this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2024

17 points (69.8% liked)

Unpopular Opinion

6445 readers

6 users here now

Welcome to the Unpopular Opinion community!

How voting works:

Vote the opposite of the norm.

If you agree that the opinion is unpopular give it an arrow up. If it's something that's widely accepted, give it an arrow down.

Guidelines:

Tag your post, if possible (not required)

If your post is a "General" unpopular opinion, start the subject with [GENERAL].
If it is a Lemmy-specific unpopular opinion, start it with [LEMMY].

Rules:

1. NO POLITICS

Politics is everywhere. Let's make this about [general] and [lemmy] - specific topics, and keep politics out of it.

2. Be civil.

Disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally attack others. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Please also refrain from gatekeeping others' opinions.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Shitposts and memes are allowed but...

Only until they prove to be a problem. They can and will be removed at moderator discretion.

5. No trolling.

This shouldn't need an explanation. If your post or comment is made just to get a rise with no real value, it will be removed. You do this too often, you will get a vacation to touch grass, away from this community for 1 or more days. Repeat offenses will result in a perma-ban.

Instance-wide rules always apply. https://legal.lemmy.world/tos/

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

The Irish Tricolour shouldn't be used for St Patrick's Day. (feddit.uk)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/unpopularopinion

18 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The Irish Tricolour flag represents the country of the Republic of Ireland, 26 counties of the island, which in fact doesn't include the 6 counties that St Patrick mainly operated in. In fact, it can be quite offensive to many people living in the place St Patrick mainly operated in, due to a civil conflict.

St Patrick also has his own flag - a red saltire on a white background - which deliberately represents him.

Making St Patrick's day a festival of Irish Nationalism specific to the Republic of Ireland makes zero sense, and using a flag which only represents part of the island, especially since many Americans are also descended from Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland.

top 18 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

dw the tricolor will represent all 32 counties soon :3

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I would expect a new flag should that happen.

[–] VaultBoyNewVegas 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Same. There's gotta be a fucking flute or a lambeg drum just to appease the orange order.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

I'd like St Patrick's Saltire as it would be consistent with England and Scotland which may also be part of a dissolved UK by then. Kinda like how the frenchy countries use tricolours and the germy countries use horizontal tricolours

I think boob harp is my second preference. It looks cool and would be funny to have a boob on our flag.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

IDGAF about some random Catholic missionary, but won’t miss a chance to promote Irish reunification.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Fair enough 😂

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

I don't know if this counts as an unpopular opinion, as opposed to something that a lot of people don't know. Have an upvote for the interesting facts though :)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There is no such country as "The Republic of Ireland". You're thinking of Ireland, which is a republic.

The tricolour represents all people on the island of Ireland. Can you guess why it is green white and orange? Your decision to be offended by a flag (fleg) that was specifically designed to pander to you is your own.

St Patrick's Saltire has absolutely no connection to the saint and is at least as offensive to most Irish people as your strange aversion to the tricolour by virtue of being a British invention to place (and keep even after Irish independence) Ireland on the United Kingdom flag.

Finally, anyone who is offended by being associated with Ireland or its flag is quite unlikely to want to celebrate the life of a Catholic saint, particularly not the Presbyterian Ulster Scots (the American descendents of which would have spent something less than a generation in Ireland before being replanted in America).

[+] [email protected] -6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is probably one of the most uneducated takes I have seen in a while.

The Island of Ireland, 2/3rds of it belong to the Republic of Ireland and the other 3rd chose to opt out of independence and remain in the United Kingdom, as Northern Ireland. You'd know this if you knew basic Irish geography.

The tricolour does not represent all people on the Island of Ireland - It was designed with no consultation from Northern Ireland and was supposed to poorly attempt to represent them so they can justify their irredentism, which was finally dropped in the late 90's. However they never dropped the shortened name "Ireland" nor the flag. In fact, it was even used by terrorists while attacking the protestants they claimed it represented.

St Patrick's Saltire was never used during terrorist campaigns and originates from the Fitzgerald dynasty. Of course, St George's and St David's Crosses and St Andrew's Saltire also have little to do with their respective saints. St Patrick's Saltire is used by various different colleges and organisations all across the island. It's not as offensive as the tricolour.

Lastly, - the most uneducated take - St Patrick IS celebrated by Protestants in Northern Ireland. We regard the Saints too, from respect in low church denominations such as Baptists, to veneration in high church denominations such as Church of Ireland. St Patrick is seen as pre-Catholic, originating long before the Schism and the Reformation. But tricolours are never used, usually the saltire in place or just green things. In fact, Belfast City Hall flies the Union Flag alongside St Patrick's Saltire on St Patrick's day.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

chose to opt out

lol

I promise you I read the rest of your crap (I promise you, the only means by which I am "uneducated" is by virtue of not having been brainwashed by the British education system which is incredibly light on British history...), but I almost didn't when you opened with this outright farcical statement. Oh and the St Patrick's Saltire is part of the Union Jack and yes, was used during the terrorism against Irish people, both government sanction and otherwise.

It isn't my job to educate you on your own history (our own history), and I suspect if you're the type of person who thinks what Belfast City Hall does on St Patrick's Day matters a tap to anyone, there wouldn't be much point in trying. The good news is that my government will happily do so in a generation or so. Irredentism is alive and well my friend, since the DUP broke the Good Friday Agreement by joining government and trying to establish a border on the island of Ireland. The consequences will be long remembered.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ever heard of the Ulster Covenant? Northern Ireland literally chose to opt out of independence. That's a fact.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland"

The artificial division was already in place and a non-representation puppet state did the thing they were told to do without any input from the affected population. The partition away of part of Ireland, including non-unionist areas, had already happened. The ability of the British government to fabricate history with nonsensical language long predates this ("The British Isles") and continues to the modern day ("confidence and supply").

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

There was still a Unionist majority then. It literally says the nationalists didn't participate in the parliament. To this day, Sinn Féin still don't participate in Westminster. So Unionists basically had free reign

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Patron Saints often have little connection to the country that holds them.

The rest of the UK saints...

St George (England) was a Roman soldier In Greece
St Andrew (Scotland) was an apostle of jesus in Galilee.
St David (Wales) was actually Welsh and and a Bishop of the Catholic Church.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

St Patrick does have connection to Ireland, due to his mission affecting the whole island, and he was kind of patron saint of the whole place before the split anyway.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago

Yes but you're complaining that the flag doesn't reflect the geographic location he worked. I'm saying it doesn't matter.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

In America it’s just a day for people to get drunk and talk about their Irish heritage when they don’t really have any knowledge of.

My family came from Ireland. We have no clue what part of Ireland. We don’t speak the language or know the history but doesn’t stop us from celebrating st Patrick’s day.

I find it such a strange holiday.

[–] BURN 3 points 9 months ago

Same with Cinco De Mayo or really any of the holidays we’ve appropriated from different cultures. It’s just a day to get drunk and vaguely celebrate something