RIP Ian Paisley

[Richard Hakluyt]

I always had a bit of a soft-spot for Paisley, in a "he may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch" kind of way.  Doubtless if my sympathies lay more with the catholics I'd feel differently about him.

RIP.

I prefer my 17th century bigots to be safely stuck in the 17th century; he was an unhelpful man, indirectly responsible for many deaths one suspects.

[mongers]

I always had a bit of a soft-spot for Paisley, in a "he may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch" kind of way.  Doubtless if my sympathies lay more with the catholics I'd feel differently about him.

RIP.

I prefer my 17th century bigots to be safely stuck in the 17th century; he was an unhelpful man, indirectly responsible for many deaths one suspects.

Indeed. If you grew up in the 70s or 80s, whatever your politics, I think most people would have had difficulty forming a positive view of the man.

[derspiess]

He fought against the bad guys.

[Norgy]

He was a bigoted cunt for most of his life.
Then he stopped.
Which was good.

There's an image, I think, of him and Martin McGuinness sharing a joke. If there's a hell, I'm sure McGuinness will join him.

After the islamists reared their ugly head, it's all too easy to forget that religious and nationalist violence existed prior to this.

Paisley should be lauded for acting as he did after a peace agreement he vehemently opposed came into existence, and it seems as if he mellowed a bit. But he certainly did his part in creating the circumstances that the peace agreement sought to end.

[Norgy]

He fought against the bad guys.

[derspiess]

He did. Fuck the bloody IRA/Sinn Fein.

[grumbler]

He did. Fuck the bloody IRA/Sinn Fein.

And he fought against them using their tactics and rhetoric.  Personally, I don't see any real difference between him and, say, Gerry Adams.

[Razgovory]

Any relation to Brad? 

Not that I know.

[Sheilbh]

This roughly sums up my view:

Ian Paisley is dead – the old hypocrite
By Ruth Dudley Edwards Religion Last updated: September 12th, 2014
23 Comments

Dr Ian Paisley. (Photo: PA)

In tune with the always reliably amoral musings of Peter Hain, commentators have been lining up to hail the Reverend Ian Paisley, the man of peace.

They do admit that it took him a while to move from the path of negativity to accepting the embrace of Martin McGuinness. But that, we are told, was because circumstances had changed and he had seen the light.

Paisley was born in 1926 and didn't become a man of peace until in 2005 it suited him to become one in exchange for a peerage, international acclaim, and the right to have it on his tombstone that he was the First Minister of Northern Ireland.
A thundering bigot and a force for ill almost all of his life, he was never targeted for assassination by the IRA leadership because they were smart enough to realise he was their best recruiting sergeant.

As a Northern Irish evangelical Christian preacher, the life choices for Paisley were rather narrow, but he took full advantage of what were available. He wanted all the adulation and power that was going and to crow on top of whatever hill there was to be on top of.

Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, Paisley had exceptional eloquence, charisma and ruthlessness necessary to destroy any who stood in his way. I will never forget the experience of listening to his powerful preaching in his Martyrs' Memorial Church. The true believers were rapt and ecstatic.

Paisley was only 25 when he fell out with the Presbyterian church in which he was a minister and so founded the much more fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. Distinguished for its abusive anti-Catholicism and its designation of all popes as anti-Christ, he was its supreme leader for almost 60 years. Then he made a U-turn on some of its core beliefs by going into government with unrepentant terrorists and taking on an office – that of First Minister – which involved responsibility for the protection of LGBT rights.

He was forced to resign as moderator, but he held on to the manse even though the church had bought him a retirement home. Paisley wasn't motivated by financial greed, but he liked his comfort. And being a devoted father and very attached to his family, he liked storing up comforts for them too. In the interests of peace, Tony Blair gave Eileen Paisley a peerage to keep him company. Ian Junior inherited his father's seat.

Normal unionist parties were too tame for Paisley. In 1950 he campaigned for the Ulster Unionist Party, but broke away to join the National Union of Protestants, from whom he split when its leader refused to become a member of his Free Presbyterians. After some years of the street agitation and general troublemaking in which he excelled, he did so well when contesting the constituency of Bannside against Captain Terence O'Neill, the Prime Minister, as to weaken him fatally and help bring him down.

Paisley founded the Democratic Unionist Party in 1971, which he ruled despotically until he had to step down from government in 2008. Even though nominally a constitutional politician, Paisley would use his magnetism and eloquence to convince generations of loyalists to hate and fear their Catholic neighbours. He was careful never to condone murder, but he inspired many to join the loyalist paramilitaries whom he disowned.

His political career consisted mainly of destroying every unionist leader who wanted to make peace with Irish nationalists, his most distinguished scalp being David Trimble, a man of vision and courage, who was downed by Paisley's tribal appeals to reject the power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein, "the spawn of Satan".

That he agreed a virtually identical deal himself was no surprise to Paisley-connoisseurs. He was well suited to holding office with Sinn Fein, whose mastery of hypocritical rhetoric rivalled his. What became known as the Paisley-McGuinness "Chuckle Brothers" routine was hailed by the credulous as a sign that old enemies were now united. What they had done, of course, was to take power and divide the spoils.

"Very sad to learn that Ian Paisley has died," Martin McGuinness says. "My deepest sympathy to his wife Eileen & family. Once political opponents – I have lost a friend."

I wonder how the victims of both these men feel today.

On a lighter note, an anecdote from Jeremy Vine:

[Viking]

He did. Fuck the bloody IRA/Sinn Fein.

And he fought against them using their tactics and rhetoric.  Personally, I don't see any real difference between him and, say, Gerry Adams.

Well apart from actuallybeing an actual terrorist obviously.

[grumbler]

He did. Fuck the bloody IRA/Sinn Fein.

And he fought against them using their tactics and rhetoric.  Personally, I don't see any real difference between him and, say, Gerry Adams.

Well apart from actuallybeing an actual terrorist obviously.

No, including actually being a terrorist obviously.

[Scipio]

This roughly sums up my view:

Ian Paisley is dead – the old hypocrite
By Ruth Dudley Edwards Religion Last updated: September 12th, 2014
23 Comments

Dr Ian Paisley. (Photo: PA)

In tune with the always reliably amoral musings of Peter Hain, commentators have been lining up to hail the Reverend Ian Paisley, the man of peace.

They do admit that it took him a while to move from the path of negativity to accepting the embrace of Martin McGuinness. But that, we are told, was because circumstances had changed and he had seen the light.

Paisley was born in 1926 and didn't become a man of peace until in 2005 it suited him to become one in exchange for a peerage, international acclaim, and the right to have it on his tombstone that he was the First Minister of Northern Ireland.
A thundering bigot and a force for ill almost all of his life, he was never targeted for assassination by the IRA leadership because they were smart enough to realise he was their best recruiting sergeant.

As a Northern Irish evangelical Christian preacher, the life choices for Paisley were rather narrow, but he took full advantage of what were available. He wanted all the adulation and power that was going and to crow on top of whatever hill there was to be on top of.

Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, Paisley had exceptional eloquence, charisma and ruthlessness necessary to destroy any who stood in his way. I will never forget the experience of listening to his powerful preaching in his Martyrs' Memorial Church. The true believers were rapt and ecstatic.

Paisley was only 25 when he fell out with the Presbyterian church in which he was a minister and so founded the much more fundamentalist Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. Distinguished for its abusive anti-Catholicism and its designation of all popes as anti-Christ, he was its supreme leader for almost 60 years. Then he made a U-turn on some of its core beliefs by going into government with unrepentant terrorists and taking on an office – that of First Minister – which involved responsibility for the protection of LGBT rights.

He was forced to resign as moderator, but he held on to the manse even though the church had bought him a retirement home. Paisley wasn't motivated by financial greed, but he liked his comfort. And being a devoted father and very attached to his family, he liked storing up comforts for them too. In the interests of peace, Tony Blair gave Eileen Paisley a peerage to keep him company. Ian Junior inherited his father's seat.

Normal unionist parties were too tame for Paisley. In 1950 he campaigned for the Ulster Unionist Party, but broke away to join the National Union of Protestants, from whom he split when its leader refused to become a member of his Free Presbyterians. After some years of the street agitation and general troublemaking in which he excelled, he did so well when contesting the constituency of Bannside against Captain Terence O'Neill, the Prime Minister, as to weaken him fatally and help bring him down.

Paisley founded the Democratic Unionist Party in 1971, which he ruled despotically until he had to step down from government in 2008. Even though nominally a constitutional politician, Paisley would use his magnetism and eloquence to convince generations of loyalists to hate and fear their Catholic neighbours. He was careful never to condone murder, but he inspired many to join the loyalist paramilitaries whom he disowned.

His political career consisted mainly of destroying every unionist leader who wanted to make peace with Irish nationalists, his most distinguished scalp being David Trimble, a man of vision and courage, who was downed by Paisley's tribal appeals to reject the power-sharing deal with Sinn Fein, "the spawn of Satan".

That he agreed a virtually identical deal himself was no surprise to Paisley-connoisseurs. He was well suited to holding office with Sinn Fein, whose mastery of hypocritical rhetoric rivalled his. What became known as the Paisley-McGuinness "Chuckle Brothers" routine was hailed by the credulous as a sign that old enemies were now united. What they had done, of course, was to take power and divide the spoils.

"Very sad to learn that Ian Paisley has died," Martin McGuinness says. "My deepest sympathy to his wife Eileen & family. Once political opponents – I have lost a friend."

I wonder how the victims of both these men feel today.

It's even better if you recall that Ruth Dudley Edwards is a staunch Unionist, although a pacific one. So she must have really disliked the man.