[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

The issue spills over into Scotland quite a bit and I would say, certainly here at least, that it is 90% "Tribal" and has nothing to do with the actual religion. It centers heavily around Rangers/Celtic, if anything. If you asked anyone "involved" in the ... bickering ... then they would certainly say it's about Catholics and Protestants (although they would use less polite terms) but if you dig a little deeper, most of them don't follow anything religious at all. I'd say it's often more simple than being about ANY religious or political ideology of any kind... it's simply "two sides" who have been at each other's throats for centuries and pass the inherited mutual prejudice along family lines. It's not "about" anything. They hate each other 'cos they hate each other.

I don't think you can say its "not about anything" many families will have had people killed by both sides during the troubles, and going back further by the the black and tans, and going back further by the English letting people literally die during the famine.. yes for some people it might be about nothing but only if they have no family history. It is time to put it aside, and move forward that said though some people are still very angry about what happened during the troubles as evidenced by the Martin McGuinness thread and are not ready to put it aside and it is easy for me to say because I didn't lose anyone in the troubles, my Grand Uncle was killed by the black and tans and is remembered on a monument in my home town and I still remember my grandmother his sister telling me stories about it. I expect by the time the generations who were involved in the troubles die out and as long as there is no repeat, then in two generations time people might be ready to move on?