Banned !

RB. God you are very sensitive just because you repeated to you were blue in the face "it isn't fraud" when referring to the acknowledged Rangers tax evasion.
Now you were either doing that to try to undermine me, or else you were wanting to please the Rangers fans.
Either way once I gave you an explanation, you stopped your mantra "it isn't fraud" which would appear to me that you were accepting my explanation.
Rather than being a gentleman and apologising you resorted to name calling.
The less said about your wee helpers VenomPD and Dev the better, as we all know the type of pi.. they have posted in the past.

 

he's relentless isn't he!

 

Not sure about GL but he's defo an ex-hun from here! I think Rocket.

 

P.O.P.E

 

Whose relentless, the helper Pud or the wee Boy from Cork who supports Rangers because you see he is a Rebel.

 

Yeah, that's another possibility - auld wummin ****

 

I don't know anyone else with the sheer will and pathetic attrition to carry this out for so long. See: Uncle Tommy, Butchere Bawes

 

Yeah, suppose - Rocket would have folded by now and called as all fenian ****s but POPE loved to go on and one without giving in!

 

I used to think superhoops was a wum ( and probable hun ) but Im having my doubts now as the spelling/grammar/syntax of superhoops posts is so consistent in its mangling of these things that no one could keep up that level of pretence for so long.

My new theory is that superhoops is one of these rare cases of a true split-personality ; that is to say he functions as and appears to be a hun much of the time like , for example rocket, trevor or redge, but at times he becomes someone else altogether without even being aware of it.

 

Rebelbear, and your wee band of lovers.
Very touching people of such low intelligence, wit and standards coming together to try and support a poor wee imbecile, who has yet to realise there is a whole new world outside of Cork.
Its nice to see the low life stick together.

 

Give them/us/everyone hell superhoops.

 

You tell me/us/them

 

Rebel, hello again. Sorry to drag you away from your entirely arousing pagger-slurp with Superhoops and sorry in advance that the following may be rambling and rather long – very long (for special people with concentration issues who may have trouble cutting up their own food). Please also make allowances for the fact that I'm merely thinking out loud and that this is an area I'm not at all familiar with. But, going back to the singing of particular songs at Celtic (and thank you for outlining some of the better arguments against doing so).....

If I try to place myself in the position of someone who likes or feels the need to sing these songs – whilst keeping a hold of my all round good guy and beautifully wholesome approach, obviously – I think I might ask myself the following (amongst many, many other things):

1) Given the societal friction my actions may cause, is it worth carrying on the same way?
2) What, if anything at all – and save for making a point - do my actions actually achieve? (I think Sir Philip of Giollabhain asked a similar sort of question in an article you linked to – the guy’s a true champ, for sure.)
3) Without diluting the strength of my Irish Republican beliefs or acceding to the (quite probably misconceived) view that certain expressions of these beliefs are sectarian, is there not somewhere better I might celebrate them?
4) Is it entirely beyond me to change my ways? If not – and given the offence and/or deep hurt I may be causing to other members of society – then why am I so apparently keen to keep poking these obviously raw wounds and causing distress to other people, whilst alienating and/or irritating a great many of my fellow fans at the same time?
5) If it is entirely beyond me to change my ways, do I really have a right to expect a fair hearing from members of a fluid and ever-changing democracy, given that any debate entered into must ultimately be futile given my starting point of refusal or an inability to change?
6) If I stopped singing these songs, in what sensible way might the world be described as having changed? If any blow at all is dealt to the cause of Irish Republicanism by the discontinuation of such songs at Celtic games, is the damage terminal or easily enough recoverable?


I suppose some of the above strands may be compressed, Rebel, to the rather more philosophical statement:

Fans who celebrate the ideals of Irish Republicanism at Celtic games run the risk of severely offending (some) people and provoking a (possibly violent) reaction, which is hardly conducive towards the betterment of a peaceful, progressive society. Therefore, in the name and for the sake of civil society, it may be seen as vitally important that such provocations are best avoided.

This may probably be met with the equally philosophical riposte:

People who react badly or violently to the celebration of the ideals of Irish Republicanism at Celtic games might reasonably be expected to keep a better grip on their emotions, as their failure to do so is hardly conducive to the betterment of a progressive and blah blah blah. Therefore, in the name and for the sake of civil society, it may be seen as a vitally important test for freedom of expression that these (often) provocative sentiments might be aired without fear of reprisal.

(Yes? No? Maybe? Not that this is particularly relevant, but my temperament would usually lead me to favour the second point – if forced to express a preference - although I live quite happily agreeing with both arguments up to a point, however obviously contradictory they may be.)

An inability to live side-by-side with (and in full tolerance of) sharply different ideas and beliefs (just so long as these things fall the right side of the host country law – and yes, laws can be utterly wretched) is a terrible, terrible human failing, after all, and not to be encouraged or pandered to.

Right.

Anyway, if my intention were to celebrate the ideals of Irish Republicanism, these would be some more questions I might ask myself (excuse the broad brushstrokes, please):

Do I cheapen the ideals of Irish Republicanism by tacking them on to the back of a mere football team – and a Scottish football team, at that - hijacking a sporting event for political ends and encouraging people to sing songs whose root cause and history they may be entirely unaware of? Do any of these co-opted Saturday afternoon adherents to my permanently held beliefs feel compelled to go out and do something I may consider politically useful having listened to or sung the songs I sing?

Is my aim a mere personal celebration of Irish Republicanism – if so, these songs could just as usefully be sung in private – or do I aim to influence others? If I aim to influence others, in what quantifiable way might I be said to have succeeded in doing so? If I don’t aim to influence others and don’t fancy singing these songs by myself in private and merely wish to belt out a few tunes with what I may perceive to be like-minded people, then why would I choose to do so in this particular setting – given the alienation/irritation clearly felt by some fellow Celtic fans and the bemusement of a TV/societal audience at large – rather than arrange specific events where we might celebrate such things and may be certain of a sympathetic audience in no way likely to take offence or be hurt?

Do I run the risk of tarnishing a cause I hold dear by seeming so indifferent to the sensibilities of a wider public, in other words, and is that a risk worth taking?

I can see that to have (some of) these things labelled sectarian must grate an awful lot – and the battle to have these issues clarified is a fight worth fighting (right to the bitter end). No problems there.

Having won this battle (you’ll have your fingers crossed) and having won the right to a freedom of legitimate expression, however, I think I would possibly find it useful in this very particular circumstance to then tap into my sense of obligation - and a wider consideration - to society in general and suppress my natural instincts and desires. I don’t see that I would lose anything much at all by denying myself the singing of a few songs at a football match, although I may be wrong, and the compulsion to avoid needlessly hurting other people (and thus sowing social division) is hardly an ignoble ideal.

I think I should stress the word “needlessly” in the previous sentence, Mr B, simply because I don’t particularly recognise the urgent necessity of singing certain songs at football matches and yet I remain very much in favour of people feeling grievously offended by certain ideas and principles and yet taking such things in their stride.

Impact of Irishy songs on me: zero.
Offence taken: none.
Irritation felt: none.
Likelihood of ever being provoked by such things: non-existent.

And yet, on reflection, I’d still quite like you to stop. I could politely ask you to refrain, of course, and you would say “no” and then I’d say “oh well, fair enough”. Anything else would feel embarrassing.

I’m aware of all manner of potential contradictions in what I’ve just written, but nobody said this was easy or clear cut. Besides, these are honestly held contradictions. Word up.

 

Rebelbear It will take you a couple of weeks to get your simple mind round the post that Psychosomatic posted.
Maybe I could make a suggestion, I think you should ask your other simple minded friends to each take a couple sentence each and try to understand them.
By doing that you will probably be able to put together your incoherent reply as quickly as one week.

No need to thank me, always willing to help the mental ******ed.