Conference tallis::celt

Re my basenote,

the analogy I'd meant to use, which had slipped my mind, was "...because she 
was asking for it".  Sorry, etc.

Chris.

    .0
    
    I totally agree with that Chris, and I have heard that within this
    conference.
    
    .1
    
    No, you were right in the first place.
    
    
    CHARLEY

Chris,

Re.0

The IRA is to blame for planting that bomb. (That's the simple part 
answered).

The stalling of the peace process is the reason cited by the IRA for the 
planting of the bomb.

John Major and the British Government are to blame for stalling the peace
process. They set up an independent commission to make recommendations and
then threw out those recommendations.

I would not like to argue the culpability of the British public since this
Government doesn't seem to care what the electorate think anyway. We all 
know the power of the propaganda machine. We need only look to the Gulf War
and The Falklands Conflict to see how public opinion can be swayed by the 
media. The general public in Britain only see NI issues when bombs explode
in their streets. Most people are unaware of far less understand the deep
rooted hatred and mistrust which permeates NI. The source of most people's
information on NI is the news and the popular press so all they see is
bombs exploding and innocent civilians being killed. They then equate this
to the IRA and they develop a justifiably negative opinion. Most British 
children don't learn about anglo-irish history in schools since it shows 
their mother country in a bad light. The victor writes the history books
(that's when terrorists become freedom fighters). It is, therefore, very 
difficult to blame the British public for the break down of the peace 
process since they are not shown the bigger picture. Politicians, however,
should be far more aware of the facts and it behoves them to seek a 
peaceful settlement at any and every opportunity.
    

    Chris,                 
    
    I can't say that I've heard anyone blaming the British people for
    anything of this nature in this conference or anywhere else. I certainly 
    don't. Of course the Irish slag the English and vice-versa but that's as 
    far as it goes as far as I'm concerned. There are English/British-bashers 
    out there just as surely as there are Irish/Scots/Welsh/wherever-bashers 
    but even they surely don't blame the victims of an IRA bomb just for being 
    there. 
    
    If these people who you're talking about do exist then they are indeed 
    some sad individuals. Unfortunately they aren't going to change their 
    views either. Such racist thinking would usually be drilled into them 
    during childhood and would allow for no other points of view to be 
    considered....
     
    For this reason I'd give their views the respect they deserve,(none), 
    and get on with my life....
    
    Ray....

Thanks for that reply, Eddie!  I think we'll have to agree to disagree on the 
role that the British government plays here (at least for now, anyway), I 
think that's being debated elsewhere...

I think you have a valid point about the way that people are educated as to 
the situation.  Many people either don't know too much about the history of 
what's been going on, or aren't interested in finding out, and I think this 
should really be addressed in terms of what is taught at school.  I think that 
Anglo-Irish history, and other aspects of the history of the British Isles, is 
more useful and more important than, say, Roman or Greek history which seems 
to be taught be default.  I know that now is the time to look forward rather 
than get trapped in the past, but a sound knowledge of past events would be 
beneficial, IMO.  Although I reckon I know more about the history than some 
other people I know, it's really just scratching the surface.

As to the media, well, as far as I'm concerned, the tabloid press is, as 
ever, beneath contempt.  All they're interested in is sensationalisation of 
the facts in a cynical attempt to boost sales, and what they have to report is 
of little value after being tainted by their editor's or sponsor's opinion.

Chris.

Re: Ray,

some of the views I mentioned were expressed on the Usenet.  Okay, I know, I 
should take what's said there with a pinch of salt (more like a sackful!), but 
you never know when someone's being serious or if they're just out there 
making ludicrous comments to get attention.  If you haven't already looked, 
there're some interesting discussions going on in:

	soc.culture.british
and	soc.culture.irish

Chris.

PS anyone who's interested in following these discussions but doesn't yet know 
how to get at Usenet News, drop me a mail.