AIBU to question the media response to the Belfast attack?

[Squirrel001]

Why are the media being silent on the Belfast attack?

Is the open borders narrative that important to them that they feel the need to ignore one of the most horrific attacks ever seen on a UK street?

I despair for the future of the UK. It’s grim.

Yes I say it all the time. Granted with affection mainly irl and occasionally with a bit of mild patronising on mn but who knew it was sectarian!

Don’t be chased off the thread, they’re nitpicking.
It is a scientific fact that a lot of Irish people have bigger heads, so there are differences.
I don’t know why this poster hopped on to pull you apart when we all been interacting without trouble for days. As an Irish Catholic I’m not offended hun. 🤷‍♀️❤️

You’re bullying at this stage.

Thank you Emerald!

'can see now why ‘English people never engage on the topic of Ireland, they know nothing about us, why not?’ - because it’s absolutely bloody exhausting. I won’t be making this mistake again'

Yep. The topic of the thread is about an absolute atrocity and the debate should be why it happened and why initial reporting was slow.

The only debate seems to be 'it's the loyalists'

Im from a few miles outside Belfast. Im 69 and have worked in Belfast all my life, started work in 1973

I will say that once a conversation starts and certain subjects discussed a person's background perhaps becomes obvious, and to say because of living through the conflict it wouldnt cross my mind would be a lie,

But thats just cultural history and ive four kids who've married the "other" religion they were brought up which makes me proud I raised them not to be bigoted

But I challenge anyone to go through the 300 folk on my Facebook page who didnt have a name under it and physically point them out catholic or protestant😁

Oh and id love to see the view on my granddaughters whose parents have one catholic and one Protestant....do they have odd jaws and teeth? So funny

Anyway, I see what direction this thread is going, we’re 39 pages in, so I wish you all farewell and peace and blessings. Have a lovely day ahead.
Chow. I’m out, me and my larger head. 🤷‍♀️☘️💪

That is not what the debate is at all and you're being disingenuous.

The attack in Belfast was horrendous and abhorrant, and my thoughts are with the poor victim, his family, and his neighbours who not only had to witness this, but had the bravery to intervene. The perpetrator has been arrested and in all hope, will face the full front of the law. An enquiry also needs to be made as to whether anything was missed that could have prevented this, and our immigration system as a whole needs a robust overall with a focus on vetting. These riots have nothing to do with this.

The original question posed, was there a media black out - no, it was on NI news first as it happened here, and made it to Mainland news much quicker than any other abhorrant crimes in NI, thus proving that there was no media blackout.

Posters then went on to say, look how fed up NI is with immigration that they're mass organising protests, well done them, encouraging this. When the people who live here know exactly what "protests" involve and who would be organising. We knew the city was going to go to shit, and were explaining to people not from here that the people involved are using it as an excuse to riot. As they always do.

They are not rioting because of immigration. They are rioting for the sake of rioting. A poster upthread said it perfectly:

Northern Ireland is a tinder box ready to ignite for all sorts of reasons, and it seems to me that an undercurrent of violent intent is just under the surface waiting for the chance to get going again.

Thats exactly what these last two nights have been, and those of us who live here knew that. The fact is that many of those out rioting have committed many more atrocities and we also need protected from them, and they also should be off our streets. Violence breeds violence and they are continuing the cycles.

Families burnt out of their homes. Children. A 2 month old baby rescued from a burning house. All because of the colour of their skin. In the name of "keeping our streets safe" What!?! All while terrorising our streets.

I'll add these news pages in again because you didn't acknowledge them before, but it is these loyalist groups that are waiting for any excuse for rioting taking our whole country backwards. Those of us that lived through it before are quite rightly terrified, because we see how it escalates and dont want to go back. My children have no concept of the troubles, and it should stay that way.

Very wise and I think I will copy you! Have a good day.

There was a kind of inevitability about this. NI is and always was a hotbed of "differences". One side of the peace line and the other. Resentments and pure hatred are just under the surface waiting for something to provide the excuse to explode things again. I hope it calms down and returns to the relative peace that has existed for a long time.

Without wishing to minimise the awfulness of what is happening, I note on various social media that potential visitors/tourists are cancelling their trips both to ROI and NI now. Call me a cynic but that will wake up the politicians far more than concern about its constituents.

The topic is NI. Stop talking about the ROI, this has been said to you multiple times.

Just take it in the chin that you made an error and stop doubling down.

Feel free to point out any peer reviewed research that suggests catholics have bigger heads than Protestants or Irish people have bigger heads than the English.
This is not a claim backed by science, it is far from a scientific fact fgs.

In Ireland, Public Health Nurses (PHNs) and GPs track infant head growth using standard HSE Physical Development Guidelines. Because average Irish head sizes naturally tilt toward the higher percentiles, doctors are well accustomed to this genetic trait. They will only refer infants for a neurological scan if there is a severe deviation from established growth curves, a disproportionate ratio to the body, or other developing symptoms.

Peer-reviewed research and historical population studies confirm the biological and cultural traits of this phenomenon:
Scientific Pediatric Baselines: Clinical growth standards show that Irish children generally present head circumferences that sit slightly above 1965 British averages. The difference is attributed to distinct genetic variations rather than health anomalies. 1, 2, 3]
Historical Skull Profiling: Anthropological and craniometric surveys dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries (including research by Dr. Earnest Hooton and Prof. Daniel J. Cunningham at Trinity College Dublin) recorded these distinct physical dimensions in Irish populations. 1, 2]
Cultural Recognition: The phrase "the big Irish head on him" is deeply ingrained in Irish slang. It is typically used as a fond, self-deprecating description of physiognomy—often referencing a

Goodbye again. 😅 I’ve got shit to do.

Im out too after one post.

Under the auspices of reasonable debate i see the usual blame game coming up once again. Its much more complicated than that, and im not giving it breathing space.

Have fun

Wheres the research on catholics v protestants in NI? Which was the original claim until the poster backtracked to make it a north v south issue. Any data on protestants having less defined jaw lines and bigger teeth?

Well Catholics are Irish and Protestants are British.. really you asked that question??

I'm protestant and Irish so does that mean I have both a big head and large teeth?

Maybe, I don’t know what you look like? Are from British or Irish descent??
An Irish Protestant in NI. That’s uncommon.

Most NI Protestants are not of English descent.

I fixed that. My apologies, British.

I can copy and paste too.

The short answer is: not really, at least not in the sense of a well-established scientific finding that Irish people have larger heads than English people.
The idea of the "big Irish head" is a longstanding cultural stereotype and joke in Ireland and Britain. There is some historical anthropometric research that measured skulls and head dimensions in Irish populations, but most of it dates from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when physical anthropology was heavily focused on skull measurements and often mixed with now-discredited ideas about race and ethnicity.
A few points worth noting:

• Researchers have collected head and skull measurements from Irish populations, and there are measurable regional differences within Ireland itself.
• One study of Irish children found that average head circumference was slightly larger than one set of older British growth standards, but smaller than another British dataset from Oxford, showing that results depend heavily on which populations are compared.
• Modern genetics research shows that Irish and English populations are closely related, with some regional genetic structure, but it does not support any simple claim that one group universally has bigger heads than the other.

So if someone says, "Irish people have bigger heads than the English," the evidence is nowhere near strong enough to treat that as a scientific fact. It's better viewed as a folk stereotype that may have been reinforced by selective observations and old anthropological studies rather than by modern population science.

Well done. 👏 it’s handy to know how to copy and paste.

Parents are mixed marriage- not as uncommon as you think, especially now. But does mean i got the worst of sectarianism from both sides growing up. Maybe as you're not actually living in NI you dont understand the place as much as you think you do. Your sweeping generalisations and propelling of offensive stereotypes says enough really. Why are you so keen to argue with people from NI that their lived experiences are not true? Why are you so keen to tell other posters that what they're saying isn't sectarian or offensive to people in NI, when people in NI are saying otherwise?