tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post4068541406637125613..comments2024-03-28T17:44:07.653+00:00Comments on TPQ: Better Angels Of Our Nature Or The Worst Of Our PastAMhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-12197070306573088582019-07-18T14:33:58.664+01:002019-07-18T14:33:58.664+01:00LOL,
and there I was thinking you were banging yo...LOL,<br /><br />and there I was thinking you were banging your atheist drum again!<br /><br />We all have our own idiosyncratic opinions about how to reduce the suffering of the world. With age I too have come to realise that perhaps we ought not so often allow the perfect become the enemy of the good ... not the easiest of journeys, particularly not for the brainwashed idealists among the Henry JoYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04161613445053833181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-26281675138394464842019-07-17T22:38:45.287+01:002019-07-17T22:38:45.287+01:00Henry Joy - your comment on Pinker's escalatio...Henry Joy - your comment on Pinker's escalation of reason linked to you comment on "atomised events devoid of context and not set out in a longer timeline" linked to your comment on "the more accurately a challenging situation is defined the more likely a solution; the more objective the history" - running in order of the selected comments: reason, elongated, tablet. <br /AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-87295352090641203332019-07-17T17:53:23.842+01:002019-07-17T17:53:23.842+01:00AM
ffs, where in my commentary is the inference t...AM<br /><br />ffs, where in my commentary is the inference that reasoning has anything to do with elongated tablets of stone!<br /><br />Also, where in the world has there ever been an 'ethical' conflict and where in the world has there been such a prolonged <i>post-conflict industry</i> as exists in the North?<br /><br />Unfortunately, not everything gets sorted; very little gets neatly Henry JoYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04161613445053833181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-18788744379689313982019-07-17T13:16:13.740+01:002019-07-17T13:16:13.740+01:00They are very useful - a means of solidarity and e...They are very useful - a means of solidarity and empathy with the wronged, an ethical statement of disapproval and resistance that might cause people to reflect and work to prevent, a reinforcing of the ringfence that serves to keep some actions outside the "civilised". Great hurt has been caused to people because of the silence surrounding the wrong done to them. <br /><br />As you sayAMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-64440778756260967132019-07-17T12:33:03.624+01:002019-07-17T12:33:03.624+01:00Of course, 'there is nothing whatsoever wrong ...Of course, 'there is nothing whatsoever wrong with the exclusive and arbitrary condemnation of single acts like Bloody Sunday or Kingsmill'. On the other hand, how useful are they?<br /><br />One of the reasons Pinker proposes as a driver for a reduction in violence is The Escalator of Reason – an "intensifying application of knowledge and rationality to human affairs," which &Henry JoYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04161613445053833181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-21443984212892358732019-07-17T10:37:17.262+01:002019-07-17T10:37:17.262+01:00AM
Henry Joy - alibi strength varies according to...AM<br /><br />Henry Joy - alibi strength varies according to a wide range of things. The complexities of our difficult history are not immune from the vagaries of evaluator perspective. Our difficult history might be less relevant to Philip's point than the outcome. The very outcome settled for by the IRA was a negation of everything it proclaimed to fight for which from a consequentialist AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-49170298714629205972019-07-17T06:20:46.198+01:002019-07-17T06:20:46.198+01:00Context may be alibi. However, as confirmed by Ame...Context may be alibi. However, as confirmed by American Psychological Society research, alibi strength varies according to evaluator perspective. <br /><br />The tone of Philip's contribution fails to make allowance for the complexities of our difficult history. Focusing on atomised events devoid of context and not set out in a longer timeline, offers little potential for integrated Henry JoYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04161613445053833181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-10431382876136589592019-07-16T18:30:36.332+01:002019-07-16T18:30:36.332+01:00In some cases it can but in others it becomes such...In some cases it can but in others it becomes such a burden they would rather not have learned it. I think people have the right to access the truth but an equal right to decide if they wish to access it. AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-8892091797438453262019-07-16T18:29:04.205+01:002019-07-16T18:29:04.205+01:00Henry Joy - pretty much my own take. But context i...Henry Joy - pretty much my own take. But context is alibi and the alibi Philip offers is different from the one we offer. While I can see why he would hang it on the Graham family, given the sister's comments, I feel his point could have been much more incisive had he selected Bea Worton. Not that the Graham sister has no right to speak but rather that the IRA and the UDR are pretty much AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-58444841214335566202019-07-16T17:13:41.425+01:002019-07-16T17:13:41.425+01:00Anthony very profound thoughts. Can the truth ever...Anthony very profound thoughts. Can the truth ever make one free, i wonder? <br /><br />I feel that having chasen up and read Fintan O'Toole's 2007 article in the London Review of Books on the tragedy of the Graham brothers; I must revise my views on how the GAA dealt ewth the sectarian abuse of Darren Graham bny acknowledginging that it did make an awkward apology to him.Barry Gilheanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14220262677398695734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-12100774623049085522019-07-16T11:33:25.065+01:002019-07-16T11:33:25.065+01:00A sister of the the three Graham brothers was also...A sister of the the three Graham brothers was also a member of the UDR and predeceased them. She died of her injuries as a result of a vehicle collision while on duty with the regiment in 1979.<br /><br />Horrific and all as this vignette reads, neither the IRA nor the UDR were <i>'immaculate conceptions'</i>. Dr McGarry's commentary is wanting of context and belies a deep and Henry JoYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04161613445053833181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-78146334556211697092019-07-16T06:04:17.767+01:002019-07-16T06:04:17.767+01:00Barry - I think there is a lot more could be said ...Barry - I think there is a lot more could be said in respect of Philip's piece - I did not agree with much of it but that is neither here nor there and certainly no reason for not carrying it. The blog is useless if it is an echo chamber for what we already believe. Again it made me reflect on how people viewed and continue to view our campaign and those who led it. What they think is not AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-41631632924102727402019-07-16T05:53:07.459+01:002019-07-16T05:53:07.459+01:00Barry - it should happen to no one. Even in prison...Barry - it should happen to no one. Even in prison I had empathy for the parents of the three Graham brothers. And if I remember, a sister died of cancer while the parents were still alive. I felt they were much like the parents of the McKearney brothers - too much grief to be borne and I have no idea how each set of parents managed to cope. I knew the McKearney parents and found them wonderful AMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00559413440743290550noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807238897188927967.post-19345041625795063512019-07-15T23:14:02.661+01:002019-07-15T23:14:02.661+01:00I wonder (no I can accurately predict) what the re...I wonder (no I can accurately predict) what the reaction of nationalist cultural warriors if Catholic soccer playing relatives of those massacred at Ballymurphy (for example) were forced out of Linfield or Glentoran after being called Fenian or Taig bastards in their own dressing room and got no support from the IFA. If the GAA (and I grew up following but not participating in Gaelic games) is Barry Gilheanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14220262677398695734noreply@blogger.com