My grandparents came here from Ireland. I'm second generation born in the US (I was born in 1980). I grew up owning a hat that was green and yellow with a picture of Mickey Mouse holding up his middle finger and it said "Hey New England, Happy St. Patrick's Day." My family hated the English so much that they also hated New Englanders. Every male in my family has been the Grand Marshal in our city's St. Pats parade. I once dated an Italian and my grandparents didn't talk to me for almost 2 years. YET, no one on my family supported the actions of the IRA. They've been responsible for over 10,000 bombs, and thousands of lives lost. (Surprisingly the US never banned the Irish from coming here during the decades of the 60's-90's though).Then once he left the IRA, changed from "rebel to peacemaker," it was more like he turned rat and sold out. The Irish are all split about his passing and especially about his life. Personally, I think both sides are correct about him, but the most egregious of his acts happened while with the IRA. As much as I supported/support Ireland's independence from Britain, I could never support an organization that by all accounts and definitions were the modern age's first terrorist group. Bombing people and shit just doesn't work. If it did then the US would rule the world by now.
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