perhaps I did leave out stupid, but it would still be the measure of you.[/quote]
I never said the troubles in Ireland were exciting.

I said , through an innocent child's eyes it was exciting. And I still stand by that, that is how I felt at the time. It was exciting and interesting, and I remember that my brother thought the same. In the scope of what we knew, and we knew very, very little as we were young children, it was exciting. That is my memory. I didn't know everything that was going on at the time. But as an innocent child, it was interesting to me.

For anyone interested there is a very good series on BBC download called Pop Goes Northern Ireland which looks at various years in Northern Ireland set to various pieces of music from that year. It’s well worth a watch and the 1998 one is particularly educational for those looking to find out more about NI history.

@Sarahtrue11

And, yet as an adult with alleged experience of peace projects and a more developed understanding of exactly what happened, you still felt it was an appropriate comment to make to people who may well be living in fear of the violence escalating.

Ah yes, I remember well the ‘excitement’ of the Drumcree years when there was genuine fear that we were about to go into full civil war.

@UniBallEye

with everything that's been written on this thread plus the articles and previous threads kindly linked by PP I honestly can't believe you would ask that *@sotiredofthislonelylife* Have you read the thread? Honestly, this is so depressing

What, exactly, is solved by rioting? Please enlighten me.

I've seen it in the news several times.

[quote Jurassicperk]@Sarahtrue11

And, yet as an adult with alleged experience of peace projects and a more developed understanding of exactly what happened, you still felt it was an appropriate comment to make to people who may well be living in fear of the violence escalating.[/quote]
yes, absolutely. I don't see anything wrong in what I have said at all.

I have read many books about the troubles in Northern Ireland, and many of the authors, Catholic and Protestant ,described how they felt excited as children during the troubles, and saw it through innocent eyes. That they would play in the rubble, be excited at seeing soldiers etc. We were children! Children can see things very innocently.

I don't think there is anything offensive in saying that.

I just read an article written by Lisa McGee who wrote the show Derry Girls. She lived in Derry during the troubles. She said she was totally used to seeing guns, and that when there was trouble or rioting, people that she knew would not be concerned about the rioting, they would be concerned about whether they would be able to get to their hair appointments etc.

Is that offensive? I didn't think it was. Normal life went on around the troubles.
I did live there during the troubles, so you can't speak for my experience, I know what it was like for me! That is my memory

44.2% of people in NI did not vote for Brexit. Only 27% of eligible voters did.

And when you account for the fact that views have changed significantly since then, plus another 5 years of younger people who are now adults, I suspect it might be a little less than the 27% of eligible voters would vote for leave again.