5d ago

What was your "I can't believe I have to explain this to an adult" moment?

261 comments

That South Africa is a country. And Northern Ireland is not. To be fair, she was always up front about her knowledge of geography being abysmal.
- Also to be fair... Southern Africa is a thing and not a country.
- ...I thought Northern Ireland was a country.
  
  Well, it's a country in the same way Scotland isn't. I think it'd be better referred to as Ulster so as not to confuse it with the Nation of Ireland or the island named Ireland.
  On that note:
  Fuck the (modern day) IRA. They're terrorists, stop pretending they're freedom fighters. Even though I've met a couple of former IRA members, who were nice people, I do not condone intentionally hurting civilians. Mountbatten, on the other hand, can get fucked with an explosive chainsaw... and he did.
  Ulster belongs to Ireland (the nation)
  I have no skin in the game as I am not Irish. I'll defer to actual Irish people whether this is the "correct" stance to take.
  
  Just a note, there are 9 counties in Ulster. Only 6 are in Northern Ireland, so you can't use Ulster as a stand in for NI.
  
  Fuck the (modern day) IRA. They're terrorists, stop pretending they're freedom fighters. Even though I've met a couple of former IRA members, who were nice people, I do not condone intentionally hurting civilians.
  I don't think anyone thinks the modern IRAs (there are many of them) are anything resembling freedom fighters. The argument is about whether they were that during the Troubles, after which the Provisional IRA (the Irish side of the Troubles) pretty much stopped existing.
  
  You would be shocked at the number of "Irish"-Americans who believe the IRA are good guys.
- I think countries are going to be a matter of pride and interpretation. There are a number of territories I'd defend their assertion of that they're their own countries.
  Long live Pitcairn!

261 comments