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Deleted Member 1156
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Very much a man of two lives, how do you view this controversial character?
Villian.
PhilTheFragger
Provider of Entertainment for the Golfing Gods 🙄
If this thread goes sour like the one closed this morning, then infractions will be handed out.
You have been warned
You have been warned
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Deleted member 16999
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Villian
Kellfire
Blackballed
I think the way he turned his life around and embraced the peace process, especially with Paisley, towards the end of his political career was admirable and I am thankful that eventually he helped to bring Northern Ireland to the most stable and united position it has been in my life time.
Do I forgive his actions as part of the IRA? No, I certainly do not. Do I understand them? Yes I do.
I've seen him compared to Nelson Mandela and that is a fair comparison for me - both were involved in the killing of innocents that they felt were justified when battling the suppression or even subjugation of their culture and kin. I don't think everyone fully understands what it was like as a working class Catholic who felt they were Irish in the middle of the 20th century as it's part of the story that rarely gets told.
Do I forgive his actions as part of the IRA? No, I certainly do not. Do I understand them? Yes I do.
I've seen him compared to Nelson Mandela and that is a fair comparison for me - both were involved in the killing of innocents that they felt were justified when battling the suppression or even subjugation of their culture and kin. I don't think everyone fully understands what it was like as a working class Catholic who felt they were Irish in the middle of the 20th century as it's part of the story that rarely gets told.
MegaSteve
Tour Winner
Mostly one but some of the other...
User20205
Money List Winner
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Deleted member 15344
Guest
I think that sums it up very well
The comparison to Mandela is fair - when it comes to Mandela some saw him as Terrorist and some saw him as a freedom fighter. Is that the same with McGuiness
drdel
Tour Rookie
I accept that he attempted to do good in later years but I'm afraid I can't move past his past.
Kellfire
Blackballed
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User62651
Guest
People mellow with age, maturity perhaps let him see the futility of terrorism as a means to achieve political aims. Hero or villain? - depends which flag you fly and if you have been directly or indirectly affected by 'the troubles' I would think, I have not so can't say.
Agree his good terms with late Rev Paisley was a surprise, but a welcome one, showed that compromise and dialogue can work.
Agree his good terms with late Rev Paisley was a surprise, but a welcome one, showed that compromise and dialogue can work.
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Deleted member 16999
Guest
This is my issue, he never once confessed or faced justice for the crimes he committed and I'm with Lord Tebbit, it's wrong to compare him to Mandella, Mandella lived in a country were blacks had no vote and no say, McGuiness chose bullets over democracy.
Kellfire
Blackballed
Democracy wasn't helping Catholics in Northern Ireland. Even the formation of NI was completely wrong in their eyes.
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Deleted member 16999
Guest
I get that, still different situation to SA, and there are still Catholic families who don't know where the bodies of there loved ones are, "The disappeared" it's not just the Unionists who suffered on his watch.
MegaSteve
Tour Winner
Spot on!
One day we might even realise it would be better to skip the fighting and head straight to the peace process..
SwingsitlikeHogan
Major Champion
Both. Today I choose to consider NI as it is today and not how it was. And for both better and for worse McGuinness has been instrumental in NI being the community that it is today. An angry, violent and at times murderous NI existed before MMcG came on the scene. It is much less so today.
MMcG helped to create that anger and violence. He was at the heart of it. He may have dowsed the flames by the end but he created wildfires all over N.Ireland and the British mainland.
90-10 split for me but at least he got there in the end.
Kellfire
Blackballed
Or from another point of view, he was sick of seeing a massive proportion of Northern Irish people being treated like dirt by the government...
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Deleted member 16999
Guest
So it was ok to murder children (Warrington, Wildenrath) rather than using democracy?
Kellfire
Blackballed
No, I don't believe so but obviously some people thought that a short term loss of life would be worth the many millions of lives that would be improved if they managed to gain an equal footing in society.
