[lbo-talk] FYI & Comment if you Wish

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Wed Mar 10 22:59:25 PST 2010


'I know nothing about the history of the IRA, but I have never met an Irish person (I mean actual Irish people, not the descendents of people who left in 1850 and fantasize about Glorious Ireland) who thinks that the IRA have been anything more than a glorified Mafia within recent memory.'

It must have been the non-actual Irish people who elected first Bobby Sands in Fermanagh and South Tyrone, and who continue to elect Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams and the rest to the assembly in Stormont. It is true that in the South. most consider the post-independence IRA in the north to be of questionable legitimacy, though I don't see them asking to be readmitted to the British empire.

Maybe it is just the kind of people you meet, Chris, or the vibe you give off that leads them to mask their views. Or perhaps, as your distinction between actual- and non- implies, you only hear what you want to.



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