The two worlds of Northern Ireland, Ctd


Northern Ireland is simultaneously one of the most progressive and regressive places on the planet. Think Leah Totton (@DrLeahTotton), Hannah Nelson, James McCullagh (@JamesMc_Cullagh), Maria Doran (@Doran_Maria), Craig Gilroy, Jim Eastwood, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Oliver Jeffers, Jonathan McHugh.

Then think, violent loyalists and dissident republicans... But by who does the world define us by?

The two worlds are graphically alien to one another. However political representation has been happy and willing to snuggle up and play out to the most extreme in society. What Mick Fealty described as Stormont's "drift from real world governance." This drift has turned-off the most progressive, tolerant and non-sectarian. They just ignore the congress of clowns. And likewise, the congress of clowns is happy to ignore the most stable and capable. However, as business owner John Cunningham said, it is not they [the normal people] who need to change - they live in the real world - but it is the politicians and their clients that need to change - for they live in an alien world that has no relevance to modernity. As John Cunningham said:
"Over the past 30 years we've been arguing about the same things. There doesn't seem to be in many ways a great deal of progress made. So our world, the world of business, just tends to ignore it. It [Stormont] has no relevance to us [business]. It's not up to us to change because our attitudes are formed by the real world in which we live, the international business community."
The young, ambitious and aspirational people of Northern Ireland, both Catholic and Portestant, are of Europe, America and the real and digital world. Yes they have loyalties whether it be to Ireland, Northern Ireland or Great Britain; however they do not define themselves singularly by their nationality. As Roger Scruton said:
"Europe... has erected a high culture as a critical aparatus that allows us to put our
national culture into question if we need to."
Because, as Gore Vidal said, "Anyone who loves thier country is in such trouble. That is nonsense. Out of that has come every war, every famine and everything that is wrong in the western world."


Previous posts on The Two Worlds of Northern Ireland here and here.

No comments:

Post a Comment