Comments on The Pensive Quill: Equality needed at Maze Shrine

Maizzie, no one has been stopped commenting in k...

2013-08-22T08:11:19.823+01:00

Maizzie,

no one has been stopped commenting in kind. Republicans have a history but we don't own all history. There is a multiplicity of narratives out there some more right than others, some not right at all. For a better understanding of our past we will not achieve it by suppressing narratives. Let them compete and contest.

Lenny Murphy was a war criminal and should be dishnoured as such. But at the same time republicans inflicted war crimes not greatly dissimilar, if at all, from Bloody Sunday. Coulter in his piece, if I am not mistaken, is inviting us to comment on that aspect of our past.

The one memorial idea is never going to win the day even though we might prefer it. The spot is undoubtedly suitable for the type of memorial you suggest but the symbolism of any proposed venture has to extend beyond the hunger strikes.

anthony, you claim that john is simply holding up ...

2013-08-07T10:30:09.912+01:00

anthony, you claim that john is simply holding up a mirror to us to see something we don't like. i'm assuming that's so we can see all that's wrong with our history and current political positions, which in his opinion would be everything. but if he has the right to freely express his opinions here, words that at the best of times are enough to make one's blood boil and at the worst of times, well, make one tempted to break the mirror...then surely we can *all* respond in kind.

i don't know the man so i can't and won't judge or attack him personally, but if i were to judge by his writings he does comes across as a bigot. no different than the rest of the hate-filled section of the PUL community in the north. if i'm wrong, so be it. but nothing he's written so far has made me think i am. and in my own personal opinion i agree with others that he has gone too far on this piece. even the idea of an evil sectarian cunt like lenny murphy, plus the rat & the jackal, being "honoured" in the same place we lost our hunger-strikers is beyond sick. it comes across as deliberately antagonising and an attempt to bait a undesirable response from republicans. again, i could be be wrong, but i'll wait and see.

as for the whole issue of what to do with the site, i'm conflicted. for the most part i would agree that loyalists should be able to have a memorial to any of their own who passed away in the gaol. there were loyalists prisoners inside and they have the right to remember. yes, there should be equality. but due to the brit-enforced sectarian mind-set that's been drilled into the minds of our people over generations i don't think there is any other solution than to have the memorials set up in completely separate areas of the gaol. they CANNOT put the names of bobby sands and billy wright on the same monument.

but even though i've said that, in my heart all i can feel is that there is only one memorial that deserves to stand on the grounds of long kesh -- one dedicated to the 10 brave martyrs who selflessly gave their lives in 1981 and every former blanketman and ex-POW who has since passed away having never escaped the hell of the h-blocks inside their own tortured minds.

Jaysus Marty, seems like your good Mrs has had th...

2013-08-04T15:13:28.438+01:00

Jaysus Marty,

seems like your good Mrs has had the necessity to slip a few sedatives into your dinner again. Or is someone assuming your identity? lol

You know when you cut through the emotion here for...

2013-08-04T12:56:00.048+01:00

You know when you cut through the emotion here for once I believe John may have a point, he is certainly right in stating that there can be no hierarchy of victims ,I to would feel disgusted to see Bobby Sands name on the same memorial as that of Billy Wright,the word shrine makes me cringe with its religious connotations and all that goes with such,those who died did so for very different beliefs and ideals right or wrong,so its is I think entirely reasonable that any memorials on this site should be segregated,the British legion do not erect memorials to German war dead I think nor should they be expected to, I think a memorial in a prominent position to all who have died and suffered here is worthy thought but with our current sectarian approach to each other such memorials would exist in a lonely environment,separation and segregation has been the cornerstone of this state, inspired by the Brits divide and rule ethos,and it may be more fitting if people like John were to explore why we had these deaths in the first place,memorials wont bring justice ,they just remind us all of the injustice of war .

Thue huns should stick-up their own monument at Lo...

2013-08-04T10:37:57.143+01:00

Thue huns should stick-up their own monument at Long Kesh. Preferably 'stick it up' Coulters hole.

With respects, this blog with stupid reasoning is ...

2013-08-04T08:01:16.000+01:00

With respects, this blog with stupid reasoning is beginning to make Jude Collins look respectable.

Itsjustmacker, I know you value TPQ as a site wh...

2013-08-04T07:33:16.031+01:00

Itsjustmacker,

I know you value TPQ as a site where pretty much all manner of opinion is allowed.

I don't pick or choose 'right' or 'wrong' pieces written by John Coulter to place on the blog. I don't filter them for political correctness or soundness or to see whether they might be agreeable to me. If he writes I publish.

His views can be provocative and they offend some. He too finds other views here offensive and provocative. But here's the thing: John Coulter is of the free speech school. He knows there is no right not to be offended. He believes that people not opinions should be defended. He must balk at the anti-religious sentiment vented on this blog but you will never hear him complain about it.

Far from him being an out and out loyalist scumbag he is a unionist - hardly a crime - and a gutsy journalist prepared to go to jail in order to protect his sources.

Now that to me counts for a lot. Because if we look at the latest twist in the BC saga where BC openly wants to identify to the PSNI its own confidential sources - to assist law enforcement rather than protect sources - we see that the type of fortitude displayed by John Coulter is not a widespread phenomenon.

Myself and John Coulter hardly share the same opinion about anything: except this - it is a person's right to have a different opinion and to believe whatever they want.

John Coulter is holding a mirror up to us in the hope that it might show us something we don't like. The response is not to break the mirror.

Anthony: You allow everyone on your blog to voice...

2013-08-04T01:20:40.015+01:00

Anthony:

You allow everyone on your blog to voice their opinion, The TPQ sets an example to to other blogs, FREEDOM TO SPEAK ONES MIND.

In my opinion John Coulter has gone well over the top on this one, ie ;

" Any shared Maze shrine must include references to dead loyalists like UFF commander John McMichael, UVF Shankill Butchers boss Lennie Murphy; LVF founder Billy 'King Rat' Wright', and the mastermind behind the Dublin and Monaghan no-warning bombs, Robin 'The Jackal' Jackson. "

Lets start with Lenny Murphy , set up by his own to be assassinated by the RA, King Rat, the word RAT says it all, but to even state the Robby Jackson should also be included, that's well taking the piss.

John Coulter to me is an out and out Loyalist scumbag.

On this one I have to speak my mind, I think you picked the wrong piece of Coulter's to post, because I do not believe for one moment Coulter is stating his views, I believe he is just taking the mickey.

No offence meant Anthony.

Feelings running high on this one. I am not polici...

2013-08-04T00:09:04.067+01:00

Feelings running high on this one. I am not policing the debate but try and keep it civil. John Coulter is entitled to his views as much as the rest of us.

Dr John: Your Poor Cousin Arthur Henderson, B- S...

2013-08-04T00:00:06.935+01:00

Dr John:

Your Poor Cousin Arthur Henderson, B- Special, Murdering scum, deserved to die, he and the rest of that scum had a license to exterminate Catholics. I wonder how many he executed?. How can you expect equality with sick statements, re shankill butchers etc. Two of my family were murdered by those degenerates. so you can go + fys John Coulter, your just as bitter as your Blown to pieces B-Special cousin, and your making money out of it by publishing in newspapers. No sympathy from me regarding your Cousin.

Innocent RUC... can't for the life of me place...

2013-08-03T23:55:58.607+01:00

Innocent RUC... can't for the life of me place RUC men with innocent civilians. So many in the ranks stitching people up. Verbal statements fabricating and losing 'evidence' and downright murder. UDR 4 never got a mention either John. No equality in that.

There can't be equality John, only the IRA were murdering people in 'Ulster' the Prods were all innocently going to and from an honest, law abiding days work.

Dr John- " A shared shrine " Prison off...

2013-08-03T22:26:05.462+01:00

Dr John-

" A shared shrine "
Prison officers who were killed will have a wee place somewhere in the new Long Kesh complex but still some Unionists are not happy-God knows what the black and tans have to do with the H-blocks for them to be named on site-

" What is needed is equality "
John calls Vol Jim Lynagh a murdering butcher so in the name of equality his RUC cousin-blow up Henderson was a murdering pig-