Raynine
Diamond Member
- Oct 28, 2023
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Some thoughts on Minneapolis:
I don’t know much about my maternal grandmother other than she immigrated from Cork, Ireland in the early 1900’s. Her last name was Bolster which does not sound Irish; she was a devout Catholic. She would tell us occasional stories about life in Ireland but even as a small child I could tell she was holding something back.
The reason I find this significant is because I did some research on the rioting and violence in Northern Ireland in 1960’s and I can make a connection to what is happening today in Minneapolis. That city is circling a civil powder keg that could make it a modern-day Belfast and the Pandora’s box it opens could easily spread in many directions.
The structural underpinnings are remarkably similar—tribalistic distrust of authority, the feeling that established power is stacked by some against others, and inflammatory language coming from what some see as outposts against oppression. Others see it as a disciplinary action to quell unrest. The belief that the system is rigged is the only thing shared by adversaries.
We do not need to be Nostradamus here, but we can draw some disturbing parallels. The poison that did its dirty work in Ireland is here today and it has a much larger host to affect. Civil war? Not likely. What is far more probable is a lockdown of personal freedom for everyone. When this kind of social incompatibility exists, it leads to desperate measures on both sides because neither side believes the other acts in good faith.
Strong emotions have risen in Minneapolis, and two people have died in the conflict of visions that nests there. Why is this so dangerous? Because we could enter the same avenging loop that choked Northern Ireland for so long. When right or wrong becomes them or us, redemption on any level becomes impossible. It devolves into a deadly game of one-upmanship like a revolving door. Belfast should be an object lesson for us all because it played out for us to see. George Santayana’s quote about repeating patterns of history applies aptly to Minneapolis.
As an older American I used to hear: “Hey, it’s a free country”, all the time. Do we want car bombings and innocent collateral deaths that will escalate perceived grievances to the max as in Belfast? What will happen to freedom then? —Traded it for security?
I don’t know much about my maternal grandmother other than she immigrated from Cork, Ireland in the early 1900’s. Her last name was Bolster which does not sound Irish; she was a devout Catholic. She would tell us occasional stories about life in Ireland but even as a small child I could tell she was holding something back.
The reason I find this significant is because I did some research on the rioting and violence in Northern Ireland in 1960’s and I can make a connection to what is happening today in Minneapolis. That city is circling a civil powder keg that could make it a modern-day Belfast and the Pandora’s box it opens could easily spread in many directions.
The structural underpinnings are remarkably similar—tribalistic distrust of authority, the feeling that established power is stacked by some against others, and inflammatory language coming from what some see as outposts against oppression. Others see it as a disciplinary action to quell unrest. The belief that the system is rigged is the only thing shared by adversaries.
We do not need to be Nostradamus here, but we can draw some disturbing parallels. The poison that did its dirty work in Ireland is here today and it has a much larger host to affect. Civil war? Not likely. What is far more probable is a lockdown of personal freedom for everyone. When this kind of social incompatibility exists, it leads to desperate measures on both sides because neither side believes the other acts in good faith.
Strong emotions have risen in Minneapolis, and two people have died in the conflict of visions that nests there. Why is this so dangerous? Because we could enter the same avenging loop that choked Northern Ireland for so long. When right or wrong becomes them or us, redemption on any level becomes impossible. It devolves into a deadly game of one-upmanship like a revolving door. Belfast should be an object lesson for us all because it played out for us to see. George Santayana’s quote about repeating patterns of history applies aptly to Minneapolis.
As an older American I used to hear: “Hey, it’s a free country”, all the time. Do we want car bombings and innocent collateral deaths that will escalate perceived grievances to the max as in Belfast? What will happen to freedom then? —Traded it for security?
