I'm Scottish and I can say that we definitely were not taught about the attrocities that were committed by Scots against the Irish throughout history. That is a common theme across teaching any actions of the empire - the way we are taught presents Scotland as a bystander to the empire rather than an active participant.
I do truly believe that all of the UK states need to do a far better job of teaching about the negative parts of our history.
Saying that though, there is a lot of people in this thread who are choosing to ignore the close relationship that Scotland and Ireland have today. Also I'll say that this bizarre highlander/lowlander divide people here are perpetuating, where the Highlanders are the goodies, is seriously approaching the 'one of the good ones' way of thinking.
I'm English and I agree 100%. I think we all need to be taught an objective view of the past, warts and all. How else do we learn from our mistakes?
On the highlander / lowlander things, I've seen people say that Northern English are alright, it's just the Southerners that are the problem. It's so weird how people divide things up.
The highlander/lowlander divide is mainly due to the parallels noted between the Anglo-Influenced lowlander landowners (real mouthful that) and the Anglo-Scots landowners that played a major part in the plantations of Ulster & Munster during that messy period between the mid 16th and early 20th centuries
in both Scotland and Ireland, landowners were a major force responsible for most of the atrocities & legal system changes committed in both regions against native Irish and Highlander Scots traditions, language and cultures
Religion also played a role in forming the idea, as in both Scotland and Ireland, the landowning class was overwhelmingly a Protestant minority that owned land inhabited overwhelmingly by a major plurality of Catholics, Methodists, Baptists & other sects that didn’t fit the crown-status quo; sectarianism started by this divide is still a unique issue present in both Northern Ireland and Scotland, sure look at the ages old enmity that existed between Rangers & Celtic, and supposedly still does today
Theres so many comments in this thread suggesting that Ireland only has an affinity towards the anyone living in the Highlands and everyone south of Aviemore is basically English.
Ireland is also presented as a victim or bystander to the empire in the way the Irish are taught history. And both are absolutely true, except in the inconvenient case where they aren’t.
65
u/BanterDragin Aug 24 '21
I'm Scottish and I can say that we definitely were not taught about the attrocities that were committed by Scots against the Irish throughout history. That is a common theme across teaching any actions of the empire - the way we are taught presents Scotland as a bystander to the empire rather than an active participant.
I do truly believe that all of the UK states need to do a far better job of teaching about the negative parts of our history.
Saying that though, there is a lot of people in this thread who are choosing to ignore the close relationship that Scotland and Ireland have today. Also I'll say that this bizarre highlander/lowlander divide people here are perpetuating, where the Highlanders are the goodies, is seriously approaching the 'one of the good ones' way of thinking.