Getting people to gather round a flag is grand when the bloods up on the 12th or on the last Saturday. The rest of the time there’s nothing to bind loyalists together other than the queens speech, a memory of the shipyards and a hatred of taigs. Their churches are often dour little factional meeting halls… and the orange order serves no purpose in cities
Catholics have music, national identity, gaa and language, a history of struggle- some real, some mythical …and one religion with a nice bit of drama, ceremony and theatre thrown in. This is enough to drive a community on to forming housing associations, adult education groups, historical associations and a hundred other ventures that have been given support and funding
There’s some truth in what the oul loyalist hags are spouting when they talk about themuns having everything…there’s a massive difference in the look and atmosphere of the falls compared to the shankhill. The former isn’t too far removed from the gentrified ormeau road, the latter is a bit of a miserable wasteland- shitty public spaces, vaping shops and pubs that haven’t had a facelift since the 70s. I don’t know how @TheBlackSpot lives there tbh.
And there’s this. The Catholic nationalists are, by and large, kinder, more welcoming and more accepting.
The DUP are, along with the current Tory front bench, the most hateful group of people you’d ever encounter. They both exist solely for self enrichment.
You forgot the biggest building on the road - the Glasgow Rangers supporters club.
I watched a documentary on the Rangers/Celtic rivalry. Celtic fan was asked why he supported Celtic and he spoke about Irish heritage, culture and other spoof but you could tell he kind of believed it. Rangers fan was asked why he supported Rangers. Spent 5 minutes having a rant about hating Celtic, didn’t mention Rangers at all.
Ask him why he hates Celtic would be the next obvious question.
It was a great interview. What was his name?
Alex Kane
Ive always thought this about the respective cultures but thought it might have been my inherent bias.
Even in the 90s you got the impression a lot of the Loyalists head fellas were out partying dropping yokes ,snorting beak and then afterwards heading off to kill some randomer…they were all egos fighting each other to be the top crew and also make the most coin form drug dealing …they had a much higher profile .’simply the best ‘ etc…there was no real discipline to them and they’d turn on each other just as quick …thugs and scum bags out for trouble more than any real beliefs.
‘cos I’m a dour humourless cunt who doesn’t mind living in a shithole so long as:
1 themmuns don’t get anything
2 I can march through themmuns’ streets
3 themmuns don’t get anything
4 Rangers win the league
5 themmuns don’t get anything
6 King Billy’s on the wall
7 themmuns don’t get anything
8 flegs
9 themmuns don’t get anything
10 access to drugs sold by our brave defenders
11 themmuns don’t get anything
12 the Queen
13 themmuns don’t get anything
14 the Twalfth
Correct.
And I suppose the jobs thing goes back further with H&W and the like …they didn’t have to do a whole lot to get jobs which have since dried up so in effect they don’t even know how to start going about it? Like previously would those type of jobs have been handed down generation to generation in protestant families ?
Don’t think this cunt was/is as widely known as other loyalist killers. I remember doing a black cab tour of Belfast years ago and seeing the huge murals for him on the Shankill. Asked the driver, who was clearly a rabid Republican despite not explicitly saying what side he was on, who said that McKeag killed a load of men/women going about their daily business.
Some of them mentioned in that linked article above - a female chemist shop assistant, a chap in a barber’s, a lad in a pub etc etc. It gets back to @Bisto ‘s point…these loyalist cunts in a lot of cases were serial killer/psychopath types.
They weren’t involved because of belief in a cause or a greater good; it was just a way to satisfy their urge to inflict pain/death on the other side and a by product of that was notoriety/adulation in their own community.
You could picture the cunts in a tracksuit and a wife beater going between pub and bookies of a Saturday and then getting the notion late in the evening to shoot someone on way home …
It’s a frightening situation but how did it emerge and how is it sustained? I find it hard to believe that an area of Belfast would give rise to a hundred Jack the Rippers.
About as close to a sonnet as any of you fuckers ever managed
Martin Dillon’s book “The Shankill Butchers” is a tremendous insight into the drink fuelled hatred of and inspiration to kill taigs and sometimes some of their own. A serious amount of it centred round bars and shebeens.
Brendan Hughes, IRA royalty, and Basher Bates, Shankill Butcher and loyalist royalty, became very good mates in prison.
That’s fascinating.
Sure it’s the same genepool that started the KKK in America.
I said it before but a HBO produced, high budget series on Troubles period loyalist gangsters would be unreal TV.
The guy who played Vic Mackey as Mad Dog
Amy Adams as Mad Bitch
Billy Bob Thornton as Swinger Fulton