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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.celts
Subject: Re: Does pro-English mean anti-Celtic?
Message-ID: <582@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 22-Dec-83 18:32:19 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.582
Posted: Thu Dec 22 18:32:19 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 22-Dec-83 19:29:26 EST
References: <178@houxk.UUCP>
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
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The quick answer is: No it doesn't.

No one denies that the English have been guilty of terrible crimes in
Ireland, but that wasn't my point in trying to tone down the virulence
of some of the commentary, primarily by McGhee. I just don't think that
getting people mad is a good way of resolving anything, and particularly
in the case of Ireland there is enough hate on both sides to last for
a very long time. It isn't a question of the truth hurting. It's a
question of trying in a small way to increase the chances that the truth
of the future will hurt less.

I think I am consistent in this attitude. In various postings to other
newsgroups I have tried to bring out the idea that most countries with
imperial possibilities will act imperially. England, Russia, USA, France,
Uganda, VietNam .... It may be a facet of the nature of human organizations.
Not all imperial powers have acted nicely toward their colonies :-(.
Ireland has had a bad time, and the imperial power has always been England,
because who else has been in a position to try to invade Ireland?
England was once a French (well, Norman) colony, and much of France
was English at another time. I don't think the populace was particularly
well treated at either time, until things settled down.

As for the illegality of hate literature, I believe that there are
some laws in the US. Weren't the Nazis prohibited from parading in
some largely Jewish community a few years ago? The idea is to reduce
the probability that innocent people in the hated community will be
subjected to damage, mental or physical. I don't like censorship,
but neither do I like random murder for political (?) purposes.
Hate literature tends to produce an environment suited to terror,
so I support its censorship. I would prefer that it be kept off the
net, whoever might be its object.

Incidentally, I appreciate the positive side of McGhee's history lessons,
and see no objection to factual statements of past wrongs. What I
object to are the moral (?) lessons that accompany them. Celtic
people have made tremendous contributions to all Western societies,
English in particular. Where would English engineering or banking
be without Scots? There is a tremendous amount to be proud of in
Celtic history and culture. Let's celebrate it here.
-- 

Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt