The Ian Paisley paradox - considering the career of Dr. No
Posted on Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 06:16 AM
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As I write this, Ian Paisley remains in the intensive care unit of the Ulster Hospital, and like everyone else in the media I’ve been reflecting on the career of an incontrovertible political giant of these islands.
But it’s incredibly difficult.
Ireland is no stranger to high-profile politicians with mixed legacies who split opinions; Parnell is revered now but his relationship with Kitty O’Shea split his once monolithic party down the middle. Eamon de Valera was a demi-god or a treacherous wretch depending on who you talked to. Charles Haughey and Bertie Ahern are grand lads in the eyes of their deathly loyal supporters, but it wouldn’t have taken you long to round up a pitchfork-wielding posse to picket their houses either. But Paisley is in a different orbit altogether.
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At the time and place I grew up, the word “Paisley” was synonymous with terror, even loathing. I used to dread hearing his booming voice on the radio on television, fulminating recklessly about something or other. It’s been said Bill Clinton could make you feel like the only person in the room, with Ian Paisley it seemed like he could make you feel like the focus of all his hostility and hate. For someone from Donegal in primary school in the nineties, Paisley felt like a genuine bogey man.
Yet, even then you’d hear stories that bordered on urban myths about him that confounded the obstreperous image. He was lovely in person, apparently. Catholics in his constituency supposedly felt well treated if they ever went to him about local business. According to legend he once met some Cork students playing a game of rugby against Ballymena, and gave them a hearty welcome and money to buy fizzy pop or some such.
In more recent years, that side of him seems to have shown itself publically, with his moderated attitude on power sharing and his surprisingly good relations with Martin McGuinness. Last year I even saw him giving a kind of flash mob sermon outside Belfast City Hall, a pious elderly man far removed from the gulderer famed for shouting “Never!” in that very same location a quarter of a century earlier . In a very short space of time, he’s gone from Ireland’s greatest monster to avuncular bridge builder.
While there’s something fitting about the evangelical preacher’s Damascene conversion on the road to redemption, and it’s better late than never that he turned heel, it’s important that when it comes to legacy, recent good doesn’t altogether overwrite past bad. Had Paisley not forced Terence O’Neill from office over One Man One Vote, or poured kerosene on the Ulster Workers Council Strike over Sunningdale, heaven knows how differently things could have developed.
Northern Ireland is in a situation now, mercifully, where past rivals can put aside hostilities and attempt to work together. But when it comes to considering legacy, it’s crucial that we take the whole picture, rough and smooth. Especially so with Ian Paisley.
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RedBranch | Feb 13, 2012, 04:53 PM EST
OOOOOOh, Toasty!
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tommymccarthy | Feb 13, 2012, 01:00 PM EST
you will roast in hell you EVIL BASTARD
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Curitiba | Feb 12, 2012, 06:13 PM EST
Watching Return of the Jedi, I found myself rooting for the Emperor, there is indeed a certain glamour attached to the dark side, RedBranch.
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RedBranch | Feb 12, 2012, 02:34 PM EST
Right on Maryanna. However a moment of levity for you. In Ian Paisley /Lord Bannside's last sermon delivered last December, focused as you may expect on sin, sinners and the possibility of being born again.. At one point a little under half way through he spoke of '...me and my sinner friends...' However with his accent it came out as '...me and my Shinner friends...' There was a papablable gasp amongst the suited, hatted and plumed congregation as this belied a Freudian slip of what they suspected all along: that the Chuckle Brothers really were friends. (Available as a mp3 download for you to judge for yourselves). Curitiba I find myself drawn to the 'dark side' and find it strangely empowering...
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maryanna | Feb 12, 2012, 12:41 PM EST
SCRATCH THE SURFACE HARD ENOUGH THEN WE ARE ALL DEEP DOWN SECTARIAN. BUT BIG DADDY IS TOP KNOTCH.
Him and mc guinness adams rat face peper and all the kkk up in dysfunctional Stormont may they rot in hell for all that they have done in the past-damage done 3,700 murdered 47,000 injured take him up for hate crimes and take the whole lot up for inciting heinous crimes- the only reason that there is sort of peace is that they got what they wanted power greed money empires control over communities. No money no peace, no power no buddies- it is all a game.
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Curitiba | Feb 11, 2012, 05:32 PM EST
If only the Republicans had someone of his calibre champion their cause, there would probably be a United Ireland by now. He probably single-handedly kept NI in existence through the force of his personality. He always seemed to me to be like Darth Vader and the Emperor all rolled into one. He certainly knew the power of the "dark side" (Unionism)!
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