I’m sorry _Agrajag_ to which six of the 32 counties do you refer? Tipperary, Clare. Meath, Limerick, Waterford and Wexford perhaps?
The name of the place which appears to be such anathema to you is ‘Northern Ireland’. And for you to refer to it, twice, using such a pejorative term, betrays a degree of (unconscious?) bias – perhaps understandable given the unimaginable trauma suffered by your family – however, that makes me question the objectivity in the rest of your argument.
MENELAUS, you and I must be of a vintage. I too recall, with horror, the images of the Oxford Street Bus Station bombing, and indeed the other 19 IRA bombs that exploded around Belfast, with minimal or no warning on Bloody Friday – 21 July 1972. In those days the BBC didn’t give ‘trigger warnings’ or state that ‘some viewers may find the following images distressing’! When the first pictures of limbless torsos being literally brushed into a tarpaulin appeared on BBC NI’s ‘Scene Around Six’, my parents couldn’t switch off our TV quickly enough – however, some 50 years later that is still seared in my memory.
It was carnage such as this, and La Mon, and the Abercorn etc etc that influenced a generation. Many, like myself joined the military, (both regular and the Ulster Defence Regiment), others the RUC (and many paid the supreme sacrifice for protecting all sections of the community, irrespective of what some agenda-driven, revisionist historians would have you believe). But unfortunately, some, and some of these are bound to have been contemporaries of mine, went to the dark side and joined the UDA or UVF. Sad, but true, and I in no way condone their totally misguided actions.
Terrorism, from whatever side of the community is abhorrent and wrong and is to be condemned without reservation.
PS…_Agrajag_ - TE Utley’s description of an Ulsterman as the ‘first to give, and the first to take, offence’ may, or indeed may not, be apposite here!!!
PPS…and yes, I’ve seen Harry Enfield’s portrayal of ‘William Ulsterman’ on the ‘Tube of You’, and I find it bloody hilarious!!!