A Bigoted New Year

Sean Mallory gives a flavour of what to expect in 2016. Sean Mallory is a Tyrone republican.

  • With freedom of speech comes the right to express the freedom to choose to listen.” - my auld man! 
 
Not long in to the New Year and the resolutions of parity of esteem and cultural respect, agreed by all political parties in the myriad of agreements since the Good Friday Agreement, have faded back to poignant and celestial ideas from the bad old days of the conflict. Borne out by Foster’s and Nesbitt’s responses to media questions on the possible attendance of either at any event commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising. 
 
Foster and Nesbitt have both ruled out any participation whatsoever in any of the events organised throughout Ireland to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising.  
 
Foster, keen to stamp her new ‘manly’ authority on the DUP and to allay the fears of the old DUP misogynist guard, has unabashedly stated that she will under no circumstances be participating in any commemoration event for 1916 as it was an attack against the UK to which she has bequeathed her political self too.(1)
 
In other words the lady-boy isn’t for turning and she will endeavour to retain Unionism’s business as usual agenda. An agenda made up of bigotry, sectarianism and racial hatred of all things Irish.  
 
In the same report, Nesbitt, not as blunt as Foster as he - unlike her - has no longer the millstone of proving one’s loyalty to all things bigoted hanging around his neck, but with the same level of disgust at such a thought, has intimated that he will also not be attending any commemorating event for the same reasons and his party will continue to lay wreaths at the graves of the dead British soldiers killed during the rising in Grange-Gorman military cemetery in Dublin. 
 
Pastor James McConnell can now relax after winning his court case of being accused of grossly offensive remarks and in making such remarks by improper use of a public electronic communications network. A victory not just for McConnell but also for free speech and one which this avid raconteur is in full support off. The judge ruled that the remarks were offensive but not grossly offensive under the law. 
 
Obviously, grossly offensive remarks, unlike offensive remarks, must meet some additional criteria in order to be declared as such. What that criteria is, was not expounded or clarified by the judge. So we can only surmise that perhaps, if Pastor McConnell had made the remarks at a graveside while one of his flock held the ‘good book’ aloft from which he regularly reads from, or if he had stated that putting a bullet in the heads of Muslims was more acceptable than a prison sentence, if - since he is ‘against their theology and what they believe in’ - he had burned the Koran or even if his remarks had been made against the Caliphate (replace with British State) and called for the right to bear arms against that State would his actions have been considered offensive or grossly offensive?  
 
PUP Billy Hutchinson has joined in with Jim Rodgers and attacked the invite by Belfast City Council to the Republic’s qualifying team (supported by the norn iron manager’s family) and the ‘norn iron’ qualifying team (unsupported by the norn iron managers family) to a reception at City Hall to congratulate them both on their success. Hutchinson displayed his bigoted narrow mindedness by singling out James McClean as a potential catalyst for trouble if he were to attend. McClean, who has made his political views very clear and run contrary to the cosmetic ideology of norn iron society, is persona non grata because of such views. 
 
Rodgers, in his usual sectarian and racist form, amateurishly fumbled and stumbled around to try and put a halt to this invite by stating that the mainland teams of Wales and England should be invited and couldn’t for the life of him understand why only the Republic and norn iron were. Very puzzling Jim indeed!  
 
And so, will this be the year that sports people like James McClean be perceived on the same level as those Unionist rugby players who don the green jersey of Ireland and are not thrashed or determined to be trouble makers by the Irish media because of their political views?  
 
Will this be the year that in November, when the British are given the ‘freedom of expression’ to lay wreaths of poppies at the graves of their war dead in Ireland, will they complain if that ‘freedom of expression’ is removed? Considering that it is the current political children of those same people who put those soldiers there in the first place that graciously grants them this expression! Would Cameron reciprocate the gesture if the shoe was on the other foot and will nationalist politicians give a second thought to laying a wreath at Belfast City Hall cenotaph or will Kenny, having his history slapped down in to the mud and so derisorily tread upon, be in attendance in Enniskillen this November? 
 
Now, the English Monarchy can rest at ease knowing that their interests in Ireland are under newly elected High Sherriff of Belfast, Jim Rodgers, who for the next 12 months will no doubt fervently offer his own persona to shield and protect the Windsors ... a loyal duty which he has already stretched to their national football team! 
 
In this year 2016, under British Unionism’s asymmetrical politics of disrespect and, pompous arrogance, those who hold a difference of opinion to them can look forward to just as much grace as they have/had afforded on the Irish people 100 years ago. But I leave you with these words that come from a mouth that couldn’t spell ‘freedom of expression’ or even equality!
 
"Anyone who is engaged in public debate or speech ought to be happy at the result today. We live in a free society and in a free society, people should be free to express the beliefs that they hold."
 
 
DUP Sammy Wilson speaking on Talk Back on Pastor McConnell’s court case victory. Profound words that Wilson fails to put in to practice or respect....well, only if you are on his side!
  
 (1) Belfast Telegraph 08/01/2016.
 
 
 

23 comments:

  1. Another rabid hypocritical piece by the Tyrone Bigot. One small point Sean seems to be blissfully ignorant of is that the entire hoo-ha regarding the joint celebration of the National football teams is that it was obviously a tactical decision by the shinners in City Hall to take away some of the spotlight from Northern Ireland's success in qualification for the European Championship.

    I support the idea of one football team for Ireland, but this is just antagonism by Sinn Fein at a base level.

    In the interests of peace, why could they not be on separate days?

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  2. Steve,

    even if you are right about SF motives the unionist motives for rejecting the proposal look pretty much like entrenched bigotry. It seems there is no escaping the sectarian morass that continuously sucks people in - when nationalists ask for something which ostensibly is not sectarian it is depicted as sectarian. When unionists reject it that too is depicted as sectarian (though in this case I see few plausible alternative explanations). From where I sit it just looks pretty much the sectarian quagmire it always was. Maybe it is a cop out but I am glad I am out.

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  3. Steve R

    Will the Paisley's return the wooden bowl turned from a fallen tree in the Boyne Valley? It was presented to them on behalf of the Nationalists of Ireland. Will the Orange Order and the British Legion refuse or return any contributions or gestures of goodwill extended to them from various senior Irish political figures in attempt at reconciliation? And what of their claimed loyalty to the Queen after she has previously paid her respects to Ireland's fallen dead when, for the first time, she arrived in Ireland by invitation and not invasion?

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  4. AM,

    True. Unfortunately the petty sectarian politics overshadow the remarkable achievements of both teams.

    I no longer class myself as a 'soft unionist', I am more interested in the working class working together to improve their lot.

    May I ask, where you see yourself sitting on the political spectrum? I understand sensitivities so I will not be offended if you choose not to respond.

    Many thanks.

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  5. Christy,

    Sorry, not sure why you ask this of me? I dislike the DUP and Paisley due to their inherent sectarianism. Likewise the Orange Order.

    I also think the idea of 'royalty' is antiquated and while I wish no-one any harm, I would prefer if Mrs Windsor resigned and the whole trappings of monarchy were sold off and put into the public purse for use in hospital and education.

    But I DO support NI as my football team, it's hard to change something so ingrained from such a young age as following George Best, Norman Whiteside et al.

    Football isn't life and death, it's much more important than that.

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  6. A.M.

    "From where I sit it just looks pretty much the sectarian quagmire it always was. Maybe it is a cop out but I am glad I am out."

    Amen big man!
    There's great freedom in coming out ^_^

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  7. Steve,

    it is not a question of sensitivities but of discomfort caused not by your question but by an awareness of occupying that intellectually uncomfortable space of being a republican who believes in the right of people to dissent from the nation much the same as they have a right to dissent from a religion. And in our intolerant milieu where some advocates of nationalism exhibit stridency that rings fascistic, that while not a cause for discomfort can add to it.

    I suppose idealistically speaking it might be better if our starting point is not striving to be this that or the other, but simply one of trying not to be a cunt.

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  8. Sean Mallory says

    Steve Ricardos ..... it was the SDLP who proposed it not the Shinners....

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  9. A.M.

    "I suppose idealistically speaking it might be better if our starting point is not striving to be this that or the other ... but simply one of trying not to be a cunt."

    And when our starting point is not striving to be this that or the other but simply one of trying not to be a cunt ... then what happens?

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  10. Steve

    I asked it off you because you seem to strongly reject the author of the blog for his criticisms of Foster and Nesbit. The author writes mostly about this being the centenary year of the 1916 Rebellion and unionism is dismissing out of hand any suggestions that they respect the historical importance of that to the majority on this island. I was simply pointing out that unionism seems to think that only its cultural or historical identity be recognised and respected but they can be as insulting to nationalists as they please. Your response appears to bolster that view, in fact you actively disregard the subject matter to go on about the importance of football to you because according to you the author is a sectarian bigot. With your professed solidarity with the working class one would have thought you would have been more supportive or professed some respect for the Insurrectionists who are attributed with starting the ball rolling on the demise of the British Empire? So I find your remarks confusing and contradictory.

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  11. Henry Joy,

    what happens then is that the cunts will call you a cunt for not being a cunt!

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  12. Christy,

    That was most definitely NOT my intention and my apologies if you think it was.

    Republican's have equal right to honour their dead just as much as Unionists. I would have no issue attending a commemoration at City Hall for the Easter Rising and I also think the idiotic Unionist parties are missing out a chance to show respect.

    My issue with Sean Mallory's contributions to this site is they come across as being very bitter without overtly saying so. Glasshouse's spring to mind when I read his invective.

    I was suggesting the separate days of celebration (with regard to the football teams) to avoid any potential for violence, not for Mallory's criticism of Foster and Nesbitt who I have no love for anyway.

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  13. AM

    "what happens then is that the cunts will call you a cunt for not being a cunt"!

    Great teachers will by their nature stand outside the ideologies of their time. Inherently they develop a more refined perception, a richer personality and a broader world-view.
    Achieving refined perception ('not being a cunt') necessitates the calming down or the diminishing of the more base ('cuntish') aspects of personality such as vanity, greed, self obsession etc.
    Humans driven by those drives and who allow themselves to become obsessed with such traits ('cunts') become unable to stand back from or see beyond their own 'cuntishness'.
    As a rule, the more one allows oneself to become fuelled by strong emotion ('being a cunt') the less capacity one has for refined perception ('not being a cunt').

    Its hardly surprising then that the raucous baying of the herded hounds continues ... that they continue shouting down and drowning out the gentle whispers of wisdom.

    Here's to you sharing more of your refined perceptions in 2016!

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  14. Steve

    Your perception of the author might be right I simply do not know. But as a football fan you should know that observers watching the game seldom appreciate playing the man and not the ball.

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  15. Henry Joy,

    long ago I came to the question if republicanism is so good and the rest so bad how do we have so many cunts on our side?

    Nah ... something does not add up even to me who is pretty much useless at doing the math.

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  16. nobody should be arsed what the leaders of unionism think about anything. they are maniacs, but because u hav to deal with them on an ongoing basis, u tend to forget that. they are fucking maniacs who will support the slaughter of millions of innocents anywhere on this beautiful planet if their beloved queen and brit govt say its ok. fuck the lot of them. they are world leaders in the horrible bastard league and no self respecting irishman or woman should give a fuck what these weirdos think about the rising.i am praying for the great awakening of the great english people who, thanks to net, are begining to see the colossal perversion at the top of their society. rise up gallant englishmen and women against the perverts of power who feed on your childrens blood and have been for centuries. free england. david bowie and lemmy rip.

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  17. Steve so in your words..."I support the idea of one football team for Ireland" me too. We'd deffo do ok in any Euro competition. Who knows we may have already done a Greece by now, if we had one footy team...How does the idea of having one health system for Ireland sit with you? Maybe one education system or one police force bashing your head in....What about the idea of 'One Ireland one vote'....?


    "In the interests of peace, why could they not be on separate days?"

    You (like most everyone else came at this from the wrong angel)...Fcuk peace for a min or three. I am with you one having events celebrating both teams on separate days....What would happen is after the events is both sets of fans would head of to bars, clubs....maybe a restaurant and make a night of it and pump money in to the local economy....

    Steve don't be shy and shout "I am click here..you are deffo border line Republican.

    "I no longer class myself as a 'soft unionist', I am more interested in the working class working together to improve their lot. "

    Means you are on the left side of things...(good complaint to have)

    "I also think the idea of 'royalty' is antiquated and while I wish no-one any harm, I would prefer if Mrs Windsor resigned and the whole trappings of monarchy were sold off and put into the public purse for use in hospital and education."

    Say's it all....You are deffo a border line Republican Steve. You can dress it up as you please but a Deuce & a quarter ain't no Cadillac ...

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  18. Frankie,

    I am from a very loyalist area in Belfast, from a very staunch loyalist family with generations of service to the British Army in my family.

    Am I supposed to be a sheep? Or am I not allowed to think for myself?

    While you are trolling me and quoting mining, read a bit more of what I said. I am an Atheist, and as a natural consequence I cannot in my conscience believe in the 'divine right of kings'.

    Republican, I can see why you think that. Perhaps you are right, maybe a 'British Republican'? If such a thing exists? I am being facetious..

    I am most definitely a Socialist however, like there was in the Protestant working class before sectarianism raised it's head. Even today the PUP have quite clearly a socialist voice in their party rooms.

    Like I have said before, I wonder how Billy Hutchenson reconciles his atheism with the British Royal family?

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  19. Steve,

    Are you part of the 'sheeple' and can't think for yourself? No idea. But what we both know is calling me a troll is stretching things a tad. After all this is our first 'exchange' anywhere on this rock.

    So you are from a Loyalist part of Belfast (I'm from Ardoyne myself) who's family is steeped in Loyalism and loads of family members who served for King/Queen, a Loyalist etc......

    But you openly embrace the notion of a one Ireland footy team, deffo on the left side of the political fence (you said you are socialist<----again a good complaint to have)..You also wouldn't lose a minutes sleep if all the Crown Jewels got handed back to the public purse and used for education etc...And the German/Greek parasitic family in Buck Hse fended for themselves...And you couldn't care less about main stream Unionism.

    So who exactly are you 'loyal' to? What's wrong with Republicanism that you find offensive Steve?

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  20. My apologies Frankie, I may have been too harsh, I have been getting irked lately with something else.

    But I'm not a 'loyalist' Frankie? And I don't find anything 'offensive' about Republicanism, can't remember ever saying I did?

    I dislike immensely the emerging revisionism in some quarters which leads invariably toward fascism, something that has plagued us for far too long.

    But for all of this shite, convince me, convince me that your political aspirations are better than someone elses.

    You see, 99% of people from the north/NI whatever you want to call it hitch their political obedience to that of their family or community. How about the fucking waste of space politicians in Stormont convince US that they should be there getting well paid in the first place? Why do we just blindly accept this?

    Why the fuck are the people under financial pressure due to 'austerity' measures caused by willful financial corruption by the rich? Why aren't the rich made to pay their fair share of taxes instead of socialising the debt and privatizing the profits?

    This is what I find offensive Frankie.

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  21. Steve, these "fcuking waste of space politicians" were voted in by the likes of you. I have yet to find anyone credible enough to openly opposed and end to fractional reserve banking..So I have never voted.

    Why people keep voting in the same people...No idea....

    (I'll answer your other points later).



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  22. I didn't vote for them Frankie!

    I don't even live in Europe anymore!

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