Solaris' old friends ruin the Queen's visit for the rest of us

[KiplingsCat]

Credit? What for? What good did they do?

The British invaded the country, stole all the land and forced the peasantry to live on tiny allotments of land which were only suitable for potato growing. As the virus or whatever it was infected Irish potatoes it killed of the sole food supply for a huge proportion of the population. While up to a million people were starving to death, Britain was exporting more food from Ireland than was being exporting. They used soldiers to defend the exports from the hungry natives and people who stole bread from the rich to feed their families were exported by the British to Australia.

How can you give Britain any positive credit when they were the direct cause of the famine?

Um...I can't be sure, but I think you completely misinterpreted what I said. I'll be a little simpler: the direct cause of the famine, by which I mean the thing that made the potatoes die, was the potato blight. No blight = potatoes for everyone. It's true that the actions of the British government didn't help the situation whatsoever, but without the potato blight, which was a natural disaster, the famine wouldn't have happened. That's what I meant by giving credit to the potato blight, in a bleakly ironic sort of way. I never said one bit about giving the British credit for anything (although I do like their underground rail system, and I think their contribution to both classic and modern literature has been rather wonderful).

 

[ríomhaire]

Ok Solaris. I'm going to ask you a simple question. What do you want to happen with Ireland? Seriously? I know you want the Duke of Devonshire (who owns the river Blackwater and leaves it completely open to fishermen without any restrictions) and the rest of the aristocrats who own Irish land to give them up. And you want the whole island as one country. So what do you want to do with the Unionists? Should they all be kicked out of the country? What should happen with the PSNI? How will you deal with the inevitable unionist terrorist groups who will fight for their right to rejoin the country they belonged to (sound familar)? Should all the Northern Irish citizens who want to be part of the UK be ignored or lined up out the back and shot BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE FREEDOM FIGHTERS WHO CAPTURED A BISCUIT FACTORY IN NINETEEN SIXTEEN!!!! *Hand over heart for IRELAND*

Edit: That ended up not being as simple as I meant. Oh well.

 

[Solaris]

Ok Solaris. I'm going to ask you a simple question. What do you want to happen with Ireland? Seriously? I know you want the Duke of Devonshire (who owns the river Blackwater and leaves it completely open to fishermen without any restrictions) and the rest of the aristocrats who own Irish land to give them up. And you want the whole island as one country. So what do you want to do with the Unionists? Should they all be kicked out of the country? What should happen with the PSNI? How will you deal with the inevitable unionist terrorist groups who will fight for their right to rejoin the country they belonged to (sound familar)? Should all the Northern Irish citizens who want to be part of the UK be ignored or lined up out the back and shot BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE FREEDOM FIGHTERS WHO CAPTURED A BISCUIT FACTORY IN NINETEEN SIXTEEN!!!! *Hand over heart for IRELAND*

Edit: That ended up not being as simple as I meant. Oh well.

Personally I'd like to see a new 32county Republic created. Possibly with an autonomous Ulster region. Total separation of church and state, integrated schooling, removal of citizenship and deportation to England for the inevitable Loyalist terrorists.

Edit: At the same time, I'm somewhat happy if the status-quo remained. It's possible in my mind to call oneself a Republican and yet at the same time support SF, who when you get down to it are abandoning Republican principles.

I think the future is quite bright for Ireland as long as people are peaceful.

 

[KiplingsCat]

Where should the inevitable Republican terrorists be deported?

(By the way, Solaris, to try and get this back on track, the Queen really isn't a terrible person. She sure is pretty damn good at waving. I'm glad she came to Cork and waved at us, and that nobody was immature enough to try and stop her).

 

[Bob_Marley]

Where should the inevitable Republican terrorists be deported?

Because Solaris' chief policy advisor is seemingly Robert Mugabe?

 

[15357]

You know, I really never did know about the tensions between the Irish and the British over history and et cetera, and this thread has enlightened me a little bit.

Go freedom.