Photosales
niJobfinder
niCarfinder
Home Delivery
Propertynews
How our brave Eoghan Factors out the bullies
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
It’s no wonder that Eoghan Quigg has incurred the wrath of the Continuity IRA.
No doubt the Real and the 32-County and the Honest It’s Us This Time IRA will also be following suit in hounding this schoolboy as he seeks his fortune as a popstar.
Because not only does Eoghan represent the future of Northern Ireland, he actually represents its present.
Very visibly. Very famously. And very well.
By taking The X Factor’s Song For Heroes, with all its associations and resonances, in his youthful stride, he has come to epitomise the very best of what our young people have to offer.
No one can doubt Eoghan Quigg’s background, his cultural influences, his broad allegiances, if you like. Or those of his family.
The point is, that’s not the point.
The days when it was impossible to cross the cultural or political divide are over.
Young people here are doing that day and daily, socially, through the internet and through sharing all the things that they have in common. It’s that which the so-called dissidents can’t stand. The biggest target they have in their sights is a 15-year-old boy.
Not for the first time, of course. At least Eoghan Quigg isn’t being shot at, beaten with sticks, having his kneecaps removed or being forced out of his home by the heroes of the revolution.
But he has been able, and in a way which is brave, to treat those who hate him with disdain. Because it still requires bravery to face these thugs down. It doesn’t take many people to drive you out of your home or to make you afraid for your life. Maybe only one or two.
But there are still whole communities here living under the terror of a handful of overblown paramilitary bullies, who see themselves as the gatekeepers of the ghetto mentality.
For those bullies no act of transgression is too small to go unnoticed or unpunished. And the worst transgression of all is being too young to understand the suffering of the Troubles and appreciate the so-called sacrifices made. Uniquely among the contestants on The X Factor — whatever obstacles others have overcome to get on the show and have their talent recognised against the odds — Eoghan has the knowledge that as he performs live on primetime Saturday night television (no mean feat in itself), out there, on the other side of the cameras, there are surly, sullen, angry people who do not wish him well.
But it cannot be emphasised enough these are people on the fringes. They have no power. They represent nothing but their own racism and sectarianism.
Wearing a poppy on British television and singing a song in support of soldiers wounded in conflict may only be the tip of the iceberg of hatred that some few evil people still harbour.
For them, even appearing on British television at all in the first place renders you somehow suspect.
What is most telling, though, is that it is the solidity of Eoghan’s own family life, the support of his community and the security of their own sense of themselves which have given him the strength to be his own man and to reach for the stars.
For his dad Chris, it’s “a singing competition. If the song is for the Army, so be it”. Emphasising that he doesn’t agree with the war in Iraq, he went on to say that “this is for people who have lost limbs and lost their lives, whatever they were fighting for”. It’s the mature, laudable, honest view.
Eoghan, he says, “is not a republican. We’ve lived through the Troubles but Eoghan was born in 1992 — he’s far too young to know anything about this”.
But for Republican Sinn Fein and its associates, Eoghan and The X Factor is simply an opportunity to piggy-back on an international hit show to publicise their own grim purpose and repeat their threats to kill us all.
Well, there you go, Richard Walsh and Ruairi O’Bradaigh. Your simple-minded, stupid, bigoted threats only cement our communities closer together and make a common future possible. Eoghan’s a part of that. You aren’t.
- Text Size
Comments
22 Comments
LEAVE MY BOY ALONE BACK OFF BULLIES
DON'T WORRY EOGHAN BULLIES ARE STUPID AND IDIOTS ANY WAY CONCETRATE ON WINNING THE X FACTOR
YOU WILL WIN
Posted by AMIEE | 11.12.08, 20:43 GMT
HEY ,THING HE IS CUTE AND GREAT AD
LOVE AMIEE
Posted by AMIEE | 11.12.08, 20:38 GMT
leave Eoghan to do what he enjoys because we enjoy listening to him Well done kid A northern ireland lady
Posted by Isabella Quigg | 17.11.08, 23:42 GMT
why could he not wear a white poppy ? or maybe the question is why was he not allowed to weaar a white poppy?
Posted by padraig | 15.11.08, 02:52 GMT
Without a doubt Miss Gail Walker has come across as one of the English's most bigoted, Anti-Irish & closed off manipulators of the "situation" here. The post by Jim Lynch has hit the nail squarely on the head. I would like to see Miss Walker talk out in defence of a young Unionist Lad crossing the divide... My guess is that this would be completely unacceptable to her, and anyone doing so would be a traitor of the highest order and a disgrace to "God’s Country".
Hypocrisy and double standards are not mind-states that should be conveyed by a newspaper columnist.
Posted by bert | 12.11.08, 22:02 GMT
markg - neither the Poppy nor the Shamrock are unionist or nationalist symbols. Stop trying to sectarianise these emblems!
Posted by Steve | 10.11.08, 22:11 GMT
I am a Nationalist. I agree this is totally deplorable, he is a 16 year old lad, let him sing. If he is on English TV, Then why not ware an English Symbol to get their support??? The thugs that made these idle threats did not do it for Ireland. They are small minded thugs with nothing else better to do. WISE UP! All he wants to do is sing and win. Fair play to him. I hope he does.
But...
(Post Continued)
Posted by bert | 08.11.08, 21:33 GMT
My grandfather fought as a young man in the II WW and I wear a poppy on Remeberance Sunday - it disgusts me that anyone no matter what religion /credence they may have can't see this significance - good on Eoghan - let him sing his heart out and if he wears a poppy in the process who gives a flying sh+t! catch yourselves on! small mindness is a killer!
Posted by karen | 06.11.08, 14:19 GMT
Funny how the unionist community are so quick to praise Eoghan Quigg after this whole incident about wearing the poppy. It seems if you conform to the unionist way of thinking then great but if you dare reject anthing british you are some sort of outcast. I notice how this article didnt pick up on the loyalist banner referring to eoghan at the rir march and how unionsits have exploited him. The simple truth is that unionists are quick to praise a young nationalist crossing the cultural divide - I wonder would they be so happy if a young member of the unionist community was wore shamrocks or an easter lilly - no thought not. Crossing divides works both ways.
Posted by markg | 05.11.08, 18:25 GMT
Well said Gail. well written but nothing any person of right mind wouldnt think. And a song paying tribute to injured members of, whether you like it or not, one of the most respected armies in the world is wholly different from a song commemorating terrorist thugs who plant bombs to kill civilians including women and children -and run away. Brave stuff.
Posted by soarer | 05.11.08, 15:56 GMT
Gail, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall you speaking out against the 'bullies' abusing and threatening little school girls on their way to Holy Cross school.
Posted by JIm Lynch | 05.11.08, 13:25 GMT
Oh my god, I think this is the first time I have ever agreed with Gail Walker. I am dumbfounded and need to lie down....
Posted by bushmills529 | 05.11.08, 13:21 GMT
This shows up dissident republicanism for what it really is. A small bunch of "men" and "women" who attack old women and school teachers, and try to intimidate school boys. Clutching at straws me thinks.
What an organisation! Some might say Bobby Sands is turning in his grave. I would say he's laughing!
Posted by Dave | 05.11.08, 09:33 GMT
poppy or no poppy, I would like to see Eoghan wearing something green, every performance........ "Eoghan get something green on ya would ya!!!!!!!"
Posted by Becca | 05.11.08, 09:13 GMT
I wonder if Walker's article would have been so praise worthy of this young lad if he had worn an Easter Lilly and sang a song commemorating the IRA volunteers who lost limbs and lives in the various campaigns against the British in Ireland...like many unionists, Walker only stands up for those who support Britain and all things British but when that is threatened, I detect sectarianism raise it's ugly head and justify and defend itself to the bitter end
Posted by nigel69 | 05.11.08, 09:05 GMT
To be honest I think the media is just making this worse by putting it in the papers so many times. It's a British show- if he doesn't wear a poppy he's going to offend loads of people who won't bother thinking about the situation in NI, but if he does wear one, the people over here should know better than to blame him. He's only 16, and he probably hasn't decided on any definite opinions about war and things like that yet. At the end of the day, iits a competition that he wants to win. If he has made all the effort to get to this stage of the competition, wearing a poppy or singing one song isn't going to stop him. Personally I don't agree with war and I'm not a unionist but our opinions shouldn't affect Eoghan when he is so young. It doesn't matter what religion he is, he's doing a great job. Teenagers from ni, or anyone from ni for that matter rarely do so well on tv. Good luck to him- fighting over politics is not going to help the already dodgy opinion many have of ni.
Posted by A young Eoghan fan! | 04.11.08, 23:22 GMT
Have to completely disagree with Tony. X Factor is a British TV show intended for a British audience. There is nothing wrong with a British TV show supporting British people from all over the UK who put their lives on the line. If you have a problem with British TV and British life, then don't get involved with it in the first place.
Posted by Paul | 04.11.08, 17:49 GMT
It's great to see the unionist media so interested in remembrance all of a sudden. I know when one of my relatives came back from World War II there was not much of a welcome home for him, despite doing his part against fascism.
One relative actually thought he would have been welcomed in the shipyard! ha! problem was of course no matter that he had served her majesty, he was still a catholic - so excuses were made and the job he applied for disappeared.
And James Magennis of course, VC winner. It only took nearly 60 years for 'our boys' biggest cheerleaders to agree to put up a memorial to his actions, again, being a catholic supersedes any bravery in a British uniform. Funny enough I don't remember Gail Walker of the Telegraph leading a campaign to remember Magennis, too busy trying to 'save our railways' back then, but of course, remembrance is a tricky thing.
Posted by Terry O'Malley, Belfast | 04.11.08, 16:40 GMT
Tony you've hit the nail on the head with that comment.
Posted by Tom | 04.11.08, 16:34 GMT
The show's producers should have known better than put the lad in this predicament in the first place. Ah well, I suppose the producers are British and know and care as much about the North of Ireland and its idiosyncracies as they do about outer Mongolia.
Posted by Tony Fearon | 04.11.08, 16:12 GMT
22 Comments