[M+L Fan]

Why is it that whenever you open the sports pages of a newspaper, or turn on the sports news on the TV do they always give the Republic of Ireland special coverage in the World Cup section,as if it's part of the UK? Now forgive me if I'm wrong; but didn't Eire become a sovereign independent state in 1937? It just shows that British imperial habits die hard,even 65 years on. I know in USA 94 they wern't really Irish players playing for Ireland, but now almost all of them are real Irish and not cheap immoral British mercenaries.

[Uglybob]

its because English want to be more like the Irish. Sure you celebrate St Patricks Day more than we do.

[kendra k]

man, the americans think they're soooo irish. it's gross and insane. i know i'm not irish, nor do i pretend to be on st. patrick's day.

[@ndy]

Im not Irish but I live in the Island of Ireland.. Im Northern Irish..British.. ( It becomes a little confusing when trying to explain this to the stupid yanks)

[Uglybob]

kendra aint stupid tho, shes in a minority however.

[@ndy]

ahh..just realised Kendra is a Yank.....|holds his head in shame|

[Benjoo]

put your foot in that one didnt you

[kendra k]

@ndy, it's okay. i do know the difference between ireland and northern ireland. (i even spent 30 minutes ranting about it to a lecture hall of 300) many americans are ignorant fools, and i am about many things, but not about the irish.

it's crazy! dubya is still allowing american groups to channel money to the ira! how is that different than extremist islamic groups?

::falls off the soap box::

[Jonny Hoare]

The flag of St George has been hijacked by fascista and rascists, so I follow the flag of St Piran

[M+L Fan]

So @ndy, the yanks are stupid are they?
Unlike the British of course - blowing people up, knee-capping, blind hatred, over 3000+ deaths in 30 years - just because some people happen to follow a different branch of the same religion.
Pots and kettles spring to mind.

[M+L Fan]

Oh yeah, Jamaicans and Pakistanis are stupid.

[@ndy]

So @ndy, the yanks are stupid are they?
Unlike the British of course - blowing people up, knee-capping, blind hatred, over 3000+ deaths in 30 years - just because some people happen to follow a different branch of the same religion.
Pots and kettles spring to mind.

All Americans are stupid yes. Except Kendra. Only a small minority of the British Population continue to act like the fools you were referring to.

[Everlast]

So @ndy, the yanks are stupid are they?
Unlike the British of course - blowing people up, knee-capping, blind hatred, over 3000+ deaths in 30 years - just because some people happen to follow a different branch of the same religion.
Pots and kettles spring to mind.

Yes good point junior but, take LA for example Bloods and Crips you get killed for wearing the wrong colour now how stupid is that. As for stats the death rate in the bad parts of the USA is unknown because the police don't want none of it and understandably so. I'm no racist i just hate the M+L Fan

[@ndy]

true.

[Sidders]

So @ndy, the yanks are stupid are they?
Unlike the British of course - blowing people up, knee-capping, blind hatred, over 3000+ deaths in 30 years - just because some people happen to follow a different branch of the same religion.
Pots and kettles spring to mind.

What the hell are you talking about? British people do no such thing. The IRA are to blame for this, yes the IRISH republican army. Irish people are not British. Here in England we do not give a toss what religion people are, in fact 90% of us are athiests.

[PhatBwoy_Fat]

I wish people would stop using the term 'British' - it is meaningless, simply an invented nineteenth/twentieth century political identity foisted upon the peoples of this island to create some form of a united nation. Its like, pre-1991, a Russian calling themselves a 'Soviet citizen', ie meaningless.

This is why Asians here call themselves 'British' because that's a national-political identity - anyone can be 'British', you just need a UK passport. I am English. That is an ethnic identity, as is Scottish, Welsh, Irish etc. All ultimately to a certain etent are invented, part of the 'creation of myth', but have a vastly firmer grounding, both culturally and historically, than the latter-day 'Britishness' which conformist, wet establishment liberals frantically try to find define to be so inclusive for every person of race or creed that ultimately it becomes a nationally vaccuous equivalent of New Labour, totally devoid of substance

And jonny, the flag of St George has not been hijacked by racists and 'fascists' (however you define fascism) - the flag has been hijacked and burnt by the PC brigade/liberal elite so as to destroy English identity and promote a superficial and bland multiculturalism as a facilitator towards making us all culturally moribund, atheistic automatons with no pride in our glorious history, traditions and heritage.

ahem.

sorry, just done 12 hours of exams in less than 48 hours, little tired and emotional..

[Adam]

Anyone care to take on the Oxford Student.... I think not.

a

[Uglybob]

as a northern ireland person myself, i feel i need to tell you the truth about NI because all you see is a blinkered view.
Northern Ireland is 96% safe probably. It always the minority.
The IRA are to blame but only 50%
The other 50% of the blame goes to Loyalist groups such as the UDA, UFF etc
All these people are not really interested in guns and bombs. They are more interested in Drugs and black market goods.
The reason why newspapers have EIRE coverage is because EIRE people buy these papers too you know.

[kendra k]

riddle me this- do you think the emergence of nationalism (i would argue that being english is more of a nationality than an ethnicity) stems from the increasing hogemity throughout the world due to globalisation. i know in america people love to regionalise. (i'm californian, northern california to be exact) i also find it funny that americans love to identify with nationalities. perhaps it is because america has no inherent nationlaity, no volksgeist. i know people whose ancestors came over generations ago who still claim to be irish, enlgish, italian, or what not. (it is interesting that most people do not acknowlegde any german heritage.) if that's the case i would say i'm croation, despite having scots, germans, dutch, and beglian ancestors too. argh.. this is a history paper!

[Sidders]

i also find it funny that americans love to identify with nationalities. perhaps it is because america has no inherent nationlaity, no volksgeist.

If you want to get technical about it, we English also have no inherent nationality, we all come from Denmark (Vikings), Germany (Saxons), France (Normans), Italy (Romans) and I could go on, but I won't.

[TJD]

and they all evolved from apes, which evolved from single celled life forms which were created by magic.

[M+L Fan]

You lot are just ratifying my point !
The point I was making was that @ndy made a xenophobic remark about Americans being stupid - now I was pointing out that how can a British person call another nationality, when Brits go around murdering people because they believe in a different branch of the same religion. You lot have fallen into the old trap of thinking; just because I was pointing out that the uninformed @ndy(and may I add: typically bigoted,scumsucking loser that we real Brits have come to expect from the majority of sub-species in Northern Ireland) - when will we get rid of this cesspool that costs us real UK citizens millions a day...anyway I digress. The point I'm making is national boundaries are so artificial, that to say 'All yanks are stupid' or 'all Brits are stupid' is a ludicrous statement - as they are all human beings. That last statement does not apply to Northern Ireland or Israel/Palestine where I hand-on-heart genuinely believe the people there are devoid of certain human attributes. eg. Love,compassion,intelligence. No,that wasn't one of my 'shock' statements; I seriously believe that people in Northerh Ireland for example have got something wrong in their gene pool that makes them not quite human.It's just a pity the USA didn't bomb Belfast and Portadown instead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[Lawrie]

this week..a peace march was banned in Bradford to remember the riots a year ago..the police banned it thinking it would cause "more problems"

[Lawrie]

m+lard your views are shocking YOU HAVE JUST CONTRIDICTED YOURSELF!..you say that @ndys comments were xenephonic...then you just slated Northern Ireland! Northern Ireland has had troubles but not all of the people are terrorists. I bet you thought that all of Afghanistan had terrorists in..no it was the taliban who had terrorists inside the people were FORCED to live like that

if you was a member of this board i would call for you to be banned from ever posting here

[kendra k]

the problem is that no one will admit to being bigotted. the conflict in northern ireland is not indicative of all people in norther ireland, as bob pointed out. it is also not 100% the responsibility of the ira, the loyalists have their hands in it as well.

it is easier to define oneself in opposition of another. the germans never thought they were german until the napoleon. the americans never saw themselves as americans until the war for independence. it seems that in our ever increasing quest for personal identity, we (as humans) are constantly redefining ourselves in contrast to an "other". maybe this will clearly define who we are as individuals, maybe it will alienate the entire world. i don't know. i just recognise the trends, i don't explain them.