Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
From my perspective, as an American protestant, the cause of the whole problem was that the British held onto part of Ireland. They should have just let the whole thing go. If the Northern Irish thought they were so British, they could have returned to the island of Britain. However,if you are going to stay in Ireland, you are going to be part of Ireland. That is where your problem started. The stuff you are talking about just added fuel to the fire. I am just saying.
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On a fundamental level, yes.
But the protests that started in the 60s were March on Birmingham kind of protests. The riots that originally came about were not dissimilar to the riots in Watts. Black people in America had/have legitimate gripes too. But in America, we started to deal with the problem, instead of arresting people without warrants and holding people without charge. America is not without race violence, but it doesn't have multiple armed paramilitary groups actively warring with each other and with the army.
Ultimately, in modern day western Europe, who really gives a fuck if they live in one country or another, if you're treated live every other citizen. As each day goes by, that becomes more and more like fighting over whether your land should be in California or Oregon. It just doesn't matter, on a fundamental level. It only matters out of a historical sense. Treat people fairly, and the historical sense of outrage will fall away in favor of the business of day to day life.
Britain could have taken the high road and maintained its moral authority. Instead, it panicked and created the second largest ethnic clusterfuck of the second half of the 20th century. (Note, Britain is also primarily responsible for Nos. 1, 4 and 5 as well.)
