Comments on: The Same Thing in Two Different Places, Or: Ireland, Israel, Coincidence? http://halffull.org/2003/12/01/the-same-thing-in-two-different-places-or-ireland-israel-coincidence/ distributed humor Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:08:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: izzat http://halffull.org/2003/12/01/the-same-thing-in-two-different-places-or-ireland-israel-coincidence/comment-page-1/#comment-77 izzat Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:28:11 +0000 http://halffull.org/2003/12/01/the-same-thing-in-two-different-places-or-ireland-israel-coincidence/#comment-77 <p>Raging pessimism, comin 'atcha. Both sides need to crack down on their own, you say? I couldn't agree more. Will that happen? I doubt it.</p> <p>The recent election in Northern Ireland left things more polarized than ever, with hard-line parties on either side winning more seats in the representative body than moderate parties. The Lord Mayor of Belfast when I visited there (he himself preferred to be called Mayor, believing the "Lord" part of the title to be a leftover from colonialism) was a former IRA sniper who had killed an estimated 30-100 men. Sure, this was a big victory for the Republicans in Belfast, to have their first Catholic, pro-united-Ireland Mayor to be elected. But the other side condemned him as a murderer... which, in truth, he was.</p> <p>What I'm trying to say is, I agree with hulk, but I just wonder if it's even possible at this point for both sides to agree. There are years of historical oppression on the one side, years of backlash and bombings on the other. Is reconciliation even possible?</p> Raging pessimism, comin ‘atcha. Both sides need to crack down on their own, you say? I couldn’t agree more. Will that happen? I doubt it.

The recent election in Northern Ireland left things more polarized than ever, with hard-line parties on either side winning more seats in the representative body than moderate parties. The Lord Mayor of Belfast when I visited there (he himself preferred to be called Mayor, believing the “Lord” part of the title to be a leftover from colonialism) was a former IRA sniper who had killed an estimated 30-100 men. Sure, this was a big victory for the Republicans in Belfast, to have their first Catholic, pro-united-Ireland Mayor to be elected. But the other side condemned him as a murderer… which, in truth, he was.

What I’m trying to say is, I agree with hulk, but I just wonder if it’s even possible at this point for both sides to agree. There are years of historical oppression on the one side, years of backlash and bombings on the other. Is reconciliation even possible?

]]> By: redshift http://halffull.org/2003/12/01/the-same-thing-in-two-different-places-or-ireland-israel-coincidence/comment-page-1/#comment-76 redshift Thu, 06 Jan 2005 16:27:21 +0000 http://halffull.org/2003/12/01/the-same-thing-in-two-different-places-or-ireland-israel-coincidence/#comment-76 <p>Damned if you do, damned if you don't.</p> <p>I'd rather let the world support itself, but then we couldn't have that oh-so-fun position of leader.</p> Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

I’d rather let the world support itself, but then we couldn’t have that oh-so-fun position of leader.

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