A Tangled Web

Slugger Scrapes the Barrel

 

Those of you familiar with websites on Northern Irish politics will know I was a regular contributor to Slugger O'Toole for a long time.  I decided to leave when I became of the view that, whilst Sinn Fein bootlickers were able to get away with just about any nauseating messages on behalf of their homicidal heroes, unapologetic Unionists were finding the site slightly on the chilly side.  I am of the opinion that Slugger O'Toole cannot be classed as an impartial website when it comes to airing the grievances of stridently anti-agreement Unionists.



In spite of the above, I do not hold any ill-feeling towards most of the people who contribute to that site.  It has, after all, achieved the kind of fame I wish A Tangled Web to emulate in the coming years.   Nonetheless, I think Slugger has tainted its reputation by permitting Mark McGregor (a self-confessed Sinn Fein/IRA voter, and frequent contributor to the site) to create what is effectively a slanted and highly expurgated tribute to IRA terrorist, Joe Cahill.  Nowhere does Mr McGregor even hint at Cahill's brutal past.  He does not mention the murder of of the Catholic RUC officer carried out by Cahill.  His only links are those which give an obeisant interpretation of the life of this foul individual.



If Slugger tends to lean more towards an Irish nationalist perspective then that is a matter for its moderators.  The basic philosophy of Irish nationalism if, of course, entitled to be heard in a democratic society.  But, on this occasion, Mr McGregor's attempts at a character whitewash have done nothing to entice Unionists back to the site.  Indeed, some of the non-nationalist messages allude to the negativity of his partisanship.   Here on A Tangled Web we make no pretence of impartiality: we are firmly pro-Union.  On the other hand, we would never publish an obituary of loyalist paramilitary murderers without illustrating the despicable consequences of their crimes.  The fact that Mr McGregor has not done likewise - on a site which claims to be politically neutral and accommodating to all - is shameful.