| [ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ] |
| Subject: Is that really you? | |
Author: Roberdin | [ Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
] Date Posted: 13:29:16 01/16/05 Sun In reply to: Young Irelander 's message, "Such a misunderstanding..." on 04:06:34 01/16/05 Sun If so, then what you've said sounds perfectly reasonable. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> Subject: Misunderstandings | |
|
Author: Dave (UK) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 15:13:50 01/16/05 Sun I agree it would be better if we could discuss these issues in a civilised manner. However, for various reasons, history being the most prevalent, many of our aspirations and ideals encroach into political minefields amongst certain sections of our societies. This often makes civilised debate more difficult when dealing with topics that I need not mention. I do not know if you are the same person who posted on the Irish Unionism forum, but I would grant you that your contributions seemed to be more measured than many others on that forum. I cannot remember what was said here, so I will refrain from comment. I hope I was not one of the ones who insulted you at any point. Being one quarter Irish myself, I doubt it. However, we have been a target of one individual who posts under different user names in order to present their opinions as being perhaps more widely held than they are. Nick would be the best person to ask, but I seem to remember that it was the notorious Curnoak who seemed to have many personas based on IP address. If you have been deemed guilty by association, then that is indeed unfortunate. I think one of our difficulties as a group is to explain our ideals to those people who do not share the natural affinity that we have with the British world. We do not seek to impose a satellite mono-culture of “Britishness” on all groups within the federation, quite the contrary. Such an imposition would be unworkable. We instead recognise that there are already many threads that bind us together through commonality, where Britishness is already implicit. We emphasise these threads without having to enforce them, while also recognising regional diversity. In essence, it we would apply the formula that has made the United Kingdom a success, in a new global federal arrangement. My personal opinion is that I would like Ireland to join the proposed federation. However, I like to keep my aims realistic, and I agree that creating a Federal Commonwealth would be a cakewalk compared to reuniting Ireland with the UK. All too often, I think we, as humans, as English speaking humans, as British Isles humans, or as Great Britons, have emphasised the small differences between us, rather than recognising the far greater degree of commonality. I often ponder that most of us have forgiven Germany for the events of 60 years ago, and yet many of my Celtic compatriots have yet to put Bannockburn, Cromwell, the potato famine, and Henry VIII behind us. We should not continue to use these events as political wedges to divide us aeons from now. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |