LISTEN UP JOEL - what Irish posts are on topic?


lyndon nixon ([email protected])
Mon, 1 Feb 1999 02:32:35 -0800 (PST)


hi WIRE world

i am real sorry to hear from Dave Doran that he's been asked to limit
his Dublin posts to U2 stuff. I mean, lets see, this is a U2 list, U2
grew up in Dublin, Bono and the Edge live just outside the city,
WIRElings far and wide pilgrimage to the city of Dublin and are
continually asking questions on what to see, do, where to stay there
etc on the list. So wheres the irrelevance in Daves interesting and
humourous posts? Dave, I say, if we can't post here, lets start up a
U2-Ireland list dedicated to the discussion of the band AND the
country and culture they hail from. I think most WIRElings will
appreciate the wider and more intelligent discussions we can have there.

I was about also to point out that others post even less useful and
less U2-related ramblings on list when, as if in answer to prayer, we
got a great example. A long diatribe on Bloody Sunday complete with
events listing for Derry. OK.. lets see.. how many WIRElings are able
to get to Derry? How many really care? What has this to do with U2?
Oh, sorry, they wrote a song called 'Bloody Sunday' didnt they? Do
forgive me, for a moment I thought the post was totally un-U2
related.....

Here's some of the material from this post. I ask people to remember
that this is political material about Northern Ireland, coming from
one perspective. I dont deny the horror of the event nor the guilt
upon the British Army in their murdering of these people. I do want to
say that Northern Ireland has blooded hands on all sides, but I find
this sort of posting offensive from the viewpoint of someone who knows
victims of IRA violence. Joel, if any sort of posting ought to be
banned from the list, it is this sort of politically-motivated
material that is unwelcome and unappreciative of others feelings. I
dont wish to censor or say one viewpoint is permissible and another is
not. But in N Ireland we all have our sides, and when one side is
pushed at us we feel we have to stand up for the other side.
Cross-political debate has already raged on WIRE and its better suited
for the political lists that already exist for this sort of thing. I
joined this list to talk U2, not hear about 'British state violence'
and other republican ramblings.

>In the North of Ireland, over the past thirty years of >conflict,
almost four hundred men, women and children >have been killed in
highly controversial
>circumstances by the British Army and the RUC. >Countless others have
died as a result of collusion >between loyalist death squads and the
various branches >of the British establishment.

lets not mention why shall we? how many did turn out to be active
republicans (remember Loughall or Gibraltar?)
out with the intention to kill and maim? or how the British security
forces are forced to operate in difficult circumstances in
republican-controlled areas because of the threat to their lives? i
decry the murder of innocents by the security forces but when young
soldiers have to patrol West Belfast and to take well known examples
a car doesnt stop at a checkpoint or a young man refuses to heed a
soldiers shout to stop, and when soldiers have felt that their lives
could be at risk, yes, they have sometimes chosen to shoot first. I
don't deny the sadness and pain that families have experienced when
they have been the victims of the Army/RUC but I feel annoyed at the
political acumen used by republicans in highlighting victims of state
violence as a way of virilifying (sic?) the security forces and
'justifying' calls to remove the Army/disband the RUC.

Some families whose IRA son/father/whatever was shot dead by the
British security forces have rushed into the courts to claim
compensation from the Crown (they'll say the British shouldnt be here
but they'll take British money all right). The grieving families who
lost a son or father who was in the Army or RUC at the hands of
republicans will never receive any recompense from the terrorists, who
will always consider the murder of a soldier or policeman a
'justifiable' deed as they are an agent of the 'British occupiers'.

Joel, would you like me to begin postings highlighting N Ireland
politics? Maybe I could list all the victims of IRA violence? Or daily
I could post an account from a relative of a victim of the Troubles?
or maybe all this is unrelated to the list and if so, maybe you now
know what sort of stuff should be getting kept off WIRE? and its not
Daves Dublin News.

sorry bout all the irrelevant un-U2-related ramblings.

zeek.

  

==
Yahoo ID: zeekthegeek ICQ# 5894585 http://quis.qub.ac.uk/qubcu/ezekiel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate.
And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it.
        -- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Disclaimer: Any errors in spelling, tact, or fact are transmission errors.)
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Mon Feb 01 1999 - 02:35:29 PST