MovieChat Forums > The Rising of the Moon (1957) Discussion > Oirish indeed !!

Oirish indeed !!

posted 14 years ago by stevem-26
4 replies | jump to latest

Miskinmason's User Comment from four years ago is disturbing to say the least.
I quote from Wikipedia:
The Black and Tans were not subject to strict discipline in their early months in Ireland and as a result, the deaths of Black and Tans at the hands of the IRA in 1920 were often repaid with arbitrary reprisals against the civilian population. In the summer of 1920, the Black and Tans burned and sacked many small towns and villages in Ireland, beginning with Tuam in County Galway in July 1920 and also including Trim, Balbriggan, Thurles and Templemore amongst many others. In November 1920, the Tans "besieged" Tralee in revenge for the IRA abduction and killing of two local RIC men. They closed all the businesses in the town and let no food in for a week. In addition they shot dead three local people. On 14 November, the Tans abducted and murdered a Roman Catholic priest, Fr Michael Griffin, in Galway. His body was found in a bog in Barna a week later. Finally, the Black and Tans sacked Cork city, on the night of 11 December 1920, the centre of which was burned out.

Fact is, yes fact, the Black and Tans were infested with thugs.
Now the IRA also had their share, but the destruction of towns and killing of civilians done by the B&T's was nothing heroic, and reeks of the tactics of another black clad bunch of thugs, 1938-1945.

The word "Blackwater" comes to mind for some reason......

The goons ye shall have with ye always.

[–] emncaity 12 years ago

I mean, to mention only a few events for the Black and Tans, yeah.

Not to mention the fact that the B&Ts were state-sponsored.

The fact is that when you mention "terrorism" in connection with Ireland, 95% of the 50% of people in the U.S. who know anything about it at all will say "Oh, yeah, the IRA"--when in fact Amnesty International and other organizations have established that there have been more violent incidents and more killings on the loyalist/unionist side over the years than on the republican side, and that's even factoring in the people who were _rejected_ by whoever was the primary or mainstream IRA at the time (e.g., the Provos for the past four decades or so). It's including all the splinter groups, everything; the people who went against what the more reasonable republicans wanted. I mean, I'd be shocked if you could talk to a hundred non-Irish in the States and find more than 10 who can even tell you what a loyalist or unionist is, and more than three who can tell you anything very specific about them.

History is written by the winners, indeed.

[–] pcoffey-1 11 years ago

My mother was born in 1919 in Cork and my grandmother told us the Black and Tans were quartered at the end of their street. They would stroll up snd down the street and asked my grandmother if she wanted her house blown up on Monday or Tuesday. Because my grandfather and his brothers and her brothers were IRA fighters, and she was home with a baby, she was terrified.

[–] emncaity 11 years ago

Sounds about right.

Not to make excuses for intimidators and murderers, but it's also true that these soldiers were put into very difficult circumstances, and few of them wanted to be there. They were hated as the enemy -- with good reason, from the republican's perspective, to be sure -- and they hated back and pushed back. It's a terrible situation all around. It does nobody good.

[–] megatosspot 10 years ago

Yet they apparently didn't string her up on the nearest lamppost. How could that be?

stfu about fking avatars already.