User:Oneill1921

Nomenclature Wars

"As an example, check out these two Wikipedia entries- the Kingsmill Massacre, the Loughinisland atrocity. Check how differently the context is dealt with. In the latter, the attack itself rightly takes prominence whilst in the former, it’s almost added as an afterthought. But more importantly, where are the names of the victims in the two cases? You could study the Kingsmills entry all night and you would be still none the wiser, in contrast the six victims of the Loughinisland shooting are (again rightly) recorded. The Loughinisland/Kingsmills juxtaposition is not an exception.

Compare Ballymurphy with Enniskillen. Only one event qualifies as a “massacre” apparently, in only one case again are we given what you would think were the historically important details of the victims’ names. Compare Bloody Sunday with the Birmingham Bombings; Milltown “Massacre” with the La Mon “restaurant bombing” and a clear pattern emerges, one which has been crafted by Republican activists who recognise the importance of moulding history to their way of thinking. This is a quote which one of their Wiki-Warriors lists on his own page:

Impartiality in Irish history writing has meant in every case a non-acceptance of the historic Irish Nation, and the result has been a political pamphlet rather than a history Patrick Sarsfield O’Hegarty

In other words, “impartiality” must be sacrificed in the interests of the greater Irish “national good” and if that means the dehumanisation (and in some cases, even demonisation) of the victims of the Republican terror gangs, then so be it.

Of course, the value of Wikipedia as a resource tool can be argued and of course we can complain about the morality of a movement, which not only slaughtered innocents but also now attempts to whitewash their memory from history. For the purpose of this article, both debates are beside the point. If someone not au-fait with the event, googles in “Kingsmills” the wikipedia article is the first one up on the list and in that article the crime of murdering ten men solely because of their religion has been “contextualised” and ultimately trivialised for the purposes of political expediency by Republican activists*.

The point is that in this case “reality” can and is being created and this “reality” is coming from the mouths and keyboards of extremely ruthless, politically motivated and amoral users of the medium."