Some history, there.

Yeah, that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Oooookay. That makes slightly more sense, then. I mean, in perspective, really. At least they're celebrating the subjugation of the minority, not the majority. Still pretty fucked up, but at least it makes sense.

Well, anyways. with a country as old as yours I'm sure there's way too much history behind it to explain, so I'm gonna wrap up my wondering-about-a-holiday-based-on-cultural-cliff-notes now.

Whoever last edited JT's tumblr posts page removed all of the links. Hope there's an easy way to fix it.

Fluttershy :3

Not even Pinkie could salvage it.

edited 12th Jul '13 8:48:38 AM by edvedd

Made an edit:

Not quite. 'Ulster' (of which Northern Ireland is six of it's nine counties) is predominately protestant and loyal to the crown (loyalist). The rest of Ireland is predominately Catholic. In the past, the Catholic majority had no right to vote, hold public office, carry firearms, go to school etc after the introduction of the Penal Laws (repelled in the 1830's) following defeat of the (English but Catholic) King James' army at the Battle Of The Boyne (River) in 1690. The 12th is about celebrating all that.

Many claim that the Orange Order are like the KKK if they celebrated the establishment of the Jim Crow laws. After partition in 1921 (were six counties of Ulster became Northern Ireland under British rule and the rest eventually became the republic of Ireland, a separate country) the Orange Order liked to remind those Catholics living in N.I who was in charge...with violence and intimation. It helped that like 90% of the Order's members where also members of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force. Some think the IRA caused the troubles of 1969-1994/2007...what actually happened was that the UVF were shocked at Catholic Nationalists daring to ask for an end to discrimination (inspired by Doctor King's movement in the 60s) and celebrating 50 years of Irish independence...and promptly started murdering them left right and center. Cue IRA number three rising up to fight back.

@ keg

In the past it was the minority bullying the majority. Only after partition did it switch back to a more normal order.

edited 12th Jul '13 8:52:11 AM by ApplelightLimited

@Syd: They're still there, they just aren't blue for some reason. Weird.

Also, I added a guideline concerning sockpuppets.

edited 12th Jul '13 8:55:23 AM by JapaneseTeeth

@ JT: Ah, okay. I have to right-click to see the links. Scratch that. The regular way works too.

edited 12th Jul '13 9:01:25 AM by Sydxelia

So... Catholics used to be the majority in Ireland as a whole, but had no rights. The Partitions made North Ireland a separate country(Or something like it), wherein everything was technically the same but now Protestants were the majority, so it was technically 'right'?

So... what was the IRA then? Because I always thought the IRA was what caused North Ireland to be separated, but they were around in the late 1900s, weren't they?

Feel free to ignore the questions if they're tedious, by the way. My perception of Ireland may be slightly more educated than your standard Scot Ireland, it's still pretty lacking as a whole...

Fluttershy cosplay.

*wolf whistle*

Well, that's an interesting variation on Fluttershy. More like Flutterbold, amirite.

Syd: That Flutters makes me think more of Lightning than Flutters.

Suddenly kangaroos

edited 12th Jul '13 9:14:22 AM by AceOfScarabs

Now that I think about it, that really would fit better.

edited 12th Jul '13 9:16:43 AM by JapaneseTeeth

Hey, we haven't met a species we couldn't morph into something vaguely pony related.

My rebuttal

@ keg

First point, yes.

Second point, there have been numerous IRA incarnations. The first was the one who fought the British in the south west of Ireland in 1919-20, and who forced them to propose partition. After that it split, because some said sweet, we're independent now, and others said nah screw that it's all of Ireland or nothing. They fought the Irish civil war of 1920-21, the anti-treaty forces were defeated and scattered, and the pro-treaty forces became the new Irish State (including the army). Then the second IRA showed up in the new state of N.I to end partition, and for many years did...absolutely nothing. Few failed bomb plots and taking pot shots at police. That's it. Then after Bloody Sunday in 1972, they were reborn as the Provisional IRA (the Provos) and they got teeth. The Provos are the famous one. Then after the 1994r cease fire they split again. The new group were called The Real IRA and carried on fighting...until they too jacked it in around 2007...only for some new groups to show up. But these new groups are not the IRA...the old Provo force was thousands strong, armed to the teeth with guns from America and Libya (everything from Armilites to A K47s to RP Gs) and for a few years in the early 70s kept the british army out of areas of the country. The new groups are about a dozen people...maybe 200 tops...with some pistols and a few bombs.

edited 12th Jul '13 9:21:40 AM by ApplelightLimited

Axolotl-fied ponies?

edited 12th Jul '13 9:23:09 AM by TheFreeman

Why do even the non-unicorns have horns?

Because they are lazy palette swaps.

I should try making paperchild arts :3

edited 12th Jul '13 9:30:31 AM by AceOfScarabs

I noticed. They're all alicornaroos.

@Apple: Ah, I see. Yeah, the Provos would have been the ones I learned about in school. The curriculum kinda makes it a point to teach kids some of the history from the places their ancestors are from, but never very much. Usually just 'why they emigrated' and any relevant modern history.

That's pretty interesting, though... sounds like Ireland has had a pretty rocky history in the last century. I guess not everyone has the sheer patience to talk their way into separation.

Derpy with a sandvich