Is the North is a strange place?

[Doire abú]

Thought that was Jesus in a Tyrone shirt for a second.

Now himself had a quare beard. 

His Dad used to play for Tyrone

I thought Tohill played for Derry.

[theskull1]

Hello...Hello...Echo

Is Silky still in his bunker/up in the hills? At least tell us what we're doing wrong FFS!!

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Hello...Hello...Echo

[J70]

I have been reading some of the posts concerning the northern counties and I have to say it seems like a really strange place to me. I think I understand people from England, Canada, USA and Australia better than I understand people from the North.

We all speak English as our first language but the six counties is more allien to me than USA or Canada. I'm sorry but the way you carry on about religion is not my way of looking at the world. You are a strange people with little in common with the rest of the Island of Ireland.

Honest question: have you a single clue about Irish history?

Despite the thread degenerating at a rapid rate with the usual banality, I genuinely don't think Silky was on the wind up. There's certainly a complex within northern nationalists that many politically apathetic free staters just can't understand.

It's unbelievable how much can be forgotten within a few generations 

And if you were from the south you'd probably be just as apathetic. Personally, I couldn't give two fucks if reunification ever happens, as long as the people in the north can live peacefully together and everyone has a fair shot at making a life for themselves. The bottom line is that people are most concerned with the details of their own lives, and as long as the two sides in the north aren't killing each other and are trying to function as a normal society, most southerners, like most people anywhere, are happy (and relieved) to just leave them to work it out. If the day ever comes that the people of the north want reunification, I doubt if there will be much resistance in the south. I can't see many southerners being willing to spill blood over it though.

[Niall Quinn]

It's all a fuckin mess. Religion, shipyards, gay people, rain, nyeh nyeh talk, diabetes, Ulster Scots, obesity, oil prices, hairy girls. Fuckin North.

[stephenite]

With both parents being from the North and pretty much back living there in their retirement, all cousins and relations living there and having spent a fair whack of my youth in Belfast I can understand why some in the Republic would find it a strange place.
It is pretty much a different country for most free staters, who, whilst painfully aware of the past and not so distant past have an inherent misunderstanding of what actually went on and how it affected people and their daily lives, I'd say this is more true of todays younger generations, who, unfairly tend to veer towards the view that all the nordies do is fecking moan and have a big chip on their shoulder.

The attitude of some posters on here and the incessant threads containing apparently petty battles with some members of OWC are entertaining to a point and whilst they are entirely unrepresentative of the general populace of the north (and i strongly suspect entirely unrepresentative of most of the participants themselves in real life) I could probably understand why some who's experience of Northerners is limited to this forum might have reservations about ever going there.

[Guillem2]

I worked in Dublin for a while in the 1990s and the average Joe Soap Dub knew sweet FA about the north. They certainly found the whole Marching Season and sectarianism very alien. That doesn't mean they didn't like us.

[thejuice]

I wouldnt be politically apothetic and I do care what happens in the North but its hard to get a correct perspective on whats going on. I read this forum which is more of an insight to peoples attitudes and sluggerotoole.com which is a bit more about real politics. I try keeping up with the news of whats going on in Stormount.

I dont put my opinion forward on the North because I dont have a first hand perspective of what living there is like. I have friends from both communities and we talk about how things are going and they say their just waiting for the dinosaurs to die out so the North can hopefully make some real progress.

After the last few decades to expect the North to be like any other European country is not being realisitc. After our own civil war you can bet that it wasnt handshakes, commiserations and off to the pub for a few pints together. Its a pity about the current stalemate in Stormount, hope they get through it.

Hopefully people will realise that arguing over flags and shite like that wont convince anyone and real issues need to be dealt with.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The 26 counties, pre-partition, were also a much different place than they are now (and I don't mean historically, rather politically), in the same way that Vichy France was a different place than the rest of (occupied) France. Anywhere that non-indigenous power prevails will always be a 'different' place than that where indigenous power prevails, even in a place like Ireland, with so much shared history, tradition and culture. Fatuous thread.

[Zapatista]

I wouldnt be politically apothetic and I do care what happens in the North but its hard to get a correct perspective on whats going on. I read this forum which is more of an insight to peoples attitudes and sluggerotoole.com which is a bit more about real politics. I try keeping up with the news of whats going on in Stormount.

I dont put my opinion forward on the North because I dont have a first hand perspective of what living there is like. I have friends from both communities and we talk about how things are going and they say their just waiting for the dinosaurs to die out so the North can hopefully make some real progress.

After the last few decades to expect the North to be like any other European country is not being realisitc. After our own civil war you can bet that it wasnt handshakes, commiserations and off to the pub for a few pints together. Its a pity about the current stalemate in Stormount, hope they get through it.

Hopefully people will realise that arguing over flags and shite like that wont convince anyone and real issues need to be dealt with.

You should tell your friends not to wait until the dinosaurs die and actually move to replace them if they want to make progress.

Arguing over flags and shite is just away for some to avoid real politics including the media and bar stool critics. Real politics is played out in the north everyday.

I hate this attitude of "can they not just get on with it". That is not appreciating the reality of the situation. The north has been bitterly divided for years and the current system demands some very difficult decisions. If you apply the system in the north to the South you would have as many problems. Without the same recent history it would be extremely difficult for FF, FG, LB, GN and SF to share power in the Dail. I happen to think many of the people in Stormaont are doing a good job in a very difficult situation. Few other places (esp post conflict) could continue so long in such a system.

[Whitehair]

Silky views mustn't be uncommon in the South, while down at Oxegen a girl from Cork started talking to a few from our crowd(Down & Antrim people) and after no longer than a minute talking to us she announced that we were, "more like Eng**sh than Irish!". Wee bint wasn't long getting told where to go!

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Silky views mustn't be uncommon in the South, while down at Oxegen a girl from Cork started talking to a few from our crowd(Down & Antrim people) and after no longer than a minute talking to us she announced that we were, "more like Eng**sh than Irish!". Wee bint wasn't long getting told where to go!

No doubt her favourite programs were The X-Factor, Corry Street, or some equally vacuous piece of English tat.

[Minder]

A friend went to NUIG in Galway a few years ago and was chatting to a native, when he said he was from Antrim she said" oh the black north" and walked away, i think he called her a "c*nt" after that...................

[Tubberman]

You could be down south for the weekend and something about the bloody sunday tribunal would come on the tv and someone will volunteer that 'they must have been doing something wrong to have got shot'.  These type of people have never read a history book in there lives or watched a documentary but always feel they have the right to give there wise words of wisdom.  You see the same when the Northern teams started doing well at football, suddenly it was 'puke football', 'blanket defense' blah blah, you wouldn't necessarily support Tyrone or whoever because they are your nearest rivals but you do because there is so much sh1te coming out of the south.

Then:

So stop the bullshit generalisations. 

Quite an outburst! Can't understand how people would get the impression you have a chip on your shoulder 

Only messing, but I can understand where Silky is coming from. On this board (which is more or less my only interaction with people from the 6 counties), I find that people from 'the North' can get very defensive very quickly. This then turns to sarcasm and piss-taking from a gang of other Northerners against the poor soul from the South who ventured to offer a differing opinion 
This defensiveness might be understandable given the troubled recent history, but it is a different mentality/outlook/trait than those of us from the 26 counties. That's not anyone's fault, but it's the way things are.

Edit: I forgot to mention that almost every North-related thread on this part of the board, whatever it's original post, descends into one of the following: Nationalist v Unionist, Catholic v Protestant, GAA v OWC, Celtic v Rangers.
It seems (from the outside looking in) to be the same people having the same old arguments over and over. Do you never tire of it??

[Maguire01]

I think I understand people from England, Canada, USA and Australia better than I understand people from the North.

I think you're just watching too many soaps.

Can you give a few specific examples of things that those in the north do differently than those in the south/US/Canada/Australia?