What a pity that people don't work that way.
You wrote:
“Rationally that all sounds very reasonable and logical.
What a pity that people don’t work that way.”
They will. No one would have much of a choice to do otherwise.
“Ireland after the immediate setting up of the Irish Free State was anything but a happy and economically secure place.”
True. And that’s irrelevant.
“Admittedly there was a major worldwide economic downturn at the time but Ireland certainly suffered more than most.”
It did. The British engineered Ireland that way. The British deliberately kept most of Ireland pastoral so it would not directly compete with Britain in the industrial realm.
“Anecdotal evidence is the main driving force for all political opinion in NI.”
Ireland will be reunited in any case.
“No the best thing would be for them to stop thinking like that. Reuniting Ireland (or any other political solution to any problem anywhere) isn’t going to stop any violence if the fundamental mindset of agrievement is still present. Do you suppose that if a Palestinian state was ever set up that all violence against Israel would cease?”
Yes - if Israel ceased to exist. And, likewise, if all the Palestinians ceased to exist then Israel could count on no more violence from Palestinians. Now, how likely are those possibilities? Not very likely either way. In Ireland, however, the British occupation was the problem. Once Ireland was free there was no more violence between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. The civil war only occured because many Irish felt betrayed by other Irish. If the Bristish had freed ALL OF IRELAND, the whole island, no violence would have happened at all most likely. No civil war, no violence between Catholics and Protestants.
“Go ahead and dismiss my “passionately held viewpoints”. I wouldn’t worry about it in the least.”
That’s an excellent view to have.
“YES”
The civil war in the South was not nearly as bad as centuries of British oppression.
” Oh, of course...any British ownership counts, irrespective of what the actual consequences were”
It doesn’t matter if Britain lost ownership of anything in a nation it oppressed during its occupation. Protestant ownership of many key businesses continued, however, unabated. Notice, the Irish had no problem with that. The irish were much more open and generous to Protestants in the South, then Protestants have been to Catholics in the North.
“Quite a lot of things actually. Systematic extermination and/or forced movement of large numbers of natives, a blatant land-grab against Canada; retention of Negro slavery (which the British outlawed several decades before the US did), a major civil war, and on an on.”
Nope. None of that was related to the British occupation. Problems with Indians already existed before the British left and continued. So that is simply inapplicable. Land grab against Canada - sorry, but that is not “worse” than the British occupation except perhaps for the Canadians and they are not in America so that too is inapplicable. Slavery in British America was started and allowed by the British and it was in part the ideals supported by the American Revolutionaries which would ultimately lead to the abolitionist movement.
“You can tell me that a united Irish Republic will be a better place, but dont ever suggest its all going to be perfect, because it certainly wont be.”
I didn’t. I simply told the truth. It won’t be perfect, but it will be better than what exists now.
“What???? I’m sorry but none of that is true. It just simply isnt.”
Yeah, actually it is. Only a few thousand people have been killed by all sides and all groups in the last 40 years. The “war” in Northern Ireland is puny compared to many other such fights. Perhaps 100 times more people are dying in the drug war in northern Mexico nowadays. The fact that 82 police men were injured - BUT APPARENTLY NONE WERE KILLED - shows this is a puny, little, low-level “war”.
“Check the thread title out for goodness sake. No im sorry, if you really and honestly believe that to be true there is no further point to this discussion.”
Use whatever excuse you want to get away from dealing with the truth. Just remember, 82 injured and apparently 0 killed. Puny, little “war”.