Here’s something we’ve been poor at talking about so far. Last year was the first of a decade of significant centenaries in Irish history.
The first of them, the signing of the Convenant actually passed without a great deal of comment, or any serious revisiting of its meaning in contemporary society.
On on level the dearth of public comment and/or debate might be seen as a good thing. But in fact treating these momentous events as so many notches on the bedpost are we missing an opportunity?
As Ian Parsley notes:
…neither jurisdiction in Ireland is recognisable from those established on the back of events we are commemorating during the “Decade of Centenaries”. Suggesting they are – by treating the events of 1912 and 1916 without reference to the misjudgements made at the time and the hurt caused since – is dangerous.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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