No sooner had Luis Suarez seemingly failed to shake Patrice Evra’s hand than people took to every available means (most obviously social media) to prove Suarez’s innocence and that Evra had not offered his hand in the first place. The people doing this had one thing in common – they were Liverpool fans.
In other words, otherwise perfectly reasonable people were going out of their way to defend a player – a player found guilty of racism, by the way – not because they knew him personally, not because of his past conduct, but because of the club he happens to play for. Had Evra played for Liverpool and Suarez for United, those precise same people would have taken the precise opposite view. It is the pre-set bias which determines the attitude of football fans to a particular incident, not the merits of the case.
And so it is with the Northern Ireland constitutional question. Otherwise reasonable people will go to the limits of sense and reason and well beyond to defend a position not because it is rational, not because there is any evidence for it, but because it happens to suit their pre-set world view.
So it is that we have the great myth of the “Catholic Unionist” (of 300 or so Unionist elected representatives, think how many are of Catholic background…); and the great myth that one day at least some Protestants will wake up to see the “logic of a United Ireland” (even though, 90 years on from partition, of 250 or so Nationalist elected representatives…); these are just comforting myths, based not on reason or evidence but on a pre-set bias.
In the end, it really wouldn’t do us any harm to be honest about these myths. They are just comfort blankets for ideologies which have no basis in reason. Those blankets give heat to people who otherwise have no argument. For the simple truth is that if you identify primarily as British you are going to want to be governed from London; and as Irish you are going to want to be governed from Dublin. Let’s not kid ourselves that this is really a choice based on macro-economics or “logic”; it is based on the identity we are born into and grow up with – we’ll find economic or logical arguments to suit that pre-set, not the other way around.
That’s how Republican terrorists shouldn’t be in civic office but active Loyalist ones may be; that’s how the IFA is sectarian but the GAA isn’t; it’s all according to the pre-set identity. That identity is, of course, by definition sectarian (in the specific sense of the word), and thus so is any political or social system based upon it.
So Liverpool and United fans may have a common interest in football but mention Suarez-Evra and you will *automatically* get differing responses with Liverpool fans at one end of the spectrum (from hardline to moderate yes, but all at one end) and United fans at the other. In every sense, the whole thing is totally irrational. So is Northern Ireland’s social and political system. Ask a Liverpool fan to start supporting United and, no matter how many trophies United stacks up, you’ll get short shrift. Think of that the next time you hear some bunkum about “persuading Unionists of the merits of a United Ireland” or vice-versa…!
Meanwhile, there is little point engaging a Liverpool fan and a United fan in a conversation about Luis Suarez – you’ll either get a row or a tacit agreement in the form of an awkward smile not to discuss the issue in any detail. Engage them in conversation, however, about how foreign takeovers threaten English clubs, or how money is getting out of control in the Premier League, or about ideas for amending the laws of the game, and you will get a more reasoned and ultimately more satisfactory discussion.
In Northern Ireland, Unionist and Nationalist are not really political terms at all – they are identities (which is why, far from being new and progressive, any party prioritising one or other of those words in its name is binding itself inevitably to the tired old irrational political and social system aforementioned).
The so-called Constitutional Question isn’t really a question at all.
Evra is a fu^%$# liar and you a fu^^%$# blind. What is wrong with you british people? you created the racism, you experted it to the rest of the world and now you think every body, except the british are racist, give me a break. I think the afro descendants are behind all this bull shit, very easy to understand, if is not racism then they are not going to get pay just to talk
The British exported racism?
What on earth are you on about? Prejudice is a constant factor of human history everywhere. Britain’s record on tackling it is one of the best in the world.
Ian, don’t feed the troll.
I agree with you – mostly. But I would draw a distinction between Catholics who are quietly pro-Union or neutral, and Catholic Unionists. The former do exist, but none of them would be seen dead voting for a Unionist political party – precisely because (as you correctly point out) “Unionist” is seen as a tribal label rather than a political one.
It’s time to retire “Unionist” and “Nationalist” – they are ostensibly political labels that have come to be understood as ethnic ones. This confusion generates more heat than light.
Perhaps a little humor illustrates the point:
Three Irishmen are sitting in the pub window seat,
> Watching the front door of the brothel over the road.
> The local Methodist pastor appears, and quickly goes inside.
> “Would you look at that!” says the first Irishman.
> “Didn’t I always say what a bunch of hypocrites they are?”
> No sooner are the words out of his mouth than a Rabbi appears at the door, Knocks, and goes inside.
> “Another one trying to fool everyone with pious preaching and
> stupid hats!”
> They continue drinking their beer roundly condemning the vicar
> and the rabbi
> When they see their own Catholic priest knock on the door.
> “Ah, now dat’s sad.” says the third Irishman.
> “One of the girls must have died.”