You pretty much hit the nail on the head there mousey.
Create the fear, gather the followers, reap the rewards.
The big man was well known for his silent collections (aka NO coins) at rallies, i was told this by a Rangers fan in glasgow who was none too impressed that his pound coin wasnt good enough?!
For sure in his prime he certainly fanned the flames of sectarianism as did many others in both camps . Like you I would applaud his ability to come to the table and sit with those who would had been fundamentally opposed both politically and religiously to him and try to make a Peaceful way forward for all. I have friends who live in Dr paisleys constituency who would back up the fact that he drew no distinction between his constituents and severed them equally to the best of his ability ,one thing is for certain he left his mark on this country let that be for better or worse.
I have no desire to get involved in Irish politics, my post was to cast a wider net.
Personally i have no trouble looking in the mirror and consider myself a fairly tolerent person, what i object to is any eulogising that seems to arise just because someone is on their death bed, when as has been pointed out by other posters the person in question has been fanning the flames of bigotry and hatred . Can you imagine what it will be like when Thatcher departs this mortal coil (i for one will be having a little dance and street party....whose the intolerant one, Thatcher, Paisley or myself ?)
Come in she said "I'll give you shelter from the storm "
emmasweet (08-02-12)
Well ma'am first and foremost I consider him a religious bigot. That he is married and has children does not give him a free pass to have spewed his dogma/scripture inspired bile for his entire adult life.
He is a thinking human being capable of critical reasoning but instead he chooses cant. I have no specific ill will towards him in terms of his health. However I have only compassion for all the ordinary people (y'know the sort: gay or co-habiting or had an abortion or enjoyed sex and werent ashamed or were atheist or non-judgemental y'know those sorts) that an unthinking prick like that mercilessly castigated his whole life. That is where my sympathy would reside.
Bada Bing!!!
BootSlick55 (08-02-12), mellors (07-02-12)
I have never been a fan of the majority of views held by Dr Paisley either regarding politics or religion, we as both nationalists and loyalists share a small island that has been held back by far to long by historical differances. And until both sides learn to respect the opinions of the other side we are always going to have extremists on both side finding support for there ranting.
It is the next generation of politicians that have grown up not having had to live through the troubles that will be in a position to actually resolve the differances, as at present all politicians " in the north" on both sides are to some extent set in the THEM AND US mentality and as such they seem incapable of any real comprimise.
It is unfortunate that at present Dr Paisley is very unwell and at his age im afraid it does not look like a recovery will be very likley, however I do wish him well and im sure his family are suffering greatly at this time.
A very good article by John-Paul McCarthy on the subject
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/an...s-3016998.html
I am not religious, so couldn't give a shit what he said about the RC shower but I do remember growing up wondering why this man could be so angry & full of hatred. That was before I fully understood what it was he was saying.
Then as I grew I remember thinking that all he had to say was NO. He never offered alternatives to suggested solutions, just yelled NO as loudly as possible & stirred up the rabble on his side of the fence (there was plenty of rabble on both sides !). It was drummed into me growing up that if I was going to challenge things then I also needed to bring alternatives into play. He just wanted the status quo to remain. The status quo gave people like him power, hatred & animosity was his raison d'etre.
There was a war & as leader of a large percentage of the community (not to mention a supposed religious person) it was encumbent on him to look for solutions, condemn violence from every side & try to calm people. He was quite the opposite.
Yes we should have sympathy for his family & friends but we should not forget that he was one of the protagonists, along with the IRA, SF, Maggie Thatcher et al, who elongated an unnecessary war & people died because of his vitriol.
In the end, when he realised that there was no other way to turn he signed up to the peace process. For that I am grateful.
"I don't want to go to heaven. None of my friends are there."
Oscar Wilde
Sadly there was intransience and bigotry on both sides and both sides had their fair shake of nay Sayers who wanted the status quo to remain for their own ends. Its the nature of politics to bring strong minded people to the fore and such people who hold strong beliefs and views don’t lend themselves to change easily .Indeed the Paisley's and Tatchers and the rest dragged a bad situation from bad to worse and as always it was the innocent that paid sometimes with their lives.
Neverrrr neverrrr neverrrr neverrrrr .......!!!!!!
"Sex is not the answer. Sex is the question. Yes is the answer."