Irony of Scottish Nationalism and Irish Nationalism currently.

[BennyCake]

On the contrary I am being critical of so called nationalist parties in Ireland whose lack of vision,strategy and dare I say it,being content with the status quo,has led to the present scenario where Irish Nationalism is in political free fall,where unbelievably a majority of Catholics in the North,and a majority in the South no longer even want a United Ireland

Northern Catholics fear they'd be worse off. Most southerners don't even understand the complexities of life in the North and therefore Northern Catholics reckon they'd probably be better off under sectarian politics at Stormont. Southerners don't care about the North, and all they see is parades, fleg protests and the likes.

I think when most people are voting on this, they realise it's all a pipe dream, and is never likely to happen.

[smelmoth]

On the contrary I am being critical of so called nationalist parties in Ireland whose lack of vision,strategy and dare I say it,being content with the status quo,has led to the present scenario where Irish Nationalism is in political free fall,where unbelievably a majority of Catholics in the North,and a majority in the South no longer even want a United Ireland

Northern Catholics fear they'd be worse off. Most southerners don't even understand the complexities of life in the North and therefore Northern Catholics reckon they'd probably be better off under sectarian politics at Stormont. Southerners don't care about the North, and all they see is parades, fleg protests and the likes.

I think when most people are voting on this, they realise it's all a pipe dream, and is never likely to happen.

About right that.

I'm confused why people still think that because someone is a catholic or was born into a catholic famility or was born into a family that had catholic antecedents that they should be or would natuarlly be an aspirant for a united ireland

[T Fearon]

Which takes me back to the original point,the irony that Scottish nationalism is rampant when the Irish variety is dead in the water

[T Fearon]

Did they not only gain prominence in the 70s?

[ziggysego]

One political party (barely 40 years old) totally on message, incessantly promoting Scottish nationalism and successfully appealing to the nation's patriotic backbone and winning support across the entire Scottish nation.

Assuming you mean the SNP, that would mean they were founded some time in the mid-1970's.

Actually, they were founded in 1934.

The SNP was inaugurated on Saturday, 7 April 1934

http://aberdeensnp.org/node/9

Many years later, the realisation that a pro-independence, election-fighting party was the way to go eventually led to the creation in 1934 of the Scottish National Party, through the amalgamation of the Scottish Party and the National Party of Scotland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-13315752

By my rough calculations, that makes the SNP 81 years old. I know that getting numbers right has never been your strong point, but c'mon! 

[armaghniac]

While there are many differences, the Scots have been better led. Irish nationalism needs a Salmond and one will emerge eventually.

I expect too that the Scots have noticed that Ireland us the fastest growing economy in Europe, again, and will note this in any Brexit campaign.

[muppet]

Which takes me back to the original point,the irony that Scottish nationalism is rampant when the Irish variety is dead in the water

It isn't quite dead.

Gerry Adams has hi-jacked it unfortunately.

Putting it politely, Adams is a long way from being a force for unity.

[ONeill]

Which takes me back to the original point,the irony that Scottish nationalism is rampant when the Irish variety is dead in the water

It isn't quite dead.

Gerry Adams has hi-jacked it unfortunately.

Putting it politely, Adams is a long way from being a force for unity.

I met Adams in 1988. Little did I know that we would both go on to have twitter accounts. Still makes me giggle.

[muppet]

Which takes me back to the original point,the irony that Scottish nationalism is rampant when the Irish variety is dead in the water

It isn't quite dead.

Gerry Adams has hi-jacked it unfortunately.

Putting it politely, Adams is a long way from being a force for unity.

I met Adams in 1988. Little did I know that we would both go on to have twitter accounts. Still makes me giggle.

1988!

I was alive in 1988. What a coincidence!

(BTW your punctuation is too good).

[Rossfan]

Which takes me back to the original point,the irony that Scottish nationalism is rampant when the Irish variety is dead in the water

It isn't quite dead.

Gerry Adams has hi-jacked it unfortunately.

Putting it politely, Adams is a long way from being a force for unity.

I met Adams in 1988. Little did I know that we would both go on to have twitter accounts. Still makes me giggle.

And neither of ye were on the Army Council I presume.
Neither was I.

[omaghjoe]

Think the comparison of the two is a demonstration of how volatile the mob is more than anything.

In Scotland nationalism is the new hip thing, it has no baggage and can promise the earth the moon and the stars and people can believe in it by aligning their hope, dreams and aspirations to it.

In Ireland nationalism is the tired old man. People are sick of hearing about how we should stand up to the Brits and blah blah blah. It doesn't offer anything new, just 100 year old pipe dreams that we heard in history class rehashed over and over and never properly came to fruition. Add in all the recent negative baggage, no better example than Mr Adams, and its a bit off putting at the moment to the average Joe.

Truth is neither are really based on reality. The Scots are all dreaming different things that they would do in a independent soverign state, but they cant all have what they want. While the Irish are all thinking I like my life as it is, I dont want something f**king it up that Im not gonna get much personal reward for. Even tho pride in the tribe/country/collective is a massive motivation to the success of it and as a consequence how well the individual does.

Also the other funny thing is, the mob can turn on a sixpence, just like they did in Scotland during indyref and like they did in Ireland following the executions of the Easter rising leaders. Nationalism is a weird, wonderful and dangerous force when it is risen. The Brits used it to counter their imperialist rivals during WW1 and while initially successful for them, it continued to grow and ended up backfiring on them in dramatic fashion.

Who knows what the future holds for these islands but you can rest assured the volatility of the mob will be the driving force.