Bloody Sunday inquiry.

[alas_a_llama]

So, I've added a few people to my flist who I really should've added a while ago: Mostly people (or fic journals) which have already friended me and who, since I know them, I've been meaning to friend back for a while

Comments

[alas_a_llama]

Terrorist paramilitaries are like elephants: They have long memories.

In all seriousness, though, it wasn't that long ago. Many of the people who were there and survived are still alive, the families of the victims are, for the most part, still alive. People are irrational, they don't forget old vendettas easily.

That, and it was a big thing: It was one of the earliest and most important events in the Troubles, it set the stage for the Troubles to last for as long as they did, and to be as bloody as they were.

But kind of more important is: RIRA and whatever the UFF has digivolved into don't really care about the event itself. Seriously, their goals are a lot less personalised and a lot more in vague, quasi-political terms. But because Bloody Sunday is so strong in people's memories, and because it was such a horrible event, they'll be all too happy to take advantage of it being brought up again.

[bethan_b_bad]

I'd forgotten that about Bernadette Devlin punching the Home Secretary. To be fair, anyone called Reginald Maudling can only deserve it.

I can't believe this enquiry has taken so long. Whichever way it goes it's definitely going to be, uh, interesting.

This piece didn't strike me as particularly biased, but I'm no expert. It might be interesting as well if you explain why and how you're biased?

[alas_a_llama]

I'm mostly saying I'm biased because a) My automatic response to the military is "I am suspicious of you. You have guns," and b) My family is Catholic. More a) than b), I think, just because my automatic suspicion of the military and, to a lesser extent, the police means that I'm never going to be able to give them completely fair treatment when I write about them. The fact that they were shooting people of the same religious affiliation as most of my family is mostly irrelevant, but it can't help.

Also, yes. Reginald Maudling is a bad name and his parents should have been ashamed for giving it to him. I mean, seriously. That kid must have been eaten alive at school.

[lienne]

Later, Bernadette Devlin, a Northern Irish MP who had been present at the shooting, was refused her right to talk to Parliament about it (the rules hold that any MP who witnessed an incident under discussion has the right to speak to Parliament on the subject). She would later be suspended from Parliament after punching Reginald Maudling, the Home Secretary, after he stated that the British Army fired in self-defence.

That's kind of terrible, but man, this woman is clearly fucking awesome.

[alas_a_llama]

She was pretty awesome, from what I can hear, yeah. Youngest woman to ever be elected to Parliament, was the spokesperson for hunger strike prisoners, survived an assassination attempt, and stuff like that.

[lienne]

A small part of me can't help thinking that politics would be much better if more people got punched when they said stupid things. Unfortunately, in the real world that just leads to punching-based hierarchies which are not a good idea at all.

[lienne]

...Sometimes I am deeply bewildered by my own icon choices. Happy beads... comment about the place of face-punching in politics... I'm not seeing the connection here, unless they are beady little sadomasochists.