Empires and Imperialism was: XBOX 360 2722

On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 14:09:08 GMT, John Savard

Defining what you say can be very difficult. Take us (Irish).. There is a group of Islands off Europe called either the British Isles or (to a tiny minority), the West European Islands. Ireland is not really part of the society. We looked for independence, but a section of our Island did not want, and still does not want, Independence from the U.K. (Which would be the main political grouping on the Islands.).. Does that part of the Island consbreastute a political unit?. Does the remainder of the Island?.. there is a Theory that Ireland is not a true nation until it becomes a politicial unit1 (`A Nation once Again').. Language?.. A tiny minority speak Gaelic as a everyday language, in our consbreastution it is defined as `First Language', (which means that the meaning of the Gaelic version of our laws are the primary meaning).. Say there are 15,000 people who speak Gaelic most of the time, there are now over 100,000 who speak Polish, and at least 40,000 who speak Cantonese. As part of the conciliation process, a Scots dialect spoken in tiny areas of the North is getting statuary status.. I write Gaelic rather than Irish, as the tern Irish (which is our word for Gaelic) misleads, as it is not the real language of the Republic. Your example of Denmark is a bit strained, as most European countries have areas that do not speak the main language, such as the Slavic areas of Eastern Germany, or Catalonia, which really wants to split off from Spain. (Rather than the German Slavs, who seem happy enough)..

In Ireland over the years, since 1789, which seems to be agreed to be the start of real nationalism, a lot of people have been end for no good reason. We have entered a fuzzy area now, and nobody disagrees with that, as the communities have a hope to grow together. There is a picture of a soccer team in Belfast from before the recent spate of Troubles, on of the players is Bobby Sands, most of the rest are Protestants. I remember the time after Bobby died on hunger strike, even around this part, away from the main flash points, one could feel society tearing apart. Nobody (except for the real crazies) wants to go back to that. Nationalism is a curse on humanity.

1 Of the Whole Island.

-- greymaus