The “colour-coding of Northern politics” lamented by McCann is not only an issue in historical analysis today sectarianism was also very much a reality in 68 itself. “that” runs the risk of obscuring the nuanced stances and shifts that manifested throughout the era. I think part of what makes the Troubles and 68 in general so overwhelming and difficult to comprehend is the inability to reduce the events to a set of clear definitions, and any attempts to explain the events of 68 in terms of “this” vs. War and an Irish Town demonstrates that the Troubles were not simply a battle of Catholics vs Protestants, and yet most people generally understand the conflict in those simplistic terms. I think this fixation on different colors and this historical framing that pits one against the other reveals the human tendency to reduce complex situations to easily digestible stereotypes of opposing forces. Hearing this week from Eamonn McCann, I was struck by the truth of his statement that “history is painted in primary colors.” For example, the Troubles in Northern Ireland is often described as the battle between the orange (unionists) and the green (nationalists).
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