I can kind of understand the reaction to my contribution in a way, because I joined in a thread that was meant to be a joke, and I made comments which I was sincere about. It probably made it 'worse' when I then mixed that sincerity with humour of the kind which others were indulging in, because it gave the appearance that I was setting out to offend, rather than to inform.
In my defence, the thread itself is at best highly controversial, being about a man who - regardless of his other capabilities - was known to be responsible for acts of murder and terrorism
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Essentially though, posting the topic in celebration of the man is essentially saying, "let's make some jokes about those british people who were shot, and celebrate the fact that society finds this acceptable"; and incredibly, because of the jaundice in historical understanding of the relationship between England and Ireland, society does appear to find this acceptable, and indeed encourages people to consider those who might question it, to be morally objectionable.
It seems to be the accepted position that even though people may engage in banter about the issues, when it comes down to it, everybody is expected to recognise deep down that the british are a bunch of c**** who were justly chased out of a land they had no place to be in, whilst the irish were lovable rogues who have bravely defended their homeland.
As I have pointed out, the actual truth (at least in the 20th century) is very different to what is commonly understood now (whether people wish to believe that or not). Because of the discrimination in modern society against the english though, it is considered unacceptable to point that out. Itâs this that is the âracismâ though, not my objection to it.
The fact that I have been accused of racism (and the fact that people's reaction to my comments is to assume that they are racist) is ironic not only because my comments are the antithesis of racism on the basis that they are shunning the accepted moral castigation of the british, but because my comments are also the antithesis of racism on the basis that whereas the Irish try to portray themselves as some kind of different race, part of what I have pointed out is that that is not true and we are all the same. That isnât racism. Racism is pointing out differences between groups of people, not pointing out that they are the same, and my contribution to this thread is actually probably less racist or discriminatory, and in less bad taste, than any of the contributions to the discussion.