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Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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Both situations are really similar. Most of my ancestors were Protestant settlers Northern Ireland who cried uncle after a couple generations and moved on to Southern Appalachia.
Judging by some of the posters treatment of the subject of white Africans in this forum alone, I would have to say I'd rather be a Irish Protestant in Ireland.
Judging by some of the posters treatment of the subject of white Africans in this forum alone, I would have to say I'd rather be a Irish Protestant in Ireland.
I agree silly thread. So in that vein I will pick Black Irish or White Russian.
An Irish Protestant. I already am a Protestant though (United Methodist). I was raised and baptized by my Grandpa as a member of the United Methodist Church. Also my dad's side of the family is from Cuba, Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France. And on my mom's side, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
Both situations are really similar. Most of my ancestors were Protestant settlers Northern Ireland who cried uncle after a couple generations and moved on to Southern Appalachia.
What do you all think?
I think White South Africans and people from Northern Ireland have produced some absolutely fantastic golfers. Gary Player, Enrie Els, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman and several others have really represented themselves with grace and dignity. Gary Player is particularly notable for the charities he has started to help educated Black South Africans.
I think Rory MacIIlroy is one the best young golfers in the world. Darren Clarke although past is prime is still a very good golfer. Graeme McDowell had an absolutely fantastic season last year. I think Northern Ireland is well situated in terms of developing future golfers. That’s about as much as the two countries have in common.
Now as far as the dynamics of how the Boers and other European settlers moved to South Africa and how the Scotts moved to Ireland I think there are some distinctions worth noting. First, as things currently stand Northern Ireland is not re-unified with the Republic of Ireland. That indicates that the Protestant population of Northern Ireland still has considerable political and sway in Northern Ireland. According information I have about 53% of the population is Protestant and about 43% of it is Catholic. Compare the situation in South Africa where the dividing issue was race and not religion. The overwhelming majority of South Africans are Black South Africans (79.2%) versus about 9.2% White South Africans.
Also you have to look at the economic dynamics. White South Africans make about 4 times on average what a Black South African makes. This is indicative of this historical disparity in social, economic and political power that White South Africans held for well over 100 years. I don't have the exact information but I would gather the economic disparity between Protestant and Catholic Northern Irish is nowhere near as large.
The biggest difference I see in the two situations is that Protestant North Irish still hold a considerable amount of political, social and economic power. The power dynamics in South Africa are changing with White South Africans losing a great deal of political power and finding themselves having to share economic and social power more with Black South Africans. Those White South Africans not willing to share political, social or economic power with Black South Africans and those not willing go through the growing pains as these power shifts take place will find moving to another country a compelling value proposition.
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