Squatting Under the Flag of Liberty????
In another group I fell into dialog with someone who claimed 1/4 Irish ancestry and seemed at least partially in favor of what I was saying at the time. Since I didn't consider that group the proper outlet for further discussion of the matter, I posted that I'd rather continue our talk via PM, which we did a few times.
While I neither expected nor wanted an endless loop, I was ever-so-slightly bemused when things took a sudden turn south. The other person latched onto a comment I made about having an historical group photograph of Michael Collins' private squad on my office wall along with others from the early 1900's.
Suddenly I was accused of "squatting under the flag of liberty" after that person read my next reply to his questions. Here's the pertinent text of what I'd written before he stomped off in a self righteous huff:
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"As for Sinn Fein, indeed it was unjustly put on a watch list in the past due to politics - they're for full Palestinian independence as well as their own, which places them in the cross hairs of certain American constituencies and allies. Since the recent Easter Agreement, they were properly removed from said list. I've always found it passing strange when a country such as ours had to fight for its own independence from an imperialist power but then turns around and wants to deny someone else the same right.
Thanks for your concern, but I'm not a member of Sinn Fein. I don't hold Irish citizenship, for one thing. I'm merely a member of Friends of Sinn Fein (American chapter), as a second-gen Irish American whose grandfather and gg stood with Collins - who, btw, advised strongly against the Easter Rising as premature and doomed to failure even though he participated in solidarity with his brothers. Dev sent him to England to negotiate the partition so he wouldn't have to take the heat himself, then turned around and had Collins assassinated because he posed a threat to Dev's own power. (also, Friends of Sinn Fein is not an hereditary group like DAR; anyone in sympathy with their goals for a just and free Ireland can join on FB.)
One thing amused me; I saw copies of that picture for sale on an Irish commercial website and just for fun, asked if they knew the men's names. They answered no, so I sent them a link to an MI site with the archived information. Of course the Brits had eventually learned everyone's identity at the time, but they just couldn't catch them and the names were added later. There's no harm in giving anyone that information because it's public record now. Everybody's dead and gone anyway. But I don't think they should be forgotten. It will be interesting to see if Sinn Fein ever addresses that in the current commemorations, which Fine Gael and Labour are trying so hard to muck up. Labour's really a Brit lapdog and Fine Gael's not much better. I know Gerry Adams likes to keep his finger poked in their eye, and rightfully so. I hope he'll be able to reach the goal of a completely free and unified island dwhich cost Collins his life."
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Oh, I forgot to mention earlier: my erstwhile pen pal also assigned me traitor status because of foreign affections. Or maybe it was Benghazi cuz Murica, who knows. Nothing to lose any sleep over, is it? 