conflict junky

“If you’re under 25 and you live on a sink estate in Lurgan, Craigavon, Derry or Belfast you have a romantic view of the Troubles and no memory of just how fucking awful it was.” so runs the unattributed comment in last week's Economist

I am not sure how useful it is to counter this undoubted truism with a quote of my own.

"If you're of any age, and you are enfranchised anywhere in the world, you have a romatic idea of disenfranchisement, and have no idea of how just how fucking awful it is."

The article itself refers to those who have become bored of daytime tv, clearly indicating that it is not just the young that are susceptible to the allure of violence. The 'fundamentalism' of others would also support this transgenerational disaffection. So it is not just the young and ignorant that are involved.

Effective strategy is absent, remarkably similar to pretty much all the other conflicts in the world and references to lack of community support indicate a validation of violence if it existed.

As an individual, enfranchised by a collective of systems that chooses violence as a means of furthering its objectives, it is impossible to moralise with regard to those that choose violence as a means of furthering their own. I write this upset that the erstwhile Economist feels that the moral approach offers suitable journalistic coverage of this issue.

Another way please...