From top: Fintan O’Toole; Anthony Sheridan
It appears from a number of recent articles by Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole that he is suffering from a very special form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD].
His PTSD is special because it is, apparently, only triggered by flashbacks to republican violence during the Northern Ireland conflict which ended 24 years ago.
Fortunately, Fintan is not burdened with memories of the violence carried out by unionists and agents of the British government.
He recently expressed his anguish to Irish Times colleague Deirdre Falvey.
“I can’t vote for Sinn Féin, because I remember too much stuff, that was so cruel, so inhuman. Planting bombs in cafes and pubs just to kill as many young people randomly as you possibly could. I just can’t deal with it, until they’ve dealt with it.”
It seems that PTSD has also affected Fintan’s memory because, to my knowledge, the IRA never pursued a policy of blowing up as many young people as they could. The IRA did, in common with Unionists and British government agents, carry out acts of violence but the age of victims was never a specific policy.
Cynics might say that Fintan was engaging in a strategy practiced by other less sensitive journalists of portraying Sinn Féin as evil incarnate to young voters in the hope of halting the ongoing decline in support for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Of course that just couldn’t be true because, according to Fintan, the Irish Times is the most unbiased newspaper in the entire world. In an astonishing revelation he says:
“I don’t think there’s any other journalist in the world who can say what I can say now. I’ve worked for 34 years for a newspaper, and nobody’s ever told me what to write, or what I couldn’t write. The lawyers might get involved. But an editor has never said to me, stay away from that, or we don’t agree with that, so you’re not allowed to say it. Never, ever, ever. That’s really precious. l don’t know of any of my colleagues in America or Britain who could say that, even people working for really good respectable newspapers.”
So, you see, nobody can accuse Fintan’s Irish Times of political manipulation because, as he says, it’s the most perfect newspaper in the whole world, a newspaper that would never, ever, ever tell a journalist what to write.
In another article, Fintan again revealed the absolute torment he continues to suffer as a result of the war that ended 24 years ago when he strongly suggested that Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane shouting ‘up the Ra’ after the 2020 election could lead to renewed slaughter on the streets of Northern Ireland. he writes”
‘Shouting ‘Up the ‘Ra’ is not a performance by historical re-enactors – it is a live device, primed to explode into contemporary reality.’
Surely there’s no better argument for outlawing Sinn Féin, introducing internment and tearing up the Good Friday Agreement.
OK, that would probably have the side effect of saving Fine Gael/Fianna Fail from political extinction but that would not be Fintan’s intention. His only wish is to recover from the trauma he has suffered throughout the decades.
He wants to be in the same place as the countless thousands of actual victims who have accepted that the war is over, that Sinn Féin is not planning a return to war, that it’s OK to vote for the party.
He longs to join with the United States of America, the United Nations, the European Union, the vast majority of citizens of the Republic, the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland and even the British Royal family, who were direct victims of the conflict, in accepting Sinn Féin as a legitimate political party.
But Fintan can’t deal with the pain, not even after 24 years of peace, not yet – he remembers too much.
Anthony Sheridan is a freelance journalist and blogs at Back Garden Philosophy
“It seems that PTSD has also affected Fintan’s memory because, to my knowledge, the IRA never pursued a policy of blowing up as many young people as they could.”
So the fact that they planted bombs to kill people of all ages makes it ok?
You might have a point somewhere in there, but I’m not reading anymore to find out.
Probably he wasn’t saying such and such makes it ok. Being rounded in your appreciation of what occured is a better way to acknowledge the damage that armed conflict means to people’s lives. The psychologist who would be paid well to listen to FOT on the subject of his appropriated trauma would in the end tell him that his parents are human just like him and that his feelings of anger doesn’t make him a bad person. In fact it may help him to understand the anger of those who find themselves in situations which he can only imagine.
The problem with Sinn Fein is the change they will bring when they come to power. That change has to be resisted at all costs because it will upset the current & very well established gravy train
it’s great when you’re frank, frank.
But – you never tell us what that change would be, Frank.
We all know what a century of FFG brought us (FFG – Fearlessly on the Vultures Side), but you seem to know of something that’s going to happen if SF get into power – fill us in then.
Opinion journalism provokes thought and emotion. The Irish Times is largely opinion journalism and so is Broadsheet. Contributors in MSM and in alternative so-called social media are free to opine and to emote. There is more heated feedback in social media, in the comments section.
I’ve always thought of Fintan O’Toole as the thinking person’s Kevin Myers when it comes to the North. O’Toole’s a neo-unionist.
FO’T is fully embedded with FFG.
There’s no need to tell Fintan what to write because, in common with the most of the hacks and reporters here, his interests lie in protecting the status quo. The gravy train must not be derailed. The big problem for the establishment though is that the younger voters don’t read Fintans epistles or listen to RTE.
Relatives of those young people who died at the hands of PIRA violence will be doubtless reassured that there was no intent involved. This , when taken along with the endless memorializing in SF social media, will doubtless contribute to the sheep-like acquiescence required to accept these gowls as our new overlords.
Fintan seems to forget that it was the IRA who got this country back from the control of Britain so shouting up the ra shouldn’t be a surprise
Another great article Anthony, its stuff like this that keeps me hanging in here.
Look, yes, Sinn Fein took protection money from drug dealers, yes, they covered up pedophillia in their ranks, yes, they disappeared people who went to the authorities about the first two activities along with other things, but that’s all in the past, Sinn Fein are now the party of the people, and will bring free homes, free healthcare, free education, free bins! A Sinn Feinn government is a no-brainer, vote Sinn Fein in the next General Election and we’ll all be looked after.
Putting aside Fintan O’Toole’s agenda, or that of the main parties, here is a concise summation by Joe Joyce of what a Sinn Fien government would look like (and yes, I acknowledge the irony that this is another IT article):
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/no-room-for-complacency-over-sinn-f%C3%A9in-in-government-1.4777807