I created this blog in order to respond to a blog that was limited to "team members". I feel that such propaganda as appears to exist on this particular blog should not go unanswered.
So here is the response I had attempted to make to the above blog:
You ought to keep up with current events, never mind historical ones. The PSNI always employed Roman Catholics. From the minute the Royal Ulster Constabulary was created (from the Royal Irish Constabulary), it held 1,000 places specifically for Roman Catholics, out of a mandate for 3,000 in total. That roughly reflected the population ratio at the time (in terms of religious make-up). I believe through its history, the police force in Northern Ireland had anything from 8% to 12% Roman Catholics. However, many boycotted the force simply because it was a government institution (as most police forces are throughout Europe).
Another reason the numbers were so low was because of the IRA, as you rightly pointed out. Intimidation of RCs and murder of Roman Catholic police officers dissuaded RCs from joining up in all but the smallest of numbers.
Thankfully though, for the last five or six years, RCs have been free to join and representation has already increased to the highest it has been in the history of policing in Northern Ireland.. since the RIC anyway.
The glib attitude you take to Paisley's speech ignores completely the fact that so many have died or suffered at the hands of Sinn Féin. If you feel that Paisley has something in common with leaders in apartheid South Africa, then that is but one side of a coin which carries on its obverse the similarity between the likes of Gerry Adams and Adolf Hitler - both used ideas of racial superiority and attitudes of fascism.
'Shamrocks' appears to be a male from Los Angeles in the United States of America. I'm tempted to say, "Who'd've thunk it?!"
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3 comments:
"Dal":
1) the comments thing has been fixed. feel free to comment away.
2)"I believe through its history, the police force in Northern Ireland had anything from 8% to 12% Roman Catholics" - that's far fewer than the "1,000" of the total "3,000" members right? The RUC had about 10% Catholics, when the larger population is/was around 40% RC.
3) This site is full of contempt for the IRA and the Sinn Fein. You won't have to go far to find that, and in fact in my post you could read that I don't like that parts of west Belfast are run by the IRA. My criticism of Paisley is not mutually exclusive to criticism of the nationalists, and the two issues have nothing in common. Criticism of N. Irish politicians is not a zero sum game.
4) Adams is a monster (and I've written that before a few times), but speaking of glib, you should not mention Hitler in the same breath of either Paisly or Adams, and no, apartheid SA is not the "equal" of Nazi Germany. Carelessly using "nazis" as a point of reference cheapens what the nazis did.
Thanks for your reply Shamrocks.
Your point in 2) is the same as my understanding of it - from memory. Between 8 and 12% at any given time in its history. The 1,000 reserved places were only kept open for a period of time as, understandably, those positions had to be filled in order to have a police force for the fledgling state.
Unfortunately that meant that the vast majority of them would be from one religious persuasion, grouping all non-Catholics together of course.
The percentage of Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland around 1921 would have been around the 36% mark, yup.
Your point in 3), regarding "this site" - I'm sure you mean your blogsite, yeah? Thank you for letting me know that criticism in your blogsite is even-handed in that sense. I have no reason to doubt you, though I'm not going to trawl (read: troll) through your whole blog, I'm sure you'll be happy to hear! I'm certainly happy to let people who might read this blog to know that your blogsite is even-handed, and they can judge for themselves. I glad you got the opportunity to tell your 'side-of-the-story', as it were.
Indidentally, how did you get to here? Incoming links..?
I'm aware of the possible invalidation of argument when it comes to comparing Hitler and the Nazis to any given subject, but I also believe that many of the things that were done by people in the Republican movement (and also by the likes of William McGrath amongst Loyalists) were similar to the actions and propaganda of Hitler, and actions taken under motivation for a 'racially pure' 'Gaelic'-only, 'Celtic' and Roman Catholic society are obviously similar.
So while I agree that reductio ad Hitlerum isn't necessarily a great argument for the reason you give, I also stand by my argument that comparison of Northern Ireland with apartheid South Africa is even less valid for the same reason: Troubled Northern Ireland is not the "equal" of apartheid South Africa.
By the way, I hope you don't mind the pun on your blog name! I was annoyed by that one particular blog, and was trying to think of a name that hadn't already been used. Apologies if anything came across as being personal.
I tend to think of Gerry Adams as being more in line with someone like Al Capone, rather than Adolf Hitler. Both Al and Gerry have a certain suave, romanticized image among certain people, which seems to obscure the truth of their actions (terrorism, organized crime, etc.) Thankfully, no movies have as yet been made to further glorify the romantic image of Gerry Adams, at least not that I know of.
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