Blaming the victims for their own fate

JACK LANE (Letters, January 21), in his usual Pavlovian response to my contribution on the attacks on Protestants during the War of Independence, falls, perhaps unwittingly, into the well-worn tactic of blaming the victims for their own fate.

He picks out just one of my quotes from the Presbyterian journal of the time, The Witness, and dwells solely on it to the exclusion of all others from Protestant sources and clergy.

As for The Witness, what he is merely reiterating is that those Protestants, because of their religion and culture, deserved their fate. Tom Barry said much the same: “We never killed a man because of his religion, but we had to face up to facts. The most salient fact was that nearly all Protestants were unionist”.

Why can’t Mr Lane admit that at the time some awful things were done to Protestants in our name?

Not everything in any nation’s history and bid for freedom is pure and perfect.

Brendan Cafferty

Creggs Road

Ballina

Co Mayo