Clint was here yesterday and we got to talking about the recent upsurge of violence in Loyalist areas. I remarked that judging by pictures of shaven-headed Orangemen, their faces contorted in rage as they confronted the security forces that the Orange Order was a very different organisation than in decades past. Clint disagreed.
That’s Belfast for you. They’re hard men in Belfast, different than us. If you were to go to M******t Orange Lodge and see those boys you know, people like Hugh, and David and Herbie, they’re the way Orangemen always were. Countrymen. Can you imagine wee Hugh with his face contorted in rage squaring up to the police?
I talk to everybody about current events. Well maybe not everybody for there are those whose eyes narrow and faces close when certain subjects are mentioned. But I do talk to Unionists, Orangemen, Nationalists and the non-aligned about what goes on in this small place. And do you know something? I find that educated middle-class people from a Protestant background are the hardest of all on the current crop of agitators. Have a look at this. It sums up a lot of my feelings about the situation.
But I still wouldn’t want any of my daughters to marry one of the wee skitters. No edukashun.
7 comments:
Gee Beowulf I'm at work and cannot go into too much detail in my reply just yet. But never fear - you are just the sort of young fella I'd be only too delighted to marry one of the daughters to - you are possessed of a fortune are you not?
I do think working class Protestants have had a rough deal. No traditional employment routes left, a low value placed on education, poor leadership and of course over-reliance on welfare benefits which fucks you up much more than your Mum and Dad ever could.
And they feel alienated from and rejected by their more well-doing Protestant compatriots.
D'ye know LI if you hadn't put in that last sentence I'd have had to bring it up myself.
I think that those who would rule us need us to be divided all the better to control us. And I'm starting to feel very controlled.
Nelly, your paranoia is showing...
...and it's all your fault.
Wow. That was quick. From me pointing something innocent out to me being blamed in one single move.
Is this a gift that all women have, or is it just the ones I talk to?
What I meant was before I started reading your blog I thought the world was a lovely place full of fluffy lambs and sweet-smelling flowers. Now I see it as a Kafkaesque place full of vicious bureaucrats. ID cards and soul-destroying regulations. A world that exists to turn the innocent into criminals and where real criminals walk free. Paranoid. Moi?
And my work here is done...
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