Thoughts from an Englishman in Ulster.

well, for a start, England was doing pretty questionable shit featuring Ireland all the way back in the 1500s just as they were also getting their new world kick on. my family owns a house that dates back to the first plantation wave- which was built on what was catholic owned land. colonialism in Ireland has old and pervasive roots- it is by no means only 300 years old. Cromwell was pre British empire, as others have said. how far back did we want to examine this? 800 years or so? that history is pretty rich.

maybe you need to do some more historical reading. I'm not even sure what your point is when you mention that "well the British did x good thing." well, they also nearly wiped out the Irish multiple times (intentionally or otherwise) and made efforts to scour away an entire language, stripped civil rights, etc etc. what bearing does bringing up the enlightenment even have here? Nazi Germany came up with functional highway systems, do you expect the groups they persecuted to keep that in mind whenever this comes up? good for you, that you came up with something that primarily benefited you and had positive side effects that happened to osmose out to other countries?

/r/northernireland Thread Parent