Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Here's to you Mrs Robinson
Here’s to you Mrs Robinson
Irene Robinson, the wife of the first minister in the six counties, is on record as saying the state should enact God’s Law. She made this comment in a debate about abortion. From utterances such as these Mrs Robinson comes across as a political extremist so far to the extreme right that if she moves one step further in that direction she will fall off planet earth.
Mrs Robinson doesn’t seem to realise that the political norm nowadays is secularism. To keep the matter clear and free from a personal viewpoint I have taken the following definition of secularism from the Internet.
Secularism in its current usage is usually defined in two ways: -
(1) Secularism in one sense asserts freedom of religion and freedom from government imposition of religion upon a people within a state. The state should be neutral on matters of belief and give no state privileges or subsidies to religion.
(2) Secularism in another sense refers to a belief that human activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be based on what is considered to be evidence and fact rather than on religious influence dealing with religious based dogma and absolute truth or Devine law.
(3) Secular law is based upon reasonableness, which was developed during the age of enlightenment. Secularists believe that all activities falling outside the private sphere, should be secular not religious.
When this definition is examined closely it will be found that the state may not impose religious belief upon a people. The state should be neutral on matters of religious belief. Secularism in the sense given is now the mainstay of modern democracies throughout the world but this has still to sink into the backwaters of the six counties especially in the D.U.P.
The debate in which Mrs Robinson made the outburst was about abortion. Does this mean then that an acceptance of abortion goes hand and glove with secularism? It is true that most Christian Churches oppose abortion as immoral and criminal but is abortion on demand and for social expediency acceptable in principle to all secularists? Secularists hold that state laws should be derived from reason and be based on evidence and fact. While an unwanted pregnancy is clearly a human problem reason can say that legal abortion, as a solution to a human problem, is inhumane. The facts and evidence of the act of abortion indicates clearly that the act of abortion is neither good for the mother or for the life form in the womb. If secularism is consistent on abortion it should hold that in a secular state the only acceptable solutions to human problems are humane solutions and should set about the task of finding and implanting humane solution for human problems. Reason evidence and fact point in that direction.
So while secularists can support Mrs Robinson’s opposition to abortion, God’s Law on the matter won’t do. Christians hold that God’s Law is based upon the Ten Commandments but such laws should only inform private conscience, private behaviour, and the private lives of Christians and cannot be imposed on non-Christians and non-believers in the state. Lets bring the 21st century into the six counties and in so doing say – Here’s to you Mrs Robinson: welcome to secularism and the 21st century.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein
Irene Robinson, the wife of the first minister in the six counties, is on record as saying the state should enact God’s Law. She made this comment in a debate about abortion. From utterances such as these Mrs Robinson comes across as a political extremist so far to the extreme right that if she moves one step further in that direction she will fall off planet earth.
Mrs Robinson doesn’t seem to realise that the political norm nowadays is secularism. To keep the matter clear and free from a personal viewpoint I have taken the following definition of secularism from the Internet.
Secularism in its current usage is usually defined in two ways: -
(1) Secularism in one sense asserts freedom of religion and freedom from government imposition of religion upon a people within a state. The state should be neutral on matters of belief and give no state privileges or subsidies to religion.
(2) Secularism in another sense refers to a belief that human activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be based on what is considered to be evidence and fact rather than on religious influence dealing with religious based dogma and absolute truth or Devine law.
(3) Secular law is based upon reasonableness, which was developed during the age of enlightenment. Secularists believe that all activities falling outside the private sphere, should be secular not religious.
When this definition is examined closely it will be found that the state may not impose religious belief upon a people. The state should be neutral on matters of religious belief. Secularism in the sense given is now the mainstay of modern democracies throughout the world but this has still to sink into the backwaters of the six counties especially in the D.U.P.
The debate in which Mrs Robinson made the outburst was about abortion. Does this mean then that an acceptance of abortion goes hand and glove with secularism? It is true that most Christian Churches oppose abortion as immoral and criminal but is abortion on demand and for social expediency acceptable in principle to all secularists? Secularists hold that state laws should be derived from reason and be based on evidence and fact. While an unwanted pregnancy is clearly a human problem reason can say that legal abortion, as a solution to a human problem, is inhumane. The facts and evidence of the act of abortion indicates clearly that the act of abortion is neither good for the mother or for the life form in the womb. If secularism is consistent on abortion it should hold that in a secular state the only acceptable solutions to human problems are humane solutions and should set about the task of finding and implanting humane solution for human problems. Reason evidence and fact point in that direction.
So while secularists can support Mrs Robinson’s opposition to abortion, God’s Law on the matter won’t do. Christians hold that God’s Law is based upon the Ten Commandments but such laws should only inform private conscience, private behaviour, and the private lives of Christians and cannot be imposed on non-Christians and non-believers in the state. Lets bring the 21st century into the six counties and in so doing say – Here’s to you Mrs Robinson: welcome to secularism and the 21st century.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein
The Way Ireland Ought To Be
THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE.
It is beyond dispute that there is a problem in the six counties but something smells. What the exact nature of the decay is, is hard to detect but something smells. I t is the thesis of this article that the problem is due to the unwritten nature of N. Ireland’s constitution which is now in an advanced state of decay.
It is widely held here since the people have the vote N Ireland is a democracy. To hold that is insufficient. For a state to be a democracy in the true sense the state must also have a constitution, preferably written, which has the overwhelming support of the people. The EU is not a democracy despite the vote because it does have a constitution which is accepted by all. This is true of Iraq and it could be when a constitution is agreed, Iraq could be a theocracy not a democracy.
If one looks around in N.Ireland one can observe the nature of the constitutional problem. There are two heads of state involved, two flags being flown, two anthems being sung, and two passports being held with two conflicting identities and two governments involved. Ian Paisley and his followers see the state as our home and our country, ----- the grandest wee country in the world----- Gerry Adams and his followers see the state as despicable, a statelet to be got rid of. A state thus constituted will be unstable, prone to street violence, and is ungovernable. In its un written British constitution that will remain the plight of N. Ireland
Since British constitution is imposed by military means and is maintained by one section of the population in public posturing----the waving of flags, marching, sloganizing (This we will maintain, Ulster is British), in this posturing to maintain an unwritten constitution intercommunal strife and street violence is the outcome. The maintenance of an unwritten constitution in this way is kicked against by an opposing Republican mass.
As noted, unwritten British constitution is imposed military, not democratically. The recent campaign of violence by the IRA was an attempt to overthrow the constitution by counter military means. This attempt has failed miserably and is now hopefully over It has been replaced by the so called politics of Late Sinn Fein which now promotes the idea that British constitution can be disposed of by political stealth, subterfuge and deals. In the meantime Late Sinn is willing to enter into an unholy coalition with Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, carve up power into sectarian blocks at Stormont and in so doing prop up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist state with an undemocratic unwritten British constitution.
It is the contention of this article that British Constitution can and should be replaced by a written democratic United Kingdom Ccnstitution which is acceptable to all, .which is maintained rationally and is interpreted by the use of intelligence not on the streets. If N Ireland had such a constitution devoid of public posturing, street violence should wither away.
The question remains how is this to be done? It is the contention of this article, a written constitution for N, Ireland can be found in-----The National Government of Ireland Act., a written constitution which should be acceptable to all. This Act would have to be initiated in N Ireland, but it would have to be drawn up on an All Ireland basis.
In doing this what is missing in the state is the absence of a constitutional centre in N Ireland There is a centre but it is fragmented and is in decline, .The state in N Ireland is now polarized between two constitutional extremes, namely the violent Republicanism of Late Sinn Fein and the violence of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. There is nothing new in this. It is traceable far back.in Irish history.
This constitution polarization can be observed, firstly, in 18th century Ireland. At that time there was a Parliament in Ireland which was constitutionally moderate and central. The moderate Patriots pressed for the Irish Parliament to be separate from, but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. This is the first and best concept of Irish nationhood, If this moderate concept had been worked down the generations Ireland would be a Sovereign Nation under the Crown---- a nation like Canada. That was not to be. The constitutional extremists the Republican United Irishmen attempted to overthrow the constitution by violence. This abortive uprising was opposed and defeated by the Right Wing------the protestant yeomanry. In this period of obscene violence the moderate Patriots were swept aside trampled underfoot and lost in history. In this way the constitutional moderate centre was lost in Ireland in the late18th century,
In reaction to this violent uprising by extremists--- the United Irishmen---the moderate Parliament of the Patriots was done away with by the use of political chicanery and a right wing British Constitution imposed in 1801 without reference to the democratic feelings of the Irish people. Ireland was then under the control of a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist protestant elite which was ante-Irish ante-Catholic and oppressive.
In this set up a moderate centre emerged in the persons of Butt and Parnell in Home Rule. It is the view of this article both of these men would have been happy with a government for Ireland under the Crown. That was not to be. Home Rule was frustrated and put down by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. Again the constitutional centre was lost.
In the 20th century a moderate centre emerged in the person of Griffiths and Early Sinn Fein. In his idea of a dual monarchy Griffiths was toying with the idea of a federal UK. However this moderate central constitutional stance was swept aside and trampled underfoot by the violent catholic sectarian uprising of 1916 . This was an attempt to overthrow the constitution and set up a Republic. In the 1917 Ard Fheis Griffith was ousted from the leadership of Sinn Fein and replaced by the Republician extremist--- De Valera. That is violent Late Sinn Fein. In the ensuing bruhaha in Ireland the island was partitioned into a 26 county statelet with a catholic parliament for a catholic people in Dublin and a 6 county statelet with protestant parliament for a protestant people in Belfast. Thus in Sinn Fein history there are two Sinn Feins, one Early, the other Late. Early Sinn Fein is peaceful and democratic and is constitutionally moderate and central. Late Sinn Fein is violent, undemocratic and constitutionally extreme. This distinction is central to this article.
In the 70ties Conor Cruise O Brien came to the fore with his theory of the two nations. This article accepts that there are two possible nations for Ireland but Right Wing Union Jack Unionism is not one of them. That unionism and that Ireland has passed its sell by date and should be replaced by a new reformed unionism with a written UK constitution. The two possible nations for Ireland are best seen in the two Sinn Feins Early and Late. One Ireland, the Ireland of Early Sinn Fein and of the Patriots could be a Sovereign Nation of Ireland under the Crown. The other Ireland is a Republic of Ireland whose origins are steeped in violence and blood and brutality. Such an Ireland wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland.
I n the north there is at the moment a kind of coalition between the extreme wings of the constitution, namely--- Late Sinn Fein and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism--- in joint rule. Such a coalition is a constitutional absurdity and is doomed to failure. Such an idea is as absurd as the idea of forming a coalition at Westminster between the National Front and the extreme Republican wing of the Labour Party. Such an idea would be seen as a joke by the people of Great Britain , yet a similar idea has been pressed forward by the British and Irish governments for N. Ireland
If a government at Stormont is to be formed whose aim is to draw up a written constitution for N. Ireland in the National Government of Ireland Act. – a coalition of the centre would have to be formed , composed of the UUP, SDLP, and Alliance. Such a coalition is not an absurdity but should be feasible possible and doable. However such a central coalition would have to take as its banner --- Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. It is the function of a constitutional centre in a democracy to oppose and defeat constitutional extremists, not to talk to them.
The Act should define the United Kingdom, as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Sovereign Nation of Ireland. That should be the basis of the Act but the Act would require much, much more than that.
With the Act drawn up at Stormont, after discussion with interested parties, a referendum on the Act should be held throughout the whole island giving the people two options: -
Do you wish Ireland to be: -
(a) A Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown with the National Government of Ireland Act as its constitution?
(b) A Republic with the 1937 constitution as its constitution?
The Act should specify that the referendum be counted separately in the 26 and 6 counties.
This will give rise to three outcomes: -
(1) If option (a) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown.
(2) If option (b) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Republic.
(3) If option (a) carries a significant majority in the 6 counties and option (b) carries a significant majority in the 26 counties then the island remains partitioned.
In the case of (3) the written constitution for N. Ireland would be the National Government of Ireland Act. And would give N. Ireland: -
One Head of State, the Crown.
One flag, a redesign of the Irish tricolour. The redesign of the Irish tricolour is given in this blog This new flag would be defined in the Act as the national flag of Ireland and a symbol of the UK in Ireland.. ( This would be a detail in the Act. The Act would require much, much more than this. ) A full text of the Act is given in the novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE---.
One anthem----- neither God Save The Queen nor A Soldier’s Song
One government, elected by the people
One passport with an Irish identity which recognises the Crown as Head of State.
N, Ireland thus constituted with a written constitution, should be stable peaceful and governable.
In conclusion the old constitutional dispute about the way Ireland ought to be, should the island be under the Crown or a Republic, can and should be settled for good in the 21st century It is the thrust of this article that Irish unity can only be found in a UK context. It is the thrust of this article that Republicanism in Ireland has been sectarian dividing not uniting the communities and has brought untold, unnecessary suffering to Ireland. It is said 1916 changed the course of Irish history. It did but the change was for the worse not for the better. It is the thrust of this article the whole island should be under the Crown, not a bit of it but all of it. That way and only that way lies a united Ireland.
FEDERAL UNIONIST EARLY SINN FEIN
Michael Gillespie
It is beyond dispute that there is a problem in the six counties but something smells. What the exact nature of the decay is, is hard to detect but something smells. I t is the thesis of this article that the problem is due to the unwritten nature of N. Ireland’s constitution which is now in an advanced state of decay.
It is widely held here since the people have the vote N Ireland is a democracy. To hold that is insufficient. For a state to be a democracy in the true sense the state must also have a constitution, preferably written, which has the overwhelming support of the people. The EU is not a democracy despite the vote because it does have a constitution which is accepted by all. This is true of Iraq and it could be when a constitution is agreed, Iraq could be a theocracy not a democracy.
If one looks around in N.Ireland one can observe the nature of the constitutional problem. There are two heads of state involved, two flags being flown, two anthems being sung, and two passports being held with two conflicting identities and two governments involved. Ian Paisley and his followers see the state as our home and our country, ----- the grandest wee country in the world----- Gerry Adams and his followers see the state as despicable, a statelet to be got rid of. A state thus constituted will be unstable, prone to street violence, and is ungovernable. In its un written British constitution that will remain the plight of N. Ireland
Since British constitution is imposed by military means and is maintained by one section of the population in public posturing----the waving of flags, marching, sloganizing (This we will maintain, Ulster is British), in this posturing to maintain an unwritten constitution intercommunal strife and street violence is the outcome. The maintenance of an unwritten constitution in this way is kicked against by an opposing Republican mass.
As noted, unwritten British constitution is imposed military, not democratically. The recent campaign of violence by the IRA was an attempt to overthrow the constitution by counter military means. This attempt has failed miserably and is now hopefully over It has been replaced by the so called politics of Late Sinn Fein which now promotes the idea that British constitution can be disposed of by political stealth, subterfuge and deals. In the meantime Late Sinn is willing to enter into an unholy coalition with Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, carve up power into sectarian blocks at Stormont and in so doing prop up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist state with an undemocratic unwritten British constitution.
It is the contention of this article that British Constitution can and should be replaced by a written democratic United Kingdom Ccnstitution which is acceptable to all, .which is maintained rationally and is interpreted by the use of intelligence not on the streets. If N Ireland had such a constitution devoid of public posturing, street violence should wither away.
The question remains how is this to be done? It is the contention of this article, a written constitution for N, Ireland can be found in-----The National Government of Ireland Act., a written constitution which should be acceptable to all. This Act would have to be initiated in N Ireland, but it would have to be drawn up on an All Ireland basis.
In doing this what is missing in the state is the absence of a constitutional centre in N Ireland There is a centre but it is fragmented and is in decline, .The state in N Ireland is now polarized between two constitutional extremes, namely the violent Republicanism of Late Sinn Fein and the violence of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. There is nothing new in this. It is traceable far back.in Irish history.
This constitution polarization can be observed, firstly, in 18th century Ireland. At that time there was a Parliament in Ireland which was constitutionally moderate and central. The moderate Patriots pressed for the Irish Parliament to be separate from, but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. This is the first and best concept of Irish nationhood, If this moderate concept had been worked down the generations Ireland would be a Sovereign Nation under the Crown---- a nation like Canada. That was not to be. The constitutional extremists the Republican United Irishmen attempted to overthrow the constitution by violence. This abortive uprising was opposed and defeated by the Right Wing------the protestant yeomanry. In this period of obscene violence the moderate Patriots were swept aside trampled underfoot and lost in history. In this way the constitutional moderate centre was lost in Ireland in the late18th century,
In reaction to this violent uprising by extremists--- the United Irishmen---the moderate Parliament of the Patriots was done away with by the use of political chicanery and a right wing British Constitution imposed in 1801 without reference to the democratic feelings of the Irish people. Ireland was then under the control of a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist protestant elite which was ante-Irish ante-Catholic and oppressive.
In this set up a moderate centre emerged in the persons of Butt and Parnell in Home Rule. It is the view of this article both of these men would have been happy with a government for Ireland under the Crown. That was not to be. Home Rule was frustrated and put down by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. Again the constitutional centre was lost.
In the 20th century a moderate centre emerged in the person of Griffiths and Early Sinn Fein. In his idea of a dual monarchy Griffiths was toying with the idea of a federal UK. However this moderate central constitutional stance was swept aside and trampled underfoot by the violent catholic sectarian uprising of 1916 . This was an attempt to overthrow the constitution and set up a Republic. In the 1917 Ard Fheis Griffith was ousted from the leadership of Sinn Fein and replaced by the Republician extremist--- De Valera. That is violent Late Sinn Fein. In the ensuing bruhaha in Ireland the island was partitioned into a 26 county statelet with a catholic parliament for a catholic people in Dublin and a 6 county statelet with protestant parliament for a protestant people in Belfast. Thus in Sinn Fein history there are two Sinn Feins, one Early, the other Late. Early Sinn Fein is peaceful and democratic and is constitutionally moderate and central. Late Sinn Fein is violent, undemocratic and constitutionally extreme. This distinction is central to this article.
In the 70ties Conor Cruise O Brien came to the fore with his theory of the two nations. This article accepts that there are two possible nations for Ireland but Right Wing Union Jack Unionism is not one of them. That unionism and that Ireland has passed its sell by date and should be replaced by a new reformed unionism with a written UK constitution. The two possible nations for Ireland are best seen in the two Sinn Feins Early and Late. One Ireland, the Ireland of Early Sinn Fein and of the Patriots could be a Sovereign Nation of Ireland under the Crown. The other Ireland is a Republic of Ireland whose origins are steeped in violence and blood and brutality. Such an Ireland wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland.
I n the north there is at the moment a kind of coalition between the extreme wings of the constitution, namely--- Late Sinn Fein and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism--- in joint rule. Such a coalition is a constitutional absurdity and is doomed to failure. Such an idea is as absurd as the idea of forming a coalition at Westminster between the National Front and the extreme Republican wing of the Labour Party. Such an idea would be seen as a joke by the people of Great Britain , yet a similar idea has been pressed forward by the British and Irish governments for N. Ireland
If a government at Stormont is to be formed whose aim is to draw up a written constitution for N. Ireland in the National Government of Ireland Act. – a coalition of the centre would have to be formed , composed of the UUP, SDLP, and Alliance. Such a coalition is not an absurdity but should be feasible possible and doable. However such a central coalition would have to take as its banner --- Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. It is the function of a constitutional centre in a democracy to oppose and defeat constitutional extremists, not to talk to them.
The Act should define the United Kingdom, as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Sovereign Nation of Ireland. That should be the basis of the Act but the Act would require much, much more than that.
With the Act drawn up at Stormont, after discussion with interested parties, a referendum on the Act should be held throughout the whole island giving the people two options: -
Do you wish Ireland to be: -
(a) A Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown with the National Government of Ireland Act as its constitution?
(b) A Republic with the 1937 constitution as its constitution?
The Act should specify that the referendum be counted separately in the 26 and 6 counties.
This will give rise to three outcomes: -
(1) If option (a) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown.
(2) If option (b) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Republic.
(3) If option (a) carries a significant majority in the 6 counties and option (b) carries a significant majority in the 26 counties then the island remains partitioned.
In the case of (3) the written constitution for N. Ireland would be the National Government of Ireland Act. And would give N. Ireland: -
One Head of State, the Crown.
One flag, a redesign of the Irish tricolour. The redesign of the Irish tricolour is given in this blog This new flag would be defined in the Act as the national flag of Ireland and a symbol of the UK in Ireland.. ( This would be a detail in the Act. The Act would require much, much more than this. ) A full text of the Act is given in the novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE---.
One anthem----- neither God Save The Queen nor A Soldier’s Song
One government, elected by the people
One passport with an Irish identity which recognises the Crown as Head of State.
N, Ireland thus constituted with a written constitution, should be stable peaceful and governable.
In conclusion the old constitutional dispute about the way Ireland ought to be, should the island be under the Crown or a Republic, can and should be settled for good in the 21st century It is the thrust of this article that Irish unity can only be found in a UK context. It is the thrust of this article that Republicanism in Ireland has been sectarian dividing not uniting the communities and has brought untold, unnecessary suffering to Ireland. It is said 1916 changed the course of Irish history. It did but the change was for the worse not for the better. It is the thrust of this article the whole island should be under the Crown, not a bit of it but all of it. That way and only that way lies a united Ireland.
FEDERAL UNIONIST EARLY SINN FEIN
Michael Gillespie
Friday, 18 July 2008
The novel --THE WAY IRELFAND OUGHT TO BE --is a fiction derived from composite life experiences. The novel relates Dr Quinn's struggle in a psychiatric clinic to discover his true self and his true identity as an Irish man. In the struggle he creates ---The National Government of Ireland Act as the solution to the Irish ProblemThe novel is a companion to this series of articles and is recommended reading. The novel can be bought in any bookshop in the U.K./Ireland or through any book agency on the Internet
A Skirmish with Academia
In setting up this blog I am an experienced published writer. My interest in writing has to do with the solution to the Irish Problem. Towards that end I have published a novel titled--- THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE--- brought out by Authorhouse in late 2007. While the novel is set in a psychiatric clinic in Belfast it deals with the Irish Problem and has a strong political theme.
I have also been a regular contributor to the Irish political journal---THE BLANKET--. This journal has now closed down as its editorial staff felt that the journal had met its remit in current Irish politics. The entire contents of the journal since its inception is now stored in the archives of the library of the University of Indianapolis in America.
I am now working on a second political novel titled---THE RAPE OF VIRGIN MUNCHINDUN---, MUNCHINDUN being a fictional district in Tyrone, not a woman. That said I have a few articles in mind which would be suitable for the Blanket but it has gone out of circulation. I contacted the editor of The Blanket, Carrie Twomey and explained my predicament. Helpfully Carrie advise me to use a blog as other writers who wrote for The Blanket were doing that.
This was a helpful suggestion but before doing that I decided to search the Internet for journals. The only publications I could in Ireland were Fortnight in Belfast and a
Jesuit publication in Dublin called Studies. I sent a sample article to Studies but it was turned down. Probably the Jesuits only accept religious articles and the article I sent them was political.
I also tried the journal Fortnight in Belfast I sent Fortnight the same article as I sent the Jesuits but got no reply. I phoned the journal repeatedly for some time but could only get an answering machine. I left messages requesting a reply but nothing happened. So much for Fortnight.
I then tried G.B. and found some political journals but these were connected with the Faculties of Political Science in Universities. I choose to give the University of Sheffield a try. In this case I did not send an article but I sent them a C.V. and explained my writing interest lay in exploring ideas having to do with the solution to the Irish Problem and that I was in a position to send the Faculty of Political Science an article or articles to that effect. The Faculty replied by sending me three articles from their journal that had to do with Irish politics. The lady in charge explained that the articles would give me an idea of the style of thing that the Faculty at Sheffield published. I read through the three articles and was unimpressed and quite dismayed. I replied to the Faculty at Sheffield in this way. I said I had examined the articles and found, not to my surprise, that the articles were composed of obscure abstruse academic jargon that was accessible in meaning only to an elite few. To clarify what I was talking about I gave the following dictionary definition of Jargon.
(1) Specialized or technical language of a trade class or fellowship.
(2) A hybrid language or dialect.
(3) A nonsensical, incoherent or meaningless utterance --- gibberish.
(4) Argot a specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular class or group. Originally a private language used by thieves.
(5) Cant a special terminology used by a profession, discipline, or class but obscure to the general population.
I also noted how Virginia Woolf and Thomas Carlyle had seen jargon.
Virginia Woolf
She could not follow the ugly academic jargon.
Thomas Carlyle
Wholly a blessed time: when jargon abates and genuine speech begins.
With the quotes in mind I sent three articles of my own to the Faculty at Sheffield noting that my political articles were not written in hard to follow ugly academic jargon (Virginia Woolf) but in easy to follow genuine speech (Carlyle). I made clear that in the articles sent to me, the authors wrote cant in argot and didn’t belong to the same club as I do who writes in plain easy to follow Queen’s English that can be understood and followed by all, not by an elite few. Understandably I got no reply from the Faculty of Political Science at Sheffield.
From my own experience, academic research can be expressed in simple Queen’s English. Some years ago I completed a major research thesis at the Queen’s University in Belfast. The external examiner congratulated me on writing the thesis in simple easy to understand language which was, as the examiner put it, a pleasant change from the obscure impenetrable language that academic thesis are usually written in.
The writers of the articles sent to me were obviously pillars of the Irish political establishment and their articles were directed to the fellowship of an elite clique at Sheffield. The writers were in an ivory tower and apart from the reality of the historic problem. The Irish problem as dealt with in this blog has to do with flags, emblems symbols and above all the U.K. Constitution of the six counties. The articles in this blog will put forward a non –sectarian rational and coherent solution to the historic Irish Problem. The world of academia is oblivious to the real Irish Problem.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein
B.Ed B.Sc (Econ) Dip.Ed D.A.S.E. M.A.(Ed)
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