Orange Culture

There are those so desperate for a UI they will offer a Twelfth holiday to respect the Orange "culture".
Just because something is a "culture" doesn't automatically entitle it to respect.

Hmm, how would it go down if America celebrated 1st July for Battle of Gettysburg nor 4th July as their National holiday, and Union re-enactors paraded through Atlanta, Charleston etc

A display of Orange culture went viral, it’s not something I want to respect.

Duke of Marmalade said:

A display of Orange culture went viral, it’s not something I want to respect.

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Is that video reflective of Orange culture or just a small element within it.

How would you compare that with singing Republican songs in a pub in say Cork. Which to my mind is done by people who are sincerely not sectarian.

cremeegg said:

Is that video reflective of Orange culture or just a small element within it.

How would you compare that with singing Republican songs in a pub in say Cork. Which to my mind is done by people who are sincerely not sectarian.

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In my youth I attended Prisoner Dependants' Clubs (fronts for the Provos) in West Belfast. Rebel songs and plenty of drink and craic and right in the heat of the Troubles and Internment. I can honestly say I never heard anything overtly sectarian. Still I don't condone republicans wallowing in their martyrs and in their anti British hatred, but quite in a different league in depravity from what we saw in a loyalist shebeen and we must presume that this is typical fare - they got caught this time.
The sectarian bile in sections of the loyalist community has led to a situation where they can't stomach being second fiddle to a Fenian, drumming up some excuse about a protocol.
Having said that I think the cross community Alliance Party draws its support mainly from Protestants and they are much less inclined to elect murderers or their apologists, so I am certainly not tarring that entire community with what we saw the other night.

From talking to Unionist friends in Nor'n Ireland being a member of the Orange Order is a bit embarrassing. It's also a dying organisation. Membership has plummeted in the last 20 years and the average age of those who are left is well over 50. They have no money to maintain their lodges, a very bad relationship with the Protestant Churches, the C of I in particular, and are a total shambles organisationally. It is fair to say that they are not a representation of Protestant culture in Northern Ireland.
Despite their protestations the comparisons between them and the KKK are apt. Younger Protestants in Northern Ireland are culturally aligned with England which is largely secular tolerant and liberal.

Unfortunately The Loyal Orange Institution attracts the detritus of the Protestant population, another thing they have in common with the Klan in America. That means that they still pose a threat to peace and the creation of a country/province/state/jurisdiction in Northern Ireland that is really democratic. While there may be aspect of Northern Protestant culture that are to be admired there is nothing about the culture that The Orange actually represent that is worthy of respect.

The sad thing about the video is that it was quite clear, they (and others there) knew the words and this was not the first time they sung it.

I also find the use of religion to seperate sides as so out of date these days, I doubt many of the more vocal people on either side of the divide have darkened the inside of a church in years.

Peanuts20 said:

The sad thing about the video is that it was quite clear, they (and others there) knew the words and this was not the first time they sung it.

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I haven't seen it and have no desire to see it.

Peanuts20 said:

I also find the use of religion to seperate sides as so out of date these days,

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I always found it bizarre, especially considering how few people actually know the difference between Catholicism and Protestantism.

Peanuts20 said:

I doubt many of the more vocal people on either side of the divide have darkened the inside of a church in years.

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Insight isn't required to weaponize dogma.