re: #165 Dr Lizardo

Yeah, Sinn Féin is a democratic socialist party; that sort of trips up American RW’ers from time to time - I honestly think they don’t realize it. I’ve met a couple of Sinn Féin members here in Europe, English teachers like me; they’re nice enough and definitely Irish nationalists, but they struck me as committed to the political process, not violence.

I think my tour guide on the Easter Rising tour I went on was Sinn Fein or at least quite sympathetic. Just yeah Irish nationalists. He loved my Irish brigade tattoo and was a great guy to talk to after the tour. But yeah I think it always does baffle hardcore Irish-American conservatives that the Sinn Feiners are democratic socialists. I think a lot of Americans have the wrong impression that NI is just Catholic vs Protestant. I mean there are certainly more Catholic nationalists than Protestant ones but if religion has come up, it’s been because of how Catholics were treated in the past.