Strewth. I take a day-trip to Dublin yesterday and when I come back I find the whole political system is in turmoil. John has left Basil and one of the two pillars supporting NI21 – which was looking so fresh and promising – has been removed. Can you not be trusted if I so much as turn my back?
Basil was on The Nolan Show last night and he was trying to sound as positive as you can be when your right arm has been ripped off at the shoulder. In the words of the room-service waiter looking at George Best on the bed with Miss World surrounded by champagne and fivers: where did it all go wrong? Both Nolan and Basil hinted that there might be more to it than the party deciding to declare itself as ‘other’ rather than unionist. You can be sure that would make waves. Perhaps coming days will tell the tale of what’s under-water now. Basil hit a point worth keeping in mind: the more you show signs of success here, the more there will be those who want to attack you, pull you down, accuse you of all sorts of things. As begrudgers, we’re world class. NI21 could have set a trend for unionists – a civilising trend – and that would have been unthinkable for many. Is the situation recoverable? Short-term I have doubts. You can’t toss a hand-grenade like this into a room on the brink of an election and not expect lethal damage. But long-term I think NI21’s approach to politics here was commendable and because it’s the only approach that makes sense for unionists, The longer unionism draws back from the Basil path, the more it is set to lose in the long run.
The other Nolan Show item was Pastor James McConnell and his view that the Islamic faith is the spawn of the devil and that he trusts none of them. I can see why he would say that. It taps into a hatred and fear that lurks in some minds, that’s been placed there since they were infants. McConnell made it clear himself in his videotaped sermon: there used to be IRA cells throughout Britain, now there are Muslim cells throughout Britain, and he don’t trust a single one of these Muslims. Joined the dots yet? Echoes of John Taylor warning unionists that of every three Catholics they met, one of them was an IRA sympathiser If these diabolical Muslim cells are all over Britain and no Muslim can be trusted, the same would have been/is true of the Catholic/nationalist/republican: you can’t trust one of them.
McConnell is clearly revelling in the attention he and his church are getting. He pleads sincerity in his views and I don’t doubt it. But Hitler was sincere when he sought the elimination of the Jews and he used his speeches to help stoke the flames of hatred. Pastor McConnell’s preaching may not have the same drastic consequences but it’ll encourage susceptible minds to think as he does. Men like him and Ian Paisley would protest that they love the sinner and hate the sin. McConnell’s reaction last night to the very mention of Martin McGuinness made it pretty clear that, Christian man that he is, what he sees as a sinner in this instance is the object of his detestation. Maybe the bit about loving your enemies wasn’t in the good Pastor’s good book.
Footnote: Odd that only the Deputy First Minister quickly condemned the remarks of Pastor Jack. Maybe that’s because the Pastor issues spiritual guidance to other politicians who you’d expect to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with McGuinness and condemn this whipping-up of distrust and fear.
Dr C.
See what happens when you leave the classroom for 5 minutes?
Next time you’re in Dublin you’ll be crushed under the anxiety of a feeling similar to “did I leave the gas burner on…?”
This is a shame about team Jasil, I thought unionism was about to (belatedly) start to turn a corner with NI21.
Maybe it still can, but the clumsiness is no longer endearing or cute.
I like them and I hope they do well, they’re unionism’s only hope (as far as I can see) but they have to learn from SF, DUP and Alliance when it comes to learning the craft of politics.
Anyhoo, it’ll be a bit frantic over there I imagine?
Yes, fairly frantic, AG . Or in other words, normal…
If you knew Basil this shouldn’t have come as a surprise and much worse is to come sadly
Do tell more, Neill….?
send me your email address and I will send the details through to you
judejcollins@gmail.com
‘Hate the sin,love the sinner’ Aye, right, that’s the guff that Iris was coming out with at the time of her downfall but it’s nonsense and she knew that well as she spouted it in Stormont. It’s hate the sinner never mind the sin.
Given the day that is in it, I tuned in to the B.B.C. between 6.30 and 7.30 am. There was a lot of sniggering about the increase in sausage sales from some of the commentators and rustling, sorry, a review of newspapers. This was followed by a discussion (?) about driving on the right hand side of the road when abroad and a forthcoming beauty competition. Someone at the B.B.C. is clearly expressing their thoughts to a tee,
Jude : A week is a long time in politics…I fear old NI 21 is kaput . It has been very quiet in any case so who knows if the seed would have grown at all. I would have thought that Alliance would be it’s natural burying ground in any case .What was the real difference in these two parties?
As for this Pastor James McConnell …obviously the latest in a long line of nutjobs. Following a christian ideal that he just doesn’t understand in any way….leading another befuddled flock over another cliff.
I’ll take back my total criticism of Mr Nolan .He went at him like a rat up a drainpipe and exposed every piece of crass bigotry in his exposition. His questioning was clear -headed and needle sharp on this occasion.
I ask myself , what rock do people like this live under when they cannot see that they are behaving just the same as those minority of fanatical, lunatic muslims who are encouraging hatred on all westerners and who are rightly being stymied and pulled through the courts internationally. The same kind of people who had the Dutch film-maker murdered .
This pastor has some befuddled notion that there is “freedom of speech” to incite hatred as long as it’s within his own fan club. it’s time to grow up I think . In Northern Ireland twisted forms of christianity with lots of built-in hypocrisy , have been allowed to flourish unhindered for years . That time should be gone but Paisley was never properly censured for his bigotry when he threw bigoted insults at his neighbours for the pleasure of the snickering yahoos in his fan club.
There are hate laws now .i want to see them used .This is the kind of claptrap that put Jews into gas ovens during hitler’s reign of terror..
PK – I too was impressed by Nolan’s tenacity. I think it’s somehow linked to his weight loss – leaner, meaner…
paddy, bonjour mon ami, pour un changement, j’ai un accord avec vous.
McConnell is a nut job and hasn’t the intelligence to present his views in a more reasoned way. Unfortunately, the islamic faith has no tolerance of christianity, it is an immature religion that needs to waken up to the 21st century. I have been deafened by the silence of Islamic leaders condemning Boko Harem in Nigeria, and Al Shabaab in East Africa. But, as has happened to most nationalist movements striving to gain recognition and independence, they are happy to use terrorism to achieve their aims. Condemnation by Islamic leaders would go a long way in silencing the likes of McConnell, and will reduce the level of hostility in the west.
As for Basil McCrea, he is showing the same traits as whilst a member of OUP. He wants to be the main man, a despot without opposition. He didn’t achieve this in the OUP and threw his ‘teddy’ out and is now at it again. John McCallister is just catching on in the party for slow learners, and NI21 will not make it to the next elections. To change their designation two days before the elections beggars belief, as they say in French, ‘au revoir’.
If I might intrude briefly in your tete-a-tete (yes I know it’s missing French punctuation – haven’t mastered that on my laptop) , I’d suggest you break yourself of the habit of referring to violence you don’t like as ‘terrorism’. I very much doubt if independence movements or anyone else is ‘happy’ to use ‘terrorism’; the ‘terrorism’ is simply the guerrilla form that violence/warfare takes in such cases. If you want classic examples of terrorism, Coventry, London, Dresden and Hiroshima spring to mind.
Jude, you admonished me for interfering with your one on ones, but as you are the master of ceremonies, I’ll give you your place.
Iit is widely acknowledged that terrorism is committed by non state actors, what you are loosely referring to are war crimes. In most countries, including our own, a conventional war did not take place, it was not a war in any shape or form. Boko Haram, Al Shabaab, and others are not involved in a war, they are conducting a campaign of terrorism. I am not labelling groups as terrorists because I don’t like them, I’m giving them that label because that’s exactly what they are. There are many definitions of terrorism, most contested, a simple one in Brittanica is “the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective”
William, by your definition, the current Neo-Liberal political agenda qualifies as a form of terrorism. A financial “crisis”, created by themselves, is being used as a pretence to dismantle the Welfare system and close hospitals. They have used the media to manufacture consent for their policies which have the sole objective of transferring the wealth in society to ever fewer and fewer individuals. Racists like Mc Connell are assisting the UK government in propagating an unjust war against the Moslem world by demonisiation and vilifying millions of people. I agree with your definition but wonder why the label terrorism only seems to apply to the weak when they resist and not to the state terrorism that the US, Britain, Russia and other western powers practice on a daily basis.
William that supremacist attitude is hard to shake off I see. Not only are you opposed to republicanism you are also intolerant of other religions. And the British wonder why they are not liked around the world,dear oh dear.
Ok wolfe, as well as being a.republican, you support Islamic extremists
William, what Islamic leaders would you have condemn them? Is it the job of some Imam in a mosque in Barnsley or somewhere to condemn Boko Haram? Maybe it is and they probably have. How would you know? Islam is far more diverse and decentralised than Christianity. Nobody ‘speaks’ for Muslims as a religious group in the way the Pope or Archbishop of Canterbury do. But leaders condemn them all the time. You just don’t get to hear about it. The one eyed loony with a hook for a hand babbling crap in London makes for much better press than some dusty old mufti in Cairo quoting shuras to condemn the likes of Boko Haram….
Seriously Guys
You know what happened to Salman Rushdie when he wrote the Dark Satanic Verses.
I do hope McConnell is ok!
So I have read all your points of view on Islam, can anybody tell me why they are so radical, and dangerous, what is it exactly they want?
Thank GOD I was not born a Muslim, how on earth do those poor women cope with hot flushes, under those Buka’s.
Norma
William :
Glad to hear we agree on something and also very glad that you are beginning to explain your thoughts. None of us are going to agree with everything but that’s what we hope to debate.
As Jude says , “terrorism” is a term bandied about , usually by powerful governments , which in themselves may be morally suspect. Usually their opposition will be designated as “terrorists” while they get on with the profanity of their own violences and political will..
As Jude points out ,there was no real reason to bomb a place like Dresden or “test” those first and last , atomic weapons on Japanese cities such as Hiroshima or Nagasaki….other than to make a profane statement of will and power.
. Those bombs killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day. During the following months, large numbers died from the effect of burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, compounded by illness. In both cities,….
Most of the dead were civilians,…They were probably cynically described as collateral damage. I’m sure most of them didn’t want to be fighting in anyone’s war either.
I’d go out on a limb and call that a terrorist act of international proportions.I suspect that the military were simply very anxious to see how many numbers their new little bomb could kill.
They found out ….and hopefully nobody will allow them to play with their destructive little toy again. .
So , “terrorism” is a word not to be usually casually.It’s usually used as an insult in a quest to maintain a power base whether right or wrong .
Kurt vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five ” is worth reading . I believe he had some personal experiences concerning that Dresden bombing and his time as a soldier during that firestorm..It’s been over forty years since i read it but I believe it still remains an influential and blackly entertaining treatise on the insanity of war and those who would make a career out of it. for personal gain.
….and on top of all that , Basil and John have had a tiff over who’s going toe wear the trousers…..
.
‘And so it goes’…
paddy, Kurt vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five ” is a satirical, science fiction war novel, it’s not real, honest. The ‘hero’ of the novel, Billy Pilgrim, is captured by an alien space ship and taken to a planet billions of miles away from Earth called Tralfamadore. Granted, he starts the novel with his experiences as a prisoner of war, but I think the LSD started to kick in.
In relation to your points on terrorism, please see my post to Jude, what you are referring to are war crimes, non state actors are terrorists.
A bientot
what you are referring to are war crimes, non state actors are terrorists.’
Terrorist as you say, or they could be a Guerilla army, or freedom fighters etc. It really is a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact. I get the impression from your posts that it is a matter of fact who or who is not a terrorist.
Ultimately terrorist is a word used to denote such and such as ‘the bad guys’ and of course it is always used in the pejorative sense. It is the language of propaganda much like ‘freedom fighter’ because to be a terrorist is to be entirely bad & immoral whereas as to be a ‘freedom fighter’ is to be entirely good and moral. A terrorist is one who inflicts terror. A freedom fighter is one who brings freedom. What does that tell us ? Absolutely nothing. It tells us whose side the person using whichever phrase is on and not much else.
The President of Syria says he is facing a terrorist campaign. The West says he is an illegitimate dictator and Syrian ‘rebels’ are engaged in a legitimate uprising. Many saw a Syrian ‘terrorist’ eating the organs of a dead Syrian soldier so presumably the ‘Syrian uprising is part terrorism, part legitimate uprising, part guerilla warfare.’
ETA was/is a ruthless organisation yet it is very insulting to many in the Basque country that ETA is constantly described as mere ‘terrorists’ yet people involved in cannibalism are granted the more noble term of ‘rebel’ who are of course fighting a nasty dictator. ETA are just terrorists. And so is one actually supposed to accept that the actions and beliefs and objectives of Syrian rebels are of a higher moral standing than Basque terrorists? According to western media the answer is yes.
ETA, IRA, HAMAS are terrorists. I don’t recall ever hearing the Vietcong, a violent non-state organisation, described as ‘terrorists’ yet many of their actions were ruthless beyond belief. On a very basic level many people object to the ‘terrorist’ label because it suggests that only non-state actors inflict terror. The state is ultimately benevolent and just because they are in opposition to the terrorists. After all, if you are against ‘terrorism’ you must be on the right side no matter how much terror you, as an agent of the state’ inflict.
It is all semantics to me. AN utterly useless term which explains nothing. Unionist politicians constantly use ‘terrorism’ to denote the IRA. Many nationalists have long been sickened by how they refer to UVF/UDA etc as ‘paramilitaries’ as though they are on a higher moral standing than the IRA because while ‘para-miltary’ is far from a term of endearment it would generally be viewed as less derogatory than terrorist.
And who can forget P.Robinson’s sickening ‘they are counter-terrorists not terrorists’ when referring to to the U.D.A.
William, I think that to dismiss ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ as you have is akin to claiming that ‘Animal Farm’ is “just some book about pigs”. Also, just because somebody has ingested LSD this does not automatically make their opinions and their work invalid.
RJC, I suppose it’s as about as real as some of the stuff written about the Troubles
RJC :
It could very easily be argued that the ingestion of LSD in certain circumstances, could make an opinion or a perception perception even more valid. Statements to the contrary are indicative of someone who has not had that particular instructive experience….just as a taxi -driver might not have “The Knowledge”
If we could get past the populist scaremongering and “redtop” newspaper paranoia and actually experience that psychedelic enhancement of the senses in a controlled environment , that the likes of Aldous Huxley describes in “The Doors of Perception” ,, then there would be cause to debate the point.
Without that personal experience it like trying to describe a colour to a blind man or why the sky is blue or what the hell “blue” actually means!!!
..Of course there are dangers involved, but there are dangers in everything in life.
As you say books like Orwell’s “Animal Farm”, and “Slaughterhouse Five ” are not literal romps of simple storytelling . In these cases psychotropic drugs are not required to understand the author’s intent in any case An open mind might help though.
.
In the case of Billy Pilgrim in Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”..
It is a very personal novel which draws upon
Vonnegut’s own experience in World War Two. He was an advance
scout with the 106th Infantry Division, a prisoner of war and
a witness to the fire-bombing of Dresden on 13th February 1945.
135,000 people died in the ruins of Dresden, which means that it
was the greatest man-caused massacre of all times (71,379 people
were killed by the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.)
The Billy Pilgrim character that Vonnegut created for his time-shifting persona was an alter -ego of himself.He used the character to time-shift through different times and spaces …some real and some “escapes” into a science-fiction story .I’m thinking he used this device to try to deal with circumstances that his mind could sometimes not bear to remember or endure….being witness to the worst human atrocity a man has ever witnessed in living memory might do that to a person, so we are asked to empathise
.
To dismiss such a multi-faceted novel , clearly diving into the deeper reaches of the human mind,,as a mere “sci-fi adventure story”, as William does with some flippancy , says a lot more about a particular reader’s depth of thought than anything else.
paddy, there was no flippancy intended, but you did present the novel as factual to those who hadn’t read it, and thanks for the lecture and the scolding. I cannot fathom the justification of the use of illegal drugs, and it is evident that Vonnegut is suffering from depression, paranoia, and the inducements caused by his ingestion of these substances. This NOVEL and others are exactly that, stories, to be read as an educational supplement at junior school in order to give intellectual, moral and social instruction to children, nothing else, and to suggest that the taking of these drugs can be morally correct is a step too far for me.
As a consummate linguist, William – De mortuis nil nisi bonum
There’s probably very little point in getting into a pro/anti drugs argument on an NI Politics website, although I will say that just because something is illegal, doesn’t necessarily make it wrong. By that line of reasoning, were Emmeline Pankhurst and her fellow Suffragetes wrong to do what they did so that Norma here could get to the polling booth yesterday?
If you believe that the use of illegal drugs is immoral, then that is your prerogative. If others believe this not to be the case, then that is their’s. I dread to think what popular music of the mid-late 20th Century would have been like had it not been for artists’ use of illegal drugs. It would have been a lot duller for sure. Much as I enjoy some of the early work of Cliff Richard, if that’s all we had then the world would be a far more tedious place.
I presume this view has been held by Pastor McConnell for some time. I’m sure he mentioned it at some stage throughout the years during his sermons. His congregation includes senior DUP politicians. Did he not counsel Peter and Iris through their difficulties? They must have know he felt this way. They are obviously fine taking religious and moral guidance from this man.
Much like the uncomfortable closeness of Mervyn Gibson to the DUP, this man seems to hold way too much influence in the unionist half of our government.
Edwin Poots came out in support of Pastor McConnell today. I wonder will Sammy Wilson and the First Minister do the same? I don’t think there can be any half measures. He and his views have to be either totally and utterly condemned or fully supported as a religious doctrine.
Biblical.
Sad about NI21. Basil should just have joined the Alliance and worked his way up. Feel sorry for John. Seems like a nice fellow.
William :
I believe I mentioned the novel as a “fact” and not necessarily wholly “factual”. Like everything else in life , A novel is based on an author’s perception of things from the perspective of a character he has invented. or from himself alone.In this case he had quite a unique experience to draw on which probably had some detrimental effects on his psyche.
When the novel was written in 1969
A drug like LSD will not necessarily cause damage , any more than a dream might , but if the damage has already been caused by some earlier event , it may be re-visited as a nightmarish vision or alternately it may increase an innate understanding of what was previously “mundane” everyday life.
In one sense Vonnegut encapsulates the psychedelic experience in that all the messages, ,” when seen all at once, produce
an image of life that is beautiful and surprising and
deep. There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no
suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects.”
Much like the uncaring universe itself in fact .
To reduce that vision to a story for children, as you have done, may actually be a compliment ,William , because as any parent knows, children can teach adults quite a lot of things that they’ve unknowingly allowed themselves to forget.
..
Whether there is any morality involved in the status of drugs , “illegal”, “legal” or otherwise is very much dependant on time , place and people.
In 1966 its use was made illegal in the UK because its profile had been raised and there was some scaremongering in the popular redtop press such as the Daily Mail.{Not much changes, eh?] .It was made illegal in the USA in 1968. Before that it was perfectly legal to use.
.Something similar happened with alcohol, which is potentially a more dangerous drug but remains socially acceptable even though the damage it does far outstrips any other drug including tobacco. Prohibition was introduced but failed to stop humans from indulging their love of the drug, so it was revoked..
They are currently working towards a ban on tobacco and recently talked about the use and threat of the new e-cigarettes. Ian Paisley Junior will not hear of any of that of course because the manufacture of the drug sustains the local economy in his borough…There’s morality for you, William.
Before its common usage in the 1980’s , cocaine was seen as fairly harmless and had been used for decades across the world as a stimulant or for pain relief.The coca leaves were chewed to relieve fatigue. Queen Victoria was an advocate and it was sold openly on the streets. There are places throughout the world where cannabis and marijuana indulgence is a common practice…….
It’s a moveable feast.
A family friend who unfortunately died from MS last year was one of the first people in Ireland to use marijuana legally as part of a pain -relief experiment..Currently, in Colorado and Washington, the sale and possession of marijuana is legal for both medical and non-medical use. .
I should imagine more states will eventually follow.
paddy, I don’t really know where you are going with this, and I don’t know why I’m still responding. This is a novel mixing some of his horrendous experiences with the downright absurd. I’ve read this book twice so it obviously offered me some level of stimulation. We will agree to disagree, maybe one could see oneself in the Tralfamadorian zoo, and compare it to the jungle where we both live; who says the LSD doesn’t work.
What I meant is, that “morality” as you previously mentioned, usually has very little to do with the fact that a naturally occurring substance on the earth, such as a plant , or something made in a laboratory that alters perception or creates a synesthesia of several of our senses, is banned or made illegal..
It can be an misinformed fear that can force a ban …usually flagged up with some story about some poor fellow leaping off a rooftop in his befuddlement.I mean if that was a case for a drug being made illegal , why is alcohol still sold openly, given that the hospitals are full of drunks at the weekend, in their bloody , beaten up , falling down glory..
That’s all I mean.
RJC :
Just to recap , I never brought up the subject of LSD in reference to “Slaughterhouse Five”, which by the way ,I never felt had too much relevance to the ideas in the book that I was discussing. That was William’s call
.I just thought that a few erroneous points needed clearing up especially when I know damn well what I am talking about in that sphere! Let us compare moralities , indeed!!!
. I do apologise for taking Jude’s column for a very long walk though , but I kinda figured we’d finished with Basil, John and the god old pastor in any case.
That should be …”not to be used casually”
..and by the way , my feelings about all religions are about the same….”monsoon moments in the burqa ” ,notwithstanding, Norma!!
I want teh hate laws used properly .Okay , I don’t want political correctness to run rampant , but I do want seriously deranged and dangerous individuals dealt with by a stron civil law…
Yes , william …it’s good to talk , mate
Aaah , nice one Jude!…and so it goes , indeed!
Paul :
Just in passing ..you said…” Islam is far more diverse and decentralised than Christianity.” while making a point concerning William’s piece ….well , you know , given this Pastor McConnell whom we’re currently discussing is purporting to be a Christian…., Christianity [especially in this part of ireland} also appears to be equally diverse and decentralised.
What we have here is a lucky bag of diverse and varied “Christianities” that each have a made -up interpretation of the latest version and interpretation of an ever -changing, through the ages, book called the Bible.
What we now have here is a right hotch -potch of half- thought out beliefs cobbled onto bits of the Old Testament and ancient Jewish beliefs. Lest we forget that Jesus the Christ was a Jewish man who believed that he was the Son of a God.Given that he had even less information as to the nature of the universe some 2000 years ago , he could be excused his old stone age beliefs. What excuses do our present gang have?
It’s really no mystery that Pastor McConnell has to turn his head inside out to try and explain the unexplainable. when you’ve crawled as far down the pipe as he has in his lifelong ministry there’s no room to turn when he is aggressively questioned in a logical way .Has no one ever asked him a logical question before this ? The poor daft man is prepared to go to prison for a belief that just doesn’t stack up . Then again , someone like Peter Robinson isn’t about to ask him any hard question s..
I don’t believe our “Pastor in the frame” has gotten his head around Christianity ‘s meaning as it stands for the Pope ,the Archbishop of Canterbury , or the Queen Elizabeth herself .
What he would make of Prince Charles’ vision of an All Faith situation is anybody’s guess. People like him only get away with this tosh because they have a platform of support and a “Church” or cult supported by an easily malleable and easily influenced congregation .
The poor bugger will end up in gaol and he won’t even know why he’s there…
So it goes….
William : Hiroshima…
.“the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective”
The Emperor Surrenders..
Re : Slaughterhouse Five
.Do you really believe that it is “only” a “sci-fi” novel . Before it there had never been a novel that approached the trauma and fragmentation of the mind that occurs in war before Vonnegut hung those ideas on the bones of a pulp fictional frame. It sure as hell wasn’t Star Wars. There’s no doubt that those emotions , feelings and fears that Vonnegut experienced in the war…a probable post Traumatic stress was the backbone of the book ….but maybe you missed the point there , william.
sorry paddy, i don’t think I did miss the point, Billy gets abducted by aliens, do you genuinely think Vonnegut was writing that novel when of sound mind, or after all it is a novel.
It’s a marvellous novel and in my experience, people who are mentally disturbed don’t make very good novelists. Although of course I’m not an expert on Vonnegut….
Jude
Not a fan of Tolstoy then? Or Philip K Dick? What about Mark Twain? Graham Greene?
Authors probably exhibit a higher prevalence of mental illness than the rest of the population. The link between mania and creativity is well known.
William :
My feeling is that Vonnegut was as damaged by his war experience as we all were by our experiences here.
I think it all goes into the mix of what we like to call our personality. …what comes out creatively of all that is happening right there in front of you on the virtual page.Why should old Kurt be any different from any of us?
I can see why someone not from Ireland would be shocked at Pastor McConnell’s comments but Catholics here are all too use to such hate speech being directed towards Catholicism from fundamentalist Protestant pastors which has been going on centuries (literally), the most recent and famous being Ian Paisley Snr who stoked up hatred towards Catholicism and Catholics all his life.
Now in this case Muslims are the target. Its disturbing to think that this pastor is the head of a Church which many Unionist politicians attend, one being our First Minister Peter Robinson and another being DUP’s Sammy Wilson. Maybe it is as many of us have long thought that its the fundamentalist protestant pastors who have brainwashed and imbibed an age old hatred of Catholicism and Irishness into Unionists, which has helped significantly to poison our society for decades/centuries. One only has to look at Ian Paisley Snr to see that would be a very plausible theory…..
Totally agree, the bile spouted by fundamental Protestants on top of the `respectable` bigotry of England`s laws of succession are the huge elephants in the room. Until we crack down on those, we will never have true peace.
Hi All, gets my goat when some people start to abuse another made up story by referencing their own made up story, not enough people looking into the pre history of their own religion…..why do some who label themselves Christian refuse to look at the many many older texts that their forefathers have obviously copied and then claimed as the direct word of God, the similarities in Islam are just as ignored. Perhaps it is because as a result of embracing the fact that religiously everyone’s wrong it may lead to a unity and a sense of oneness, there’s an older shared humanity and world wide experience that it seems to me religion and controlled academia were formed to keep from us.