Reply #2: I really wish they didn't exist [View All]

If the IRA is being pushed to disband I think the same goes for the Orange Order. Remember they were allowed to march in Dublin once? They had to stop because one of their members provoked violence (the news said the Catholic parade goers provoked violence, but my mum said, "That's not true because they're the ones doing it, trying to march in Catholic neighbourhoods.).

Now they're trying to be tourist-friendly. I still don't think it's a good idea to go to Northern Ireland on the 12th or during the celebrations. If I were to visit my aunt near Bangor on the day, I might just stay in and watch a movie. It's an insult to the Catholics. The Catholics suffered for years.

The Potato Famine is one. The Protestants withheld food from them, finally offering soup if they converted to Protestantism. If you ever meet a Protestant in Northern Ireland with a Catholic sounding last name (Murphy, Farrell, and the like), he's called a "souper".

The first Troubles is another. The Protestant landowners owned swaths of Ireland and prevented the Catholics from owning land. If a Protestant ran into a Catholic who had a horse, the Protestant could say, "I'll buy the horse for 10d." The Catholic HAS to give up the horse for 10d, whether he liked it or not. That's why we had the Easter Rising.

The Second Troubles is yet another. A single Protestant had more votes (they could vote 5 times) than a single Catholic (could vote only once). There was severe gerrymandering, a Protestant could represent a mainly Catholic area. Catholics were denied housing. I remember reading about a single Protestant woman got an enormous house over a Catholic family of six. That's why the Civil Rights movement started.

And YET the bloody Orange Order INSISTS on marching to celebrate Bloody Billy's victory over the Catholics. We need to move on and the Orange Order marching isn't moving on, it clings to the past.