A Tangled Web

Bad Advice from the Great and the Good



GK Chesterton once said: 'I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, then going away and doing the exact opposite.' It is a maxim the Portadown Orangemen should heed in the coming days and months.



After the Drumcree march on Sunday passed off 'peacefully' (that is to say, passed off because the government ordered the forces of the State to prevent a lawful assembly at the behest of a terrorist-led 'residents group'), the Orange Order is now faced with numerous requests to enter dialogue with Brendan McKenna and his cronies.



I take a contrapuntal view. There is absolutely no way any representative of the Orange Order should meet, and thus give credence, to groups established, fronted and orchestrated by republican terrorists. It may mean that Orangemen never again parade the Garvaghy Road. It may also mean disappointing staunch defenders of the Loyal Orders, such as Ruth Dudley Edwards, who are strongly in favour of negotiations.



Why then do I hold dear this supposedly intransigent stance? In Luke's Gospel (4:1-13) the Devil offered Jesus all the glories of the world if the Messiah agreed to kneel and worship him. Please don't mistake my use of the above analogy for any inclinations towards Biblical zealotry. I am merely making the point that the Orange Order will only sully its moral principles should it decide to kow-tow to people who see nothing wrong in allowing their emotions to be hijacked and proselytised by the scum of Ulster's society.



Irish republicanism is made up of ideologically bifurcated people. Some simply wish for an end to all cultural, political and social manifestations of the British culture in Northern Ireland. Others are prepared to see Unionism suffocated until only the last gasps of Protestant culture would be tolerated in an envisaged republican Elysium. People at the forefront of these residents groups belong firmly in the second camp. Take it from me, any moves by the Orange Order to bestow legitimacy on Sinn Fein sponsored movements would beget similar scenarios across the Province. When faced with those consequences, I'd sooner turn round on Drumcree Hill anyday.