Wider politics
Recently I was debating the future of Northern Ireland with an old schoolfriend - now a minor elected official of the Orange Order, indeed. Now he and I don't see 100% eye-to-eye on politics, but he made a comment I found interesting. It was this: "People here are getting sick of Orange and Green".
It was a reminder to me that NI politics are so fixated on antagonism and culture-clash. There's an us-and-them angle to almost every political issue. But I found it encouraging to hear those words from someone in his position.
Roll on the day when Protestant and Catholic Ulstermen can debate much bigger issues than Orange and Green while respecting each other.
posted by B.U. @ 1:28 p.m.
3 comments
3 Comments:
Because I'm a fairly neutral "aethiest-northern-irelandist", I often think I'm the only one who's tired of the same old rants.
You're right, it's good that an Orangeman has said this. What we need now are some of our political parties acknowledging this - publicly - and starting to debate real issues in a responsible manner.
Parties do occasionally say that but they don't get many votes. Alliance anyone?
Maybe the sad truth is that while 'people' are sick of the orange and green crap, they're much too scared of their side losing to vote for anyone perceived as neutral.
Amen Beano!
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