Irish tricolour bashed by Young Unionists

Warning - this post cites moronic views from a unionist that may lead to a dramatic rise in blood pressure, or severe loss of coffee from being spit at your monitor in laughter. Read on...

I have brought up nonsensical ramblings from the Young Unionists before here on United Irelander but the words from Michael Shilliday on the Irish tricolour really take the biscuit.

This past Saturday on the YU site young Micheál wrote a post highlighting a letter he had written to the Irish News where he expressed his opposition to my national flag.

For those unaware of the origins of the Irish tricolour, it was first flown by Irish revolutionary Thomas Francis Meagher and the Young Ireland movement. The green on the flag is meant to symbolise nationalists/Catholics, the orange represents the unionist/Protestant tradition and the white is meant to symbolise peace between the two traditions. The design was largely inspired by the French tricolour.

Sadly, this does not sit well with young Mr Shilliday who has decided to throw a Mickey-fit (huh ho!) in bizarre and extraordinary fashion. First, get a load of his comment on the Irish tricolour from 2004:

"The monoculturally Irish will tell you with glee that their flag is a symbol of the peace between the green and the orange. Thanks to their violent elements and backward thinking, the white can now only ever demonstrate the gap between the green and orange. The monoculturally Irish need a new flag."

Huh? Violent elements and backward thinking? What was this guy smoking? He's calling us 'monocultural'? This from a guy whose party a few years ago ran a campaign with a slogan entitled 'Simply British'? Oh what rubbish he spouts! But his views haven't changed, oh no. They say with age comes wisdom but not in Shilliday's case. Here is what he is saying in 2007:

"that flag was christened by, and has ever since been used as a background to, Irish separatist terrorism."

Christened by terrorism? How were the Irish republicans of the 19th century terrorists when they simply sought to free themselves from British rule by the same means which had brought the country under said rule in the first place? Were the US revolutionaries terrorists too? Were the British employing terrorism when they came to this island and forcibly removed people from their homes and stole their land? Talk about revisionist BS. He continues...

"I am a Unionist who is determined not to allow either the IRA’s various sectarian murder campaigns, nor the attempt at an ideological land grab by the monoculturally Irish, rob me of my Irish identity."

So let me get this straight, this guy is determined not to allow the Provos rob him of HIS Irish identity, but apparently MY Irish identity must be robbed from me! I am a nationalist who is determined not to let the Provisional IRA's campaign tarnish MY culture. What's the difference, Michael?

"I wish to see Ireland united into a truly diverse and inclusive state – the British one. That failing to be the case, I have no desire to be coerced into an insular and ideologically narrow, independent Ireland; my home being within the United Kingdom is more important to me than Ireland being unified."

Hmm, so when we nationalists in the south express our desire to have an independent united Ireland it is an "ideological land grab by the monoculturally Irish" yet when Michael Shilliday expresses his desire to see Ireland united into the British state, that's all fine and dandy apparently! Talk about hypocrisy! And people wonder why the Ulster Unionists are a mess!

"Ireland can never be a united island while there is a determination to eradicate both the British sovereignty and the British heritage of this place."

Who desires that? Who has this "determination" to eradicate Britishness? This guy's off his rocker!

"What is needed is not for separatists to better understand an interpretation of a flag tainted with more than a century of blood, but for an acceptance of the multicultural and inclusive British identity."

What? So I must give up my identity because a minority of people tainted my flag? How come you don't have to give up your flag seeing as the BNP, Loyalists, Oswald Mosley and other unsavoury types tainted it? More hypocritical, nonsensical BS.

"If this is not going to happen, then I repeat my assertion: the monoculturally Irish need a new flag."

There are probably more immigrants per capita in my city right now than in most European cities, certainly there are more than in whatever city Michael comes from in the North. There are more than 100,000 Polish people living in Dublin at this point in time. There are more Chinese speakers in the Republic right now than Irish-speakers. Monocultural my arse. Get back to me when your party is represented by people other than middle-aged Orangemen. I repeat my assertion - you're off your rocker, Shilliday.

Poor Mickey got a hammering in the comments section of his post when people pointed out his stupidity. Even his Ulster Unionist colleague Brian Crowe pointed out his utterly insane idiocy. Here was Michael's woeful reply:

"Brian,you somewhat miss my point. The monoculture in the Irish Republic is free to do what it wishes, however its flag is a lie. It claims to represent a section of Irish people who have no desire to be removed from the British nation. RoI therefore needs a new, more accurate, flag."

Wrong, the flag predates the existence of the Irish state which is why it is seen as a flag that can represent ALL people on the island. Thus, those from the orange tradition are just as entitled to claim it represents them as nationalists like myself are. The flag isn't a lie, you're just too ignorant to understand its significance. You are blinded by anti-Irish hatred and the more you spout your vitriol the more you close your mind.

If the future of Ulster Unionism rests in the hands of people like Michael Shilliday then the party is well and truly doomed. One has to laugh at a guy who lambasts a state with a thriving immigrant population, who have settled in remarkably well, as "monocultural". One has to laugh at a guy who claims only Britishness can promote diversity when he then goes around and berates another culture's flag and moral character. One has to laugh at a guy who defends the union jack, a flag which is in fact synonymous with imperialism and suppression of culture from America to Europe to Africa and beyond.

Can other cultures and identities truly fit in to the future that unionist bigots like Michael Shilliday envision? I think not.

If today you pass by the Irish tricolour flying proudly over your city, reflect on the sacrifices of the brave men and women who gave up their lives for a better future. Reflect on the domination and deprivation they sought to overthrow. Reflect on the admirable symbolism that is contained in that noble flag.

Reflect on all those things, then smile and think of Michael Shilliday. I know I will. Such ignorance as embodied by he shall never ever again become the rule of thumb.

No surrender, Michael! Ireland forever!