Diamond Dan the Orange Man

Seriously... I'm pissed off that the Orange Order is trying to make itself friendly towards tourists in Northern Ireland. I've only seen one Orange Order Parade (in passing when I was visiting my grandparents in Donaghadee). I do have Orange links as my dad's (not an Orangeman) dad was an Orangeman. Ironic that I have both Orange Order and IRA relatives.

I'm not sorry to think the Orange Order is similar to the KKK and I don't think they should even be doing this. They promote Catholic hate (I'm a baptised Catholic (my godmother was friends with Eamon de Valera) I don't go to church as I find it boring to the hilt as I'm deaf and not a signer as most of the catholic ceremonies are signed.

These hate-mongers should go the way of the dinosaurs.

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.

so one can assume that this thread is not likely to be Protestant friendly.

All I will say is that, like life, Irish politics and history is not quite as simple or clear cut as some on here would believe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Rebellion_of_1798

I don't like the Orange Order and I don't like the IRA. My grandfather on my father's side was an Orangeman. I'm sure there were a couple of IRA members on my mother's side but that wasn't a topic to be discussed (her father and mother were Catholic and Protestant, which resulted in his family shunning him because he married her).

I've seen the Orange Order march in Donaghadee, I'm not sure of the religion statistics for Donaghadee but I'm willing to bet it's mainly Protestant. They often claim it's their right to march through Catholic neighbourhoods, which can account to a lot of tension. My mum and dad experienced the second Troubles. My dad had to treat victims of IRA bombs. My mum survived Bloody Friday. My mum and dad lost longtime friends because they hated the fact that my parents were getting married.

I'm just recounting my experiences. I've got loads of Protestant and Catholic relatives that I love. I just don't like the Orange Order and the IRA, as they promote religious division.