Strongly disagree. You have conflated your views of the IT, which may be justified, onto an author who has written a thoughtful piece. At no point does he describe himself as a unionist, but you've pigeonholed him despite paragraphs like below.
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
If every northern Protestant has to declaim all aspects of structural injustice heretofore before commenting on the future of the island - even if they are supportive of change - we aren't going to get very far in ny view.
Of all the ‘pick me’ SDLP responses! Does every northern protestant - who according to you needs to write ‘I am a unionist’ to be interpreted as such despite refs to King Billy, Orange order etc - have the right to yet another IT column in which their gaze does not extend beyond their own privilege?
The narrative hospitality already given to this type of unreflexive, ahistorical ‘opinion’ is already such a well worn trope in the IT and mainstream media down here. But ofc you decide to try to tone police me for pointing it out. Get over yourself and have some self-respect.
Tone police? You are the one who slagged off the article? I responded. To be clear: I am a politician who believes in both irish unity and genuine encounter between historic identities in Ireland. I'm not in denial about the colonial context, but nor do you get to tell me what self-respect is...
Re what is a unionist. I think best to define it as someone who actively wants the current union as a political preference. The person who wrote this article is self-evidently from a unionist background, but clearly does not state a unionist preference for the future, indeed they hint elsewhere...
As with many northern Protestants, familial and cultural reference points will include things that are either a reflection of, or created by, structures that discriminated against others. Orangeism, large parts of Ulster industry and of course the military...
Comments