Rose McGowan - IRA

[flip_flop]

Silly silly bitch.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/76 09856.stm

[Ethel]

Maybe that's her father's influence - he is an Irishman.

However, she was raised in America from the age of 10 - a lot of Americans truly believe that Catholics living in Northern Ireland do not have the right to vote simply for being Catholic.

[Eve]

When in the states, I remember a number of people thinking there was a real James Bond (I know it's based on Ian Fleming's experience but they thought there was an actual living James Bond) and thinking all the english actually taking a proper afternoon tea every day.

I'm sure there is plenty of ignorance everywhere.

[Whickerman]

She's being a daft cow - no argument. But maybe she's being honest too? She says that if she lived there in those times she'd have joined the IRA. Unfortunately a lot of others felt that way too.

American sentiment came from people who moved there generations ago, and presumably didn't keep up with the times. But it should be pointed out (just in response to the point Ethel raised) that Catholics in the North were denied a vote until the 70s - that's part of the reason the civil rights marches took place in the 60s/70s.

http://www.pilotguides.com/destination_guide/e urope/ireland/northern_ireland_conflict.php

Also - no one better to be outraged by these naive, stupid and ridiculous comments than Willie Frazier (mentioned in the report). I'd swear he lives to be outraged by anything that's not orange in colour.

[Ethel]

I wonder who voted Thomas Mitchell (Sinn Fein) in to Westminster in the 1955 General Election?

Or Joseph Devlin (Nationalist) in the 1931 Election?

Catholics did have the vote, but the voting system that applied to everyone in Ulster was not fair.

[andy-hughes]

I think that a lot of Americans of Irish decent have a somewhat romanticised notion of the situation in Northern Ireland, and the people involved.

My mother-in-law who is from Wicklow still talks about the 'beautiful people' who were shot after the 1916 uprising - it is a matter of culture and perception.

To make such an ungaurded statement during a publicity campaign for a film is naiive and foolish, and the backlash may come back to haunt her career.

[Lucy Thomas]

She is just another American ignorant of Irish history. Maybe she felt she needed to say something controversial to help publicise her new film about the IRA.

You'd think that American's would have lost their romanticised view of terrorism since it was unleashed on them in all its horror just seven years ago.

[Whickerman]

Ethel, as usual you are correct, my apologies.This is totally off-topic, but the situation was that in local elections, only a householder and his wife could vote, as well as limited companies (bizarrely).

The conservative government policy at the time was to deny housing to catholics in local authority areas, hence the disparity in the vote.