Priscilla Duck
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In most countries, only the victories and moments of glory are recorded in the history books. There is little to nothing on the history syllabus in England that deals with the Irish famine, 1798, or the Irish war of independence, or for that matter the Scottish clearances. When there is so much 'good' history to celebrate, why bother looking at such pesky trivialities as ethnic cleansing or military defeat?
In fairness, all countries do the same. In Irish school history books we focus very much on atrocities committed against us rather than on the murder and violence that we Irish carried out ourselves, not all of which can be justified as acts of war.
And as for 'getting over it', that hasn't exactly served any of us very well in the past now, has it? A million dead through starvation - 'get over it'? I'm sure if the Germans displayed the same attitude to the Jews post-WWII there would be international outcry. I know the circumstances are very different, but the sentiment in Ireland id that those deaths were caused by British policies and inaction, and no restitution was ever made. Examining the dirtier parts of our histories under the less impassioned circumstances of generations removed and admitting to our defeats and inglorious actions (on all sides) is a much healthier way of moving forward and putting our respective demons to rest. |
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Louise M
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i live in northern ireland and i think everyone should stop holding on to their grudges. it will probably never happen, but its the only way we can all move forward.
people tend to forget that THEIR side did some damage aswell. look at the troubles.
both sides were wrong. i know im only 14 but...yeah :) |
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☞H.Potter☜
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It saddens me to think that people blame the ordinary man for the things the government did. It seems the English are vilified in many parts of the world owing to things that happened, in some cases, hundreds and hundreds of years ago. The Germans don't seem to be blamed, in general, for the two world wars even though it happened in recent times. No-one blames the Romans for invading half of Europe and murdering many thousands of people along the way. No-one blames the Nordic invaders for raping and pillaging so why do the people of England have to put up with insults and derision when they, in fact, had no say in what happened all those years ago? |
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Blasé
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Life goes on, lessons were learnt. People need to learn to get over it, what is done is done! Harping on about things that happened in the distant past is not good. It did not happen to us and for that we should be grateful. |
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Don't tell my boss I'm on here
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What happened during the famine was heartbreaking, and I think that it is totally unacceptable that Victorian England stood by and gave absolutely minimal assistance, but I think what people have to remember is that it was the actions of the Victorian English government, not the people of England today, who were to blame.
You cannot blame a person or a nation of people for the actions of their ancestors.
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froggequene
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The real tragedy of Irish & British history is people remember what they want to remember & ignore what they don't want to hear |
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PrEgNaNt WiTh #2! KaTiE 2 iN MaY
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AM ENGLISH....and Its because we weren't taught it in school!
that's why some of "cant seem to remember"
We were taught about mostly WW1.
I Only found out 3 and a half years ago because my partner is Irish!!! |
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veritas5058
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I can't forgive or forget IRA atrocities so I guess it cuts both ways. Nor do I believe they have disarmed. Former members of paramilitary groups still mete our punishments, and there are still Loyalist no-go areas so little has changed apart from withdrwal of British troops. |
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denis5946
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What would we Irish do if we couldn't wallow in history? |
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alan m
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No one in England can forget the last fifty years of Irish history when the IRA bombed thm daily killing their children. The rest is in history books which may or may not be acurate.No one was alive so long ago today. But no one forgets the IRA murder gangs. Everyone in England remembers this. Your article is obviously written by an IRA terrorst. They alone destroyed the Irish image abroad. |
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♥Faiths Mum♥
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I think some English do remember, but their the ones that have an interest in history. You've got to bear in mind that it was so long ago that it is no longer a focal talking point when it comes to history and those that don't carry history on past GCSE would probably only be taught about topics such as WW1, Ancient Egypt, The Tudors...easier stuff. When we did Catholic emancipation for A level it was a lot of politics and not much else, it's too difficult for general lessons.
Us English conveniently forget our Anglo African relations as well, we've also been pretty vile towards the French, Americans, Germans, Southern Americans, Australasians...and in some cases far worse than we were towards the Irish. I'm not saying the Irish should get over it as such, just that we manage to maintain relations with other countries when we have all but stolen their identity in the past. |
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plato
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Many people on either sides don't know the truth! |
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trasosmontes
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Let it go Bridie, let it go. |
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Tyldesley B
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Let it go.
nobody cares anymore, the real tragedy is good friday peace treaty, where blair let a load of child murderers out of jail early |
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Misty Blue
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No the tragedy is the English never accepted the genocide of the Irish people,never mentioned it in schools,preferring to blame blight than they're own callous actions for millions starving to death.Maybe the ones who say they can't forgive the IRA should look a bit further back and see where it all started,see how the British treated the Irish like dogs,stealing their land,forcing them to change religion or starve,standing by letting them suffer and actively shipping out perfectly good food while children lay dying.To this day the numbers lost during the Irish Holocaust have not been recouped.Indeed if you think the various famines of recent years killed horrendous amounts of people, add them all together and they still pale in to insignificance beside the numbers who died in the Irish Holocaust.
No the real tragedy is we (the Irish) can't forget, because the English have tried to re-write history.Till the record's straight why should we forget? |
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slipstreamer
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Well, given the wide swath of destruction left worldwide by the British Empire - they have a lot to remember. Ireland wasn't the only country that suffered. That and I don't think the misdeeds of the Empire are covered in depth in most schools in England. There is a lot of revision of history going on. |
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Rory M
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Why should we forget. |
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Father Ted Crilly
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That would be an ecumenical matter |
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Irrelevant infomer
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For a start its not the English its the British, they alone raped and killed our fair wee island. David Irving (convicted Loyalist protestant terrorist) possibly said one of the smartest things ever to come out of a prods mouth other than wheres me dole? He is quoted as saying "if we forget the past then our children are doomed to repeat our mistakes" I think its hardly likely he actually said that, i guess it was a paraphrase by somebody more profound and respected internationally. Bobby Sands said the most profound of all statements "our victory will be the laughter of our children" Oh the British can forget alright but the last true hero they buried was St Thomas A Beckett. I don't see them forget their own martyrs in a hurry! |
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ayhartlasketchup
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Yeah you're right. English people forgot about the ETHNIC CLEANSING that went on. |
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is mise lisa
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But why should we forget. It's our history and it's made us who we are today. I'm a republican and we should remember the patriots that fought and died for our freedom. I don't think anyone will forget the famine or the 1916 rising, the war of independence....these were the men and women who fought to throw out an alien government and let the people of ireland govern ireland. And to be fair why would the english like to remember this? The "mighty british empire" was pulled to pieces by passionate irish men and women who were untrained and unarmed and today we thank them for our freedom. |
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Is máith liom cáca millÃs!
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I read this on a youtibe comment recently!
Yes it is!
It makes me sick when people say 'forget it, it happened 100s of years ago'.
It has happened far more recently than that. May I remind you of the Hunger Strike and various other events.
Irish till I die. |
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sswannab
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It is ridiculous to expect us to forget our heritage. The tragedy is it is not that long ago. Its not hundreds of years ago... But the ignorance of the people here on these answers is sickening. The IRA is incomparable to the British treatment of the irish for hundreds of years! We were suppressed for so long and we should never forget how we obtained this freedom. We should never forget the sufferings of our ancestors its an insult to their memory. I have always found it amazing that the British do not remember their cruel treatment of irish people it shows us how little they cared about it....its sad really....and btw a government is a representation of the people of a country
But we're not on bad terms with the British at all |
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Tommy2cans
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Oh Ducky ur so Wise!!!!
But i couldnt agree more we always should remember our history. Its a representation of who we are and what we've been through and as a people makes us who we are today. Of course the english dont remember they never knew to begin with but i think us Irish no longer really hold a grudge and we have moved on and the most important hing for most of us is a peaceful society
I am extremely republican and i long for the day of a 32 county republic but i dont want violence, dont want any more killings on either side no more parlimilitaries (drug dealers really) no more Sinn Fein or UDP all i want is an Ireland we can be proud of!!!! |
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CÃaran
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Well most of my generation seem to have forgotten. I think the tragedy is more that if anyone Irish says anything Nationalist people react like they're IRA members. Me for example, I want our social language to be Irish, I want us to know more about our heritage (at eight years old I could have given mini lectures about the Tudors and Victorians yet I only knew five of the thousands of Irish legends!). These things do not mean I want an English holocaust, far from it, if they are still of a Cromwellian mindset then yes I hate their guts but those are one in five hundred, the rest I have no problem with because of their nationality, what would bother is if we were to recieve large amounts of English immigration like Spain,France etc are and they hate it but for the most part I and everyone I know have forgiven them, but asking us to forget is silly and impossible.
Also anyone calling them 'British' atrocities please stop, the Welsh, Cornish and Scottish were under England's thumb just as much as us, and still are.
Edit: also you can see that the statement is a generalization as the amounts of thumbs up and down show us to be quite divided |
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