Return to 'The Troubles'?

[Participant]

It's just a flag right? Who cares if it flies or not?

Or is it a massively significant gesture to only let the Union flag fly on certain days above Belfast City Hall?

Still amazes me the amount of violence that goes on around the world in the name of who has administrative powers over your country. Like it really makes that much difference to the pub you go to on Friday nights or the field you run in at the weekends. Obviously a lot of people disagree or there wouldn't be a problem, and taking my stance to its logic conclusion could mean a whole load of nasty things, but all that violence to determine who runs Northern Ireland...?

Besides which the Republic should be begging for Westminster to take over .

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Had a brief search for similar threads and could find nothing, so apologies in advance if there's already a discussion on this.

 

[Nitefly]

It does seem mad that people are so passionate about a flag...

... but as I'm not from there and know little of the culture or the social history, it's easy for me to say that.

 

[Bennie-Mac]

They could have just taken the flag down and nobody would have noticed. They publicised it which was stupid.

I've seen the people "protesting" and they are prime Darwin award candidates, nobody else seems to care.

 

[Scuzi]

They can take our fleg, but they'll never take our DLA.

 

[Puzzled]

I doubt many over here care but it is a rather sensitive issue over there.

Think a lot of the current trouble is more people taking an opportunity to vent about other issues rather than all caring about the flag. Particularly the young over the lack of work.

 

[wozzizname]

If the protesters are representative of the Unionists, one can only hope for a united Ireland sooner rather than later. We have enough knuckle-dragging idiots of our own on the mainland.

 

[setter]

They can take our fleg, but they'll never take our DLA.

Lol, and the thing is. When they do start to riot, they wreck the area that they live in. A few months later, theyre complaining that the area they live in is a **** hole.

 

[spoffle]

This is proof enough that people are idiots and will fight and be violent about anything.

 

[Richie]

This is proof enough that people are idiots and will fight and be violet about anything.

I tend to go Maroon in these situations myself

 

[OhEsEcks]

It's not just about the flag. Many of the areas that are still subject to these outbreaks of violence on both sides feel they've been left behind since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Promises were made about how wonderful everything would be and we're now here 14 years later and next to nothing has changed for these people. And it doesn't help with the English, or even other people in Northern Ireland saying "it's just a flag". To say such is asinine. It's like when people say they should take down the peace walls in Northern Ireland. They're usually people living the furthest from them. Those living by the peace walls don't want them to come down because they're the ones still having things lobbed over said walls onto their houses.

 

[spoffle]

I tend to go Maroon in these situations myself

In the face I assume?

 

[Mr_White]

 

[Destination]

Many of the protestors don't seem to have realised that Belfast City Council isn't the seat of power for politics in Norn iron, thats Stormont.
Many are protesting who are not in the council area, don't pay rates to that council, and this is even with Belfast itself, where many of the protestors actually belong to a neighbouring council area, Castlereagh, which still flies the flag for them.
The chap who is organising a protest march in Dublin (yup in a different country), to ask them to take down their flag is from 35 miles south of Belfast. In his interviews he seems pretty mad that a democratic vote lead to something he didn't want.

The lack of work as stated by MonkeyMan is an issue, but the problem was for generations these people didn't need education, as they were guarentees jobs in the large working places, shipyard, mills, factories etc, but now those business hire on teh same basis as everyone else, not what 'colour' you are, or those businesses are gone, gone to China. So when they still fail to educate themselves, then there won't be a great outlook or future for them.
The young males from many of the demonstrating regions are among the least educated in Norn Iron. Only they can change that, by mindset change, things are not handed to them anymore.

As someone said, we can take their fleg, but never their DLA.
Unfortunately true, on both sides, we fund their lack of education and their lack of requirement to do anything, by actively sponsoring it.

 

[Danthus]

There are still walls diving communities, until they come down nothing will change.

 

[Destination]

There are still politicans dividing communities, until they come down nothing will change.

hmm edited

 

[Danthus]

hmm edited

Some of the "Peace Walls" have been built since the GFA.

 

[OhEsEcks]

Many of the protestors don't seem to have realised that Belfast City Council isn't the seat of power for politics in Norn iron, thats Stormont.
Many are protesting who are not in the council area, don't pay rates to that council, and this is even with Belfast itself, where many of the protestors actually belong to a neighbouring council area, Castlereagh, which still flies the flag for them.
The chap who is organising a protest march in Dublin (yup in a different country), to ask them to take down their flag is from 35 miles south of Belfast. In his interviews he seems pretty mad that a democratic vote lead to something he didn't want.

The lack of work as stated by MonkeyMan is an issue, but the problem was for generations these people didn't need education, as they were guarentees jobs in the large working places, shipyard, mills, factories etc, but now those business hire on teh same basis as everyone else, not what 'colour' you are, or those businesses are gone, gone to China. So when they still fail to educate themselves, then there won't be a great outlook or future for them.
The young males from many of the demonstrating regions are among the least educated in Norn Iron. Only they can change that, by mindset change, things are not handed to them anymore.

As someone said, we can take their fleg, but never their DLA.
Unfortunately true, on both sides, we fund their lack of education and their lack of requirement to do anything, by actively sponsoring it.

Belfast City Hall is where they signed the Ulster Covenant. It's incredibly symbolic for Unionism. Even more so than Stormont. Take into account that they celebrated 100 years since the signing of the Covenant late last year and a month or so later Sinn Fein call for the flag to be entirely removed... Sinn Fein knew exactly what kind of response making such a call would get when the centenary was just celebrated and ultra-Britishness was fresh in Unionist minds.

Willy Frazer is an idiot too. I don't think he was thinking at all when he decided he wanted to go South of the border to Dublin. Apparently they've delayed it until later in the year. But there's more than a flag issue behind him wanting to go to Dublin. He wants to bring more attention to alleged collusion between the IRA and Guards.

 

[Pestilence]

Yet there are only still walls because the people living on either side can't bloody behave themselves. Constant *** for tat, "It wasn't us who started it", "We didn't throw nothing", "Some big boys did it and ran away".

In the grand scheme of things, they're a minority. There will be no return to the days of the Troubles, just a bunch of mindless ****holes attacking police and wrecking their own communities because they feel they have an excuse. The same idiots are out any time they feel something, however trivial, antagonises them -- whether that be the removal of a mural, a wayward march, or someone in a Celtic top giving them the finger.

SAVE OUR FLEGGGGGG!

 

[eddiemcgarrigle]

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[Dave****]