George Orwell wasn’t the only writer to see a link between the language politicians use and the quality of their thinking . Catholic writer and Trappist monk Thomas Merton also had a keen eye for the way that twisted expression often reflected twisted thinking: “Double-talk, tautology, ambiguous cliche, self-righteous and doctrinaire pomposity and pseudoscientific jargon” were the kind of indicators that, he believed, should set our crap-detectors quivering.
Which brings us to Edwin Poots, the DUP politician who believes that the world started 6,000 years ago. He spoke at the MacGill Summer School in Donegal last night. He reflected on the theory of Peter Robinson, the former DUP leader, who said that we mightn’t be in our present political mess if Martin McGuinness was still alive. Mr Poots’s judgement: “It is not a theory that I find myself able to disagree very substantially with.”
Have you read an uglier sentence this year? Orwell was caustic about the use of the double negative, and mocked those who’d use expressions such as “Not unpleasant” when they meant “pleasant” or “Not unattractive” when they meant “attractive”. Like Merton, he believed that when ideas emerged in deformed language, it indicated deformed thought behind the language.
Of course, Poots spoke as he did so that he wouldn’t be seen as regarding McGuinness as a great man. That wouldn’t go down well with the people who admire and elect Poots. And so it comes out in gnarled form.
Since he’s speaking in a Gaeltacht area, Poots expresses his admiration of the Irish language and how good it is that there are those who use it as it should be, not politicised and not as a cultural weapon.
I sometimes feel sorry for Edwin. He wades into debates, whether theological or cultural, and shows only his own shambling take on the subject. He ends his comments on the Irish language with what he perhaps thinks of as the ultimate compliment:
“Anyone who speaks and loves the Irish language is as much a part of Northern Ireland life as a collaret-wearing Orangeman”.
Maybe the DUP don’t do irony.
A not uninteresting piece which I did not unenjoy and is not undeserving of undiseregarding.
My not ungenerous thanks, Brian…
Surely this small effort by Edwin should be welcomed and not mocked.
It is possible the DUP are making tentative moves on an ILA and I have thought for a while it is something they will agree to (in some form) in the short to medium term.
No doubt they will try to make it part of a deal to their tactical advantage but that is what all parties try to do.
As for his belief in a young earth it is ludicrous but no more so than all the other daft stuff religion forces down our throats, from miraculous weeping statues to biscuits that turn to flesh and on to heaven hell, angels demons and so forth… oh the hilarity.!
Contorted thinking there Gio…..we should be glad that a bigot insulted ,once again , the indigenous language of our country. We don’t need permission from the DUP, or anyone else to be Irish and behave as the native populations in any normal society do. You assume that because HE decided ,when he heard Irish spoken in the Gaeltacht , that is was being used as he thought it should ,he was making tentative moves towards an ILA. That act has already been agreed….. end of !
It must have been signed in invisible ink because the DUP say it isn’t there and nobody from the mother of parliaments has said they are wrong.
Eolach
Nothing is ever agreed until it happens!
Granted this was a small thing but these things don’t happen by accident and it suggests to me a tactical move by the DUP.
Did he insult anyone? His remarks were a bit patronising yes but it is surely a small step in the right direction.
Do you really feel the need to belittle peoples’ religious beliefs Gio, here was me believing that you were better than that. You disappoint me Gio.
James
I don’t care what people believe in private.
I am just pointing out that when Jude and others keep bringing up the beliefs of Edwin Poots or other young earthers they should realise that the more widespread religious beliefs such as I mentioned are just as daft.
James, you need to get with the program concerning this blog. Gio is allowed to write his views even if they are offensive due to his stipulation that they are but his “thoughts”. Baffling I know, but everybody else on here is not permitted to write their thoughts unless backed up with ‘evidence’. If one does not adhere to this program you can be sure Gio will tell the teacher on ye. Don’t fall for his baiting and winding up; he’s a master at it.
wolfie
There is a difference between having a go at a set of beliefs (playing the ball) and gratuitously offending an individual (playing the man).
But if you keep on throwing insults you are likely to bring about the end of commenting on this site so maybe you should think on that.
It is almost as if every time a Unionist reaches out the hand of friendship and understanding to Republicans it is thrown back in their face…doublethink! Oh the irony!
A drowning man also reaches out his hand…..maybe to avoid the crocodiles.
This is not branch being extended, it would have been like Martin McGuinness holding his nose whilst shaking hands with the Queen – a remark the DUP made whilst they were being made to work with their almost equally elected partners in government.
He did it openly and without shame despite what the inevitable hardline republican backlash (something the DUP should pay attention to).
I know the DUP are playing catch up in the 21st century but they are still back in the 19th somewhere where childish jabs, and gufawing at each others unfunny and meanly intended jokes, are every day occurrences.
This is not a branch its the DUP being as immature as they always have been.
Lets see the real branch, one where one of the oldest languages in Europe isnt compared to a bunch of men celebrating mass murder 400 years ago.
Gio, try as you might you just can’t hide your bigotry…..”weeping statues, communion, angels” all beliefs of some Catholics. I am sure your belief system allows for people to believe what they find gives them comfort.
As for Edwin Poots & the Irish language, well of course he should respect it especially when he is in a Gaeltacht area, no need for sycophancy…………same when Arlene went to a school in Newry……………………….not forgetting the truly awful embarrassment of Mary Mc Aleese POI, “wow, wow” to QE2.
Bridget
I have no bigotry towards any religion, I view them all with equal scepticism.
Do you see any difference between the credibility of young earth belief and belief in transubstantiation?
one I believe is religious belief, for example that there is a higher being or a spiritual life, the other is scientific belief for example the earth is round……………
Bridget
Both are ideas that come from different interpretations of the powers of the same supernatural entity.
How is transubstantiation any less ridiculous than a young earth?
my belief that the earth is millions of years old & is round is based on facts, transubstantiation is a matter of personal belief based on faith i.e. the belief that which appears unbelievable. I do not share that belief, however, I respect the belief & the people who do. May I say for someone who holds no truck with religion, you seemed well informed especially in the beliefs of the Catholic Church………..your comments “biscuits that turn to flesh” reminds me of Ian Paisley when speaking at Oxford University trampled on the host……………..or in your parlance “biscuits”
Bridget
I try to avoid the subject because inevitably I end up being rude about what people believe.
But when the belief in a young earth is constantly brought up as some kind of indication of idiocy I feel I have to point out that all of this stuff is unscientific and has no basis in fact. Transubstantiation is not a matter of personal belief if it is claiming the physical change of inanimate matter into flesh. That is scientifically testable.
I know far too much about religion from my own life experience Bridget and I have seen the harm it does.
Given Mr Poots’ track record …and recorded track record at that , I’m inclined to believe that any notion of “outreach” has an ulterior motive for himself and the rest of the DUP. It’s a fact that they had their great moment in the sun of Westminster and although they purloined a Magical £1Billion from the Money Tree, they were regarded with opprobrium and suspicion and essentially came home to an empty room with no one to congratulate them….. and worse still, no one to crow to in an Executive.. Even Worse still again , last night on television , Mr Brokenshire,, himself absent-minded floated the notion that the miraculous £1 Billion might not even be valid ,or indeed a done deed at all, unless there was a functioning Executive to divvy it out. Something that hasn’t been noted before but worth exploring.That might actually mean that they have brought home a bag full of invisible magic beans that only they can see.They only become visible if they can form a power -sharing Executive with nationalists .It’s hard to see that happening when many do not want it resurrected at all….ergo a bag full of nothing.
The DUP still yammer on about SF and their growing shopping list, their cultural war, their red lines etc. But it is not SF who are laying down the lines to the DUP. It is the SF voters who are laying down the lines to the SF political party and they know which side their bread is buttered on. SF, as a party, are uait/chugat about the language but not about potential loss of votes. It’s funny that in Wales and Scotland, where there is no vicious, sectarian animosity to the indigenous language, both languages felt the need for legal protection. Here, it seems, we are too mature to need protection.
As a matter of accuracy, Glenties isn’t actually in the Gaeltacht – it’s close to it but not in it. Níl mé ach a rá!
The bigotry of ‘political’ unionism with all its inherent ignoble trappings does I believe have the positive effect of making the rest of us feel morally superior and encourages us to make constant notes to self, “must live life by acting in an opposite manner at all times.” Is that harsh?
It’s probably a slightly rose tinted and complacent to view ones own “community” (Christ I hate that phrase) as morally superior to another.
If nothing else it’s a horrible generalisation of huge swathes of complex and varied human beings.
Unionists believe all SF voters to be rabid republicans just waiting the chance to repeat the 1641 uprising. Can we presume that all unionist voters want a rerun of the B specials and 1920 atrocities?
fiosrach
Have you ever actually spoken to a unionist?
I am truly amazed Fiosrach that you know what’s in the mind of every Unionist.
Generalisation and stereotyping doesn’t really help things.
I was complaining about stereotyping especially when it is one sided. And yes I do speak to unionists but only the liberal ones as the others don’t mix with usuns.
fiosrach
Do the liberal ones believe that all SF voters are rabid republicans too?
Or would you say that it would be better to revise your statement to
‘some unionists’?
Fiosrach I’ve been kicking around this blog site now for a fair while and in all my time reading the blogs and comments only one section of individuals (Unionists) have been stereotyped and generalised.
Well,let’s start. All unionists believe that this part of Ireland should be ruled by the neighbouring island. All unionists are suspicious of all nationalists as all their moves are Trojan horses. They believe that claims of discrimination are vastly exaggerated. How they explain the popular uprising of the 70s, I don’t know. They believe that this ersatz statelet is legitimate. They believe that the free state doesn’t want us and can’t afford us. That’s a start for you letsgetalongerists.
“All unionists believe that this part of Ireland should be ruled by the neighbouring island. ”
That’s correct as proportional members of that political entity.
“All unionists are suspicious of all nationalists as all their moves are Trojan horses. ”
Well I certainly don’t believe that and neither do many/most unionists I’d say. Your probably right in regards that Unionists (including myself) distrust SF and believe much of what they do is a Trojan horse to a UI. But can you blame us, the great leader Gerry Adams called equality aTrojan horse.
“They believe that claims of discrimination are vastly exaggerated.”
Some do some don’t I can’t say whether your right or wrong on that one.
“They believe that this ersatz statelet is legitimate. ”
Yes we do believe Northern Ireland/the statelet is legitimate. We believe that it is because by any evidence I can see the majority of the people living in the 6 counties want it that way.
“They believe that the free state doesn’t want us and can’t afford us. ”
We would need a referendum to determine that. On the economics it would undoubtedly be painful.
Nothing wrong with being a letsgetontogtherist. I think most of the people in NI/ the world are I’d say. Most people want to get on with life.
The answer to point 1is enough for me. Say Tyrone imported arms from Saudi Arabia and threatened violence unless they were allowed to set up the state of Tyrone where nationalists were in the majority, how would you feel about that?
fiosrach
Even supposing you are right that all unionists believe what you say (although I am pretty sure they do not) none of that is the same as believing all republicans to be rabid is it?
Gio. I was pointing out that each side has got the others typecast. Who is the wrongest?
fiosrach
If that is your point then fair enough, a lot of stereotyping goes on from both sides.
I don’t know who is the wrongest.
There does seem to be people who fit the stereotypes on both sides.
It’s a hard question Fiosrach how far should self determination extend.
Should the village of Crossmaglen be allowed to join the ROI?
Should the town of Ballymena be allowed to remain in the Union if a border poll is lost?
Its hard to know where to draw the line.
Oh no it’s not!
Now we’ve descended into the realm of pantomime fiosrach.
But for the craic I can’t help myself.
O yes it isss.
Lol
Look out behind you, Scott. LOL.
Mr Poots is entitled to his views
Interesting to read how such views would not be allowed by those who want an equal independent Ireland-we have an idea of what such a State would be for those who do not conform
The DUP has already agreed to Gaelic language legislation, but SF have turned it down because they won’t agree to Ulster-Scots provisions being included as well.
Let the Scots Irish fight their own kulturkampf.
And the Klingons.
Poots is rightly mocked for believing the world.is only 6,000 years old.
I look forward to Catholic politicians being mocked for believing that communion wafers turn into the actual flesh of Christ.