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Trapped By The Past
Townhall.com ^ | February 19, 2017 | Derek Hunter

Posted on 02/19/2017 4:54:37 AM PST by Kaslin

I’ve been wondering lately how the rest of the world views the political happenings in the United States. My only glimpse on this had come through the US media, which presented an unpleasant picture but is completely untrustworthy. So I decided to see for myself.

With my wife having a bun in the oven and lacking sufficient funds to travel the world, I had to choose my destination carefully. It had to be somewhere I could get a flavor for a large swath of the planet’s population within a short period of time – and be relatively close.

Paris was out because I don’t speak French. Berlin was out because my German is nearly as bad as my English. China was too far and expensive, plus the whole language barrier thing again.

So I chose Ireland.

We went there on our honeymoon in 2015, so I knew the lay of the land. They speak English, and so do most of the tourists. Dublin is a truly international city, crawling with travelers from every corner of the planet.

If you’ve never been to the Emerald Isle, I highly recommend it. From the east coast it’s an affordable and fairly short flight. It’s beautiful, the people are friendly, you can understand the media, and it’s worth it for the thrill of driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road.

In the next few weeks I’ll recount what I heard, read and saw of the people in Ireland – many of whom were visitors like us – and how they view the United States and what our media this week started to call, in oddly uniform fashion, “chaos.” But first I wanted to tell you what happened to me while touring formerly violence-ravaged areas of Belfast and later that night at a traditional Irish show in Dublin.

Ireland is two countries with a shared culture and history. It’s interesting – fascinating, really – but it’s also a place trapped by its past.

It’s not just trapped in its past; it’s almost a prisoner to it.

I bring this up not to mock the Irish – it’s their past, they can do with it what they like. I mention it because I fear I see it happening here, to a degree.

I didn’t notice it in 2015, mostly because we didn’t travel to Northern Ireland. But this time I was looking for something – I had no idea what.

On a black cab tour of Belfast, we went first to the Protestant area of the city that saw the most violence in what they call “the troubles,” which is a very British way of referring to decades of violence, bombings and thousands of deaths.

But the troubles, which ended with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, are everywhere. Or at least reminders are.

Houses are covered in murals to the martyred dead. Not small murals, but whole sides of houses. The neighborhood is covered in them. The Catholic section is no different – faces and reminders of the dead are everywhere.

The ones that stood out the most to me were, on the Catholic side, to Bobby Sands who, along with nine other Irish Republican Army followers, starved themselves to death in 1981, and those featuring King William III, also known as William of Orange.

Many people there personally knew Sands and his compatriots, but William the Orange has been dead since 1702. So why him?

At the Battle of Boyne in 1690, King William defeated King James II, essentially ridding Ireland of Catholic rulers and claiming the island for Protestants.

Catholicism obviously returned, especially in the Republic of Ireland, where it dominates. But Catholics and Protestants in Ireland are still angry or joyous about that July 1, 327 years ago.

It informs so much of what still happens, in the north especially. They’ve lost much of the religion, but the anger, the hatred and mistrust, remain.

Events that had no bearing on their lives, that didn’t affect them or anyone they know, still inspire distrust and, in sporadic historical bursts, murder on both sides.

Politics in the United States haven’t reach that point, yet, but the pot does appear to be starting to boil. Friendships have been lost. Family members no longer speak to each other over political divisions that, in the grand scheme of things, won’t amount to a memory.

But Americans have been convinced the person who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is either their savior or will be their end. Neither is true. Just like some Irish are convinced their neighbor is their enemy because they hold slightly different religious views, a growing number of Americans can’t fathom that some people disagree with them politically and are willing to vandalize their property or physically attack them.

This unhinged behavior comes primarily from the left, but it can’t help but lead, if unchecked, to retaliatory behavior from the right. Yet dating back to the Obama years, Democrats refuse to denounce the violence committed for their agenda. In fact, they freely use the rhetoric that stokes the anger around it.

Old divisions are manifesting themselves as chasms and in dangerous ways and being passed off as “passion.” Undiffused, irrational anger funneled toward people because they believe in limited government will blow if rational thought is not reintroduced. It’s haunted Ireland for centuries, and to this day.

We are better than that. We have to be better than this.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: politics

1 posted on 02/19/2017 4:54:38 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
This unhinged behavior comes primarily from the left, but it can’t help but lead, if unchecked, to retaliatory behavior from the right. Yet dating back to the Obama years, Democrats refuse to denounce the violence committed for their agenda. In fact, they freely use the rhetoric that stokes the anger around it.

So, what does Derek suggest? It is really on the Left to change or be de-fanged - it would be suicide to not retaliate against them,.

2 posted on 02/19/2017 5:00:23 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: Kaslin
We are better than that. We have to be better than this.

The left disagrees. It always has.

Right now, we are seeing the left finally unmask itself.

3 posted on 02/19/2017 5:01:11 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: Kaslin

The fallacy here is that the goal is reconciliation. If it is actually disintegration, then the Left’s tactics are working perfectly.

And, being dialectical Marxists, fragmentation — destruction of the status quo — is precisely their goal.


4 posted on 02/19/2017 5:03:26 AM PST by IronJack
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To: IronJack
And, being dialectical Marxists, fragmentation — destruction of the status quo — is precisely their goal.

And will continue until Madame Guillotine slams down for the last time.

5 posted on 02/19/2017 5:12:37 AM PST by Don Corleone (.leave the gun, take the canolis, take it to the mattress.)
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To: Kaslin
OK, they guy really doesn't know much about the rest of the world, does he?

Berlin was out because my German is nearly as bad as my English.

Almost all Germans speak English. A few in rural areas are rusty, but you can still get by at the grocery store or gas station. You might have an issue with some of the elderly Osties at this point, but that's about it.

The French probably can, as well, they just don't want to.

6 posted on 02/19/2017 5:13:53 AM PST by PAR35
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To: trebb

Bingo.

One side supports the US Constitution, the rule of law, and American traditions. We are nationalists and patriots.

The other side disagrees on all of these topics.

Why reconcile? Why compromise? This division will not go away until one side either changes it’s ideology (not likely) or is reduced to a small fringe element. And by the way, if the Left ever achieves true dominance, the Conservatives will not be a “small fringe element”; we will be exterminated. That’s always the goal of the Left.


7 posted on 02/19/2017 5:25:34 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (Abortion is what slavery was: immoral but not illegal. Not yet.)
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To: PAR35

“The French probably can, as well, they just don’t want to.”

Recall a Paris taxi driver who was a culture snob...He asked me if I knew how America got its name.....When I told him the name of a Italian navy guy/ map maker(?), he sheepishly kept his mouth shut all the way back to the hotel...


8 posted on 02/19/2017 5:25:54 AM PST by litehaus (A memory toooo long.............)
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To: Kaslin

“But Americans have been convinced the person who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is either their savior or will be their end.”

I think the Americans who think this generally overestimate the number of people who think like they do. All you have to do is look at eligible voter turnout. If it was that big a deal we wouldn’t have 40%+ not bothering to vote. Local and state elections are much lower. 2014 midterms had the lowest turnout in 70 years at 36% turnout.

FReegards


9 posted on 02/19/2017 5:26:45 AM PST by Ransomed
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To: IronJack
And, being dialectical Marxists, fragmentation — destruction of the status quo — is precisely their goal.

From where I stand it looks like liberalism is the establishment and socialism is the status quo. Granted, the Democrat Party flavor of liberalism is married to big business and government for their mutual enrichment. Bernie Sanders' troops at least understood who their enemy was.

Ironically, the Marxists and anarchists are protesting Trump, who is fighting against the bloated and self-serving establishment.

10 posted on 02/19/2017 5:31:09 AM PST by Senator_Blutarski
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To: Senator_Blutarski
The confusing part is that it doesn't matter what structure is being destroyed. If it's Establishment Liberalism, that's okay. If it's Establishment Conservatism, that works too. Because it's not about wanting one over the other; the whole purpose is to simply destroy the existing structure so that something -- anything -- new can replace it.

When odumbass spoke about "fundamentally transforming America," he didn't mean "convert America into a liberal paradise." He meant "disrupt the prevailing culture and erode the established order." That's all.

The Left is succeeding at creating the conflict necessary to achieve a critical mass of violence. When conservatives begin to fight back -- in the streets as well as at the polling place -- then the revolution is well and truly joined.

At that point, our only recourse is to so thoroughly crush liberalism that it can't plant its seeds in the ruined soil of the ancien regime.

11 posted on 02/19/2017 5:47:13 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Kaslin

My wife has young cousins in Vancouver and they call us weekly for updates with Trump, they love him and wish they had one too.


12 posted on 02/19/2017 6:14:02 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: Kaslin

We are largely in the midst of a world view clash, a manifestation of the judeo-christian view v a secular view. Politics is simply the field on which it is being played.

Unless one side converts or becomes apostate(a very real possibility), we are at a hard and dangerous impasse.


13 posted on 02/19/2017 6:34:33 AM PST by lurk (TEat)
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To: Kaslin
This unhinged behavior comes primarily from the left, but it can’t help but lead, if unchecked, to retaliatory behavior from the right.

Count on it.

14 posted on 02/19/2017 7:11:39 AM PST by tomkat
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To: ClearCase_guy

“.... if the Left ever achieves true dominance, the Conservatives will not be a “small fringe element”; we will be exterminated. That’s always the goal of the Left.”..

You nailed it!


15 posted on 02/19/2017 7:31:40 AM PST by DaveA37
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To: Kaslin

Very good as always by this writer - thanks.


16 posted on 02/19/2017 7:33:41 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: Kaslin
how the rest of the world views the political happenings in the United States.

I was waiting for his answer to that question. In his next column, I suppose.

I heard someone else on the radio talking about his vacation overseas and also mentioned listening to the news there. He tuned in to different news channels in various languages. Some he understood in their native languages, some had English subtitles, and many spoke English. He said everyone was talking about "Trump, Trump, Trump." People marveled that a politician was actually doing what he said he would. But he also said everyone was using the same terminology about "chaos" in the Trump administration.

It sure seems like they are being given the same script from some central source, like globalists. I don't see chaos at all. What seems obvious to me is that progressives and Marxists are doing what they can to bring him down. But President Trump is accomplishing amazing things. Imagine what he could do if he didn't have so many destructive forces fighting against him!

17 posted on 02/19/2017 7:36:28 AM PST by KittyKares (Drain the Swamp)
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