Editor's Note: My homeschooled godson
Ben, age 16, is studying history, and from that experience he took a great
dislike to the British as they behaved in history especially toward the Irish.
Ben is mostly Irish. I answered his questions regarding the pope and who killed
Jesus Christ in this blog post Questions from a Godson: Who Crucified JesusAnyway? Is the Pope Really as Pure as He said? But I really couldn’t
address the British-Irish question for him, so I called in my faithful British friend
Christopher Woodford, Twitter Handle @Crimbo51, who describes himself as a
“former atheist who has abandoned the arrogance of certainty.” He is so
recently “former" atheist that we were just arguing about the existence of God
two weeks ago! He lives in Southampton, England.
Ben's Original Question
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| Ben and I found a real Roman soldier to answer his questions. Young Christopher Woodford growing up in the British Isles. |
The Romans originated from Italy, they took Britain from
the Briton Celtic people around 60-78 AD. While the Romans took over and the
Britons ended up accepting their new overlords, the other Celtic tribes kept
struggling, refusing to give up so easily. The Romans/Brits were the ones to
kill Jesus. In the end the Briton and Roman people mingled, so the modern day
British people are mutts of the two, perhaps thrown in with a splash of other
ethnic groups (Been a long time, after all.)
The Roman/Brit people continued to then fight the Insular Celts,
enslaving them and selling them in the era of slaves for the U.S. to build
their railroad.
The “Brit’s”
Response
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| Changi Prisoner of War, British or Australian |
In the Changi
Prisoner of War (POW) camp, he was beaten and subjected to the terror of
possible instant or slow death on the whim of the Japanese guards. The
prisoners were worked in 100-degree temperatures, eating only a handful of rice
daily and some dirty water, supplementing their diets at night with snakes,
insects and rodents unfortunate enough to pass through the camp.
I was
born in 1951. From as early as I can remember I was taught to hate the
Japanese, Japan and all things, which came out of it. I would never buy
products from Japan, though they made good quality electronics, music systems,
cars and motorcycles at reasonable prices. Hating them cost me money. This hatred
lasted for decades into my adult life.
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| Japanese guard at Changi POW camp |
In 1993,
I travelled to Dresden, Germany, which used to be part of Communist East
Germany up to a few years before. As we approached the city, cranes dominated
the skyline – more than I had ever seen in one place before.
The whole
city was still under reconstruction nearly 50 years after it had been
completely destroyed. Walking around the city center, we saw it as a
colossal jigsaw puzzle. We stood outside a fenced off area where a cathedral
towered over us. Around its base were chunks of masonry, some no bigger than a
football, all with numbers on them.
Only
three months before the end of World War II, the British Royal Air Force (RAF)
sent 800 Lancaster bombers at night over Dresden. This was followed the next
day by two waves of US Air Force B-17s, each numbering 311 and 450 planes
respectively. Dresden was almost untouched until this date, its industry
being the manufacture of fine china. On the night and day of the raids it was
full of refugees fleeing the Soviet army. The purpose of the raid? “The
intentions of the attack are to hit the enemy where he will feel it most, and
incidentally to show the Russians when they arrive what Bomber Command can do,”
according to an internal RAF memo.
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| AFTERMATH DRESDEN BOMBING: An estimated 25,000 people killed Feb. 13-15, 1945, by American and British bombers. The German city was full of refugees on that date. |
We went
into a restaurant in the city after our walkabout. A young man about 10 years
younger than I ran it. His hate toward us British was obvious from the
start.
This got
me to thinking. I was born six years after the bombing of Dresden. I didn't bomb his city. He was born 16
years after the bombing. He wasn't there when it was bombed. Maybe, in some odd
way, the event led to his parents coming together and his life beginning. Who
knows?
After
that, I changed my attitude toward Japan. Why should I hate them? Most of the
people involved in the conflict were dead or in their senile years. And who,
if anyone, should apologize? After all, they were the victims of two atomic
bombs.
On Ireland:
Yes. The British have wronged the Irish. But who is a nation? Who is a Briton,
or an Italian? Go back 2000 years to Rome. They weren't Italians. Go back to
1776. The Americans you would meet would be nothing like the people you see
today.
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| Christopher Woodford with daughter Emma at Versailles Palace He's a look alike for American singer and politician Sonny Bono, who came to fame in the 1960s |
I grew up
in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The adults were oppressive and controlling. We broke out
of that. We had a kind of revolution in music, fashion and behavior. Not all
changes were for the better. But I guarantee I am a different man from my
father and grandfather.
Ireland's
oppression started 900 years ago. The Norman king, Henry II, was first to
invade. But note
the word “Norman.” These kings were foreign invaders in England. Their arrival
in England in 1066 sparked an oppression of the Saxon English, which only eased
slowly over two centuries. The English were suffering the same fate as the
Irish. It was only in the mid-1300s that the English aristocracy began
speaking “English.” And the “English” they spoke is unrecognizable today.
All
through the following centuries Ireland was a strategic problem for the rest of
the British Isles (right up to the 1940s). The French were always angling to
land forces there for a foothold to invade England and Wales. This problem
increased after Henry VIII abandoned the Catholic Church causing Spain, then
the most powerful world power, to become our enemy.
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| King Henry VIII messed everything up. "If" only he didn't want a divorce! |
Eire and
“the six counties” which comprise Northern Ireland are to this day in the dying
throes of an old enmity between Catholicism and Protestantism. Almost no one
anywhere else in the world thinks too much about this difference any more,
outside of Northern Ireland.
The British
mishandling of the potato disease in the mid-1800s in Ireland, which resulted
in Irish starvation and the consequent diaspora were typical of a thoughtless
government run by the rich and aristocrats. If, at the same time, you could see
the conditions the poor were living under in England, Scotland and Wales, it
would be plain that their lives were given no value either. The average
Englishman wouldn't have known the famine was happening. He might possibly be
able to read, but would have no money to spend on the few news leaflets
available, even if they mentioned the famine. And he couldn't turn on the
radio, TV, or the Internet.
The
Easter Rising of 1916 was dealt with in a heavy-handed manner typical of the
time by a British military then in the middle of World War I. The mentality of
the aristocrat generals of the time was such that British soldiers in France
were executed for cowardice for suffering what is now recognized as Post Traumatic
Stress Syndrome. And British soldiers suffered through the stupid tactics of
mass infantry attacks, which poured away men's lives in the 1000s every day.
That means the British generals would not see any alternative except violent
repression to an Irish protest.
The
Easter Rising was a missed opportunity. Properly handled it could have turned
out well. But hindsight is useless and the judging of yesterday's actions by
today's standards happens in all walks of life.
Forward
to The (British-Irish) Troubles, a thirty year period of
bombings and violence from 1968, starting with repressed civil rights marches
for Catholic equality, aggravated by the intervention of the British Army, the
formation of paramilitary groups, and ended by international pressure to form a
consensus government.
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| A priest gives the last rites to a demonstrator shot on Bloody Sunday. Thirteen people were killed when British paratroopers opened fire on an Irish civil rights march in Derry on Jan. 30, 1972. |
There was
still that imperial mentality in government. Lessons were hard learned. A
pivotal moment in thinking occurred with the aftermath of Bloody Sunday in
1972, when the Parachute Regiment shot dead 26 protesters. I remember it well.
The shock of this day went through society and rebounded into politicians'
thinking. “You can't just shoot civilians in the street!”
But at
about roughly this same time, the Ku Klux Klan and other racially motivated
groups were shooting civil rights protesters in the USA. Also at this time,
protesters and strikers in England were being beaten by police, and by soldiers
masquerading as police.
The
separation of Eire and the six counties is an insoluble problem in the near
future. It is a problem 900 years in the making, and it can’t be reversed
overnight. But British and Irish governments have made great progress since the
‘90s. Prime Ministers Bertie Ahern (Fianna
Fáil of Eire), John Major (Conservative of Britain), and then Tony Blair
(Labour of Britain) pushed through stubborn local opposition and forced the creation
of a local government in Northern Ireland representing fairly both sides.
Sinn Féin
Catholic party members Gerry Adams and
Martin McGuinness sat together with Protestant party members Ian Paisley (Leader
of the Democratic Unionist Party) and David Trimble (Leader of the Ulster
Unionist Party). It would have been unthinkable 20 years earlier. Their arms were
twisted -- not only by Westminster and Dublin, but also by U.S. Senator George
Mitchell sent to represent the U.S. by President Bill Clinton.
Since
then, a whole generation has grown up in peace. I don't think anyone of your
age would want to return to the troubles of the recent past. Neither would any
Briton.
I would
like to know where your idea comes from that we wish to re-enslave Ireland,
especially in the light of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. With an
84 percent voter turnout, the Scots chose to remain part of the United Kingdom
55-44. They could have walked out of the
United Kingdom last October, and they've suffered over the centuries too (Culloden/Highland
Clearances).
The Protestant
Orange Order, with its marches and Apprentice Boy Parades, seems to be fading
out. It’s old men's stuff. It was and still is, the Protestant majority in the
North, who insist on remaining in the United Kingdom. And complete reunion with Eire is made more
difficult still with Eire's whole-hearted plunge into the European Union and
its use of the Euro currency. That is something,
which is a “NO, NO” to England, Wales and Northern Ireland in particular.
Pushing
the Celts west: Consider the treatment Native Americans have received in the
United States.
The
Britons did resist the Romans. In 54 and 55 BC Julius Caesar was involved in
two failed invasions of Britain (as usual, our lovely weather helped.) Claudius
Caesar succeeded in 43 AD, but check out the actions of Boudicca, who conquered
Roman-controlled Colchester, Verulamium (now St Albans) and London in 60-61 AD.
But
remember, Rome was the USA of its day. Who could stand against its well-organized,
state of the art, fighting equipment, legions and supply lines? And why resist,
when acceptance of their superior system led to improved living standards.
Being a Roman citizen had advantages, some of which the Apostle Paul exploited
to his advantage when on trial in his homeland.
If Rome
had survived, I have no doubt the moon landing would have happened 1000 years
ago, and today we would be among the stars.
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| Christopher Woodford and one of his favorite activities drinking beer in the local pub |
Am I a
heathen? Ask Susan Fox. She knows my religious background and the reason for my
current thoughts. (editor’s note: Chris
has an open, beautiful inquiring mind, but a heart bruised by being raised in
the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Therefore with respect to God, he has trust issues.
But apparently, God values a person’s willingness to love, and in this
department, Chris excels.)
Britain
has many beautiful churches and cathedrals. Henry VIII's Church of England has
slipped out of the minds of the average Briton. But the Catholic churches seem
to be doing well.
This loss
of religious enthusiasm has something to do with the age of the nation.
Countries are like people; they age and change over time and we have been
around longer than most. There's a certain tiredness in the minds of the
indigenous people for religion. We've seen a lot of trouble, some of which we
exported to America in the Mayflower flotilla. There is a lot of support for
religion amongst immigrant communities, and not just Islam.
Do I hate Islam? That's a hard one. As it's an
ideology and not a living person or persons, I suppose I do, in the same way,
as I hate communism. Both stifle individuality.
Do I hate
Muslims? No. They are people. I have worked with them over the years. Some have
been good friends and colleagues. Our favorite local restaurant is Bangladeshi.
The lads in there are great guys. Maybe I pity those Muslims who let the
religion tear up their lives and rob them of their freedom.
One day a
while back, Mike (my son) and I were in a city center Asian food shop. It is
almost next door to the mosque and Friday prayers were just finished. The shop
was busy and we arrived at the checkout at the same time as a Muslim man. I
gestured to him to go first, but he put his clenched fist to his heart and
looked into my eyes. He wanted us to go first. His eyes were wet with tears of
joy and love for his fellow man. Islam must be doing him some good.
Am
I, and other Britons, “cocky”? Some must be, as happens in all ethnic groups
comprised of a multitude of individuals. Like all other nations, we have the
full spectrum of good guys and bad guys. But if you don't take some pride in
your country, then it's doomed. I bet you are proud to be a U.S. citizen, and
proud of your Irish roots.
I'm proud
of my country's achievements. We are still the 5th power in the
world. And I'm proud to be a friend of America, as are Australians, New
Zealanders and Canadians, all nations with the same values. Britain is a
virtually guaranteed extra vote for the USA on the United Nations Security
Council. We were involved in the birth of America, and we actually need a
strong America. It worries me to see the US spending vast sums in military
engagements around the globe whilst at the same time undermining its own
industrial and commercial base. History repeats itself. Look at Britain's
position 100 years ago.
A few
words more, before you suspect this Brit of trying to bore an Irishman to
death. Perhaps
you would like to try this experiment at night because that’s our daytime.
When you
are alone in your room, shut your eyes tight, clench your teeth, and with all
the power you can muster, send hate to all the British and Italians.
Somewhere
in Italy, there will be a man on the Fiat truck assembly line, and somewhere in
Liverpool, there will be a woman working on a supermarket checkout stand, and
they will feel nothing. They, and everyone else in the two countries, won't
even know you exist.
Hate is
acid in your soul. It exists only in your mind. You are the only person it can
erode and burn away. Love is cool neutralizing spring water. Forgiveness
brings a joy to your heart, which is worth more than anything else you could
achieve. Why do you think forgiveness is at the core of the teachings of Jesus
Christ?
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| Mural painted in Changi POW camp by a prisoner. It says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." |
A thought
came to me whilst pondering all this. My Uncle Charlie spent three years in
that Japanese prison camp. I spent nearly forty in it (hating the Japanese).
The man in the Dresden restaurant turned a key in the door of my cell and
released me.
I hope
he's not still in his prison.
Best
wishes for your life,
Chris.
BEN’S RESPONSE: LET IRELAND GO! AND THEN I WILL BELIEVE YOU.
He (Chris) sounds like a nice man, however I stand by
my point. I did not hear explicitly “the British want to re-enslave the Irish.”
I'm basing such a suspicion on the fact they still haven't just let go of
Ireland. If they truly had no wish to impose, seize control of the island, why
persist? If they wanted to make amends, let bygones be bygones, they could just
start by backing out. Regardless of what the polls in “Northern Ireland” say,
back off.
But
with Chris' information, it really was the British officials at fault, not the
common British man, and it’s probably still like that today. It'd still be an
amazing gesture for them to let it go, and then I truly would have to
reconsider my stance.
So Chris, Why Not Let the Irish Nation, North and South, Together Decide Their Fate For Themselves?
Chris and Ben decide the fate of IRELAND in the next post British People are Like All People: We Want Peace
