There is something intensely disturbing about the video that circulated on social media where a song was sung glorifying the shocking and brutal murder of Michaela McAreavey.
A week hasn’t diminished the impact of the blow it dealt and it is hard to see what could fix it.
We have always known that sectarian songs exist but never for one moment could anyone have fathomed the depth of depravity that this sank to. You could have anticipated songs exist which celebrate the death of an IRA member or Sinn Féin figure, or people that would be perceived within unionism and loyalism as “legitimate targets,” but not this. Never this.
There are a few things worth remembering. Someone wrote that song. They shared it with other people. Those people learned it off by heart. Not one person in the video singing along, cheering or clapping thinks that there is a single thing wrong with it in that moment. This is not the first time the song was sung and, sadly, it won’t be the last.
What level of hatred is it that can drive someone to celebrate the murder of a young woman on her honeymoon?
I remember watching The Late Late Show in 2008 when Mickey Harte and Michaela appeared together following Tyrone’s third All-Ireland football championship win and Michaela saying that from the age of 7 when her father had begun managing the Tyrone team, she had never missed a championship match. When she represented Ulster in the Rose of Tralee a few years beforehand, there would have been no question of missing a match in Croke Park had Tyrone qualified in the championship; Tralee would have been left in the dust. It was a beautiful interview that showcased the love between a father and daughter.
Being a woman at ease with her identity and culture, the daughter of a GAA county manager, the wife of a GAA inter-county player and a teacher of Irish, made Michaela “fair game” for this disgusting spectacle. There is an ingrained hatred of Gaelic Games and Irish culture within parts of society that is so deep that anyone who participates in or supports those activities is seen as the enemy.
We were reminded of it in a further video of Pastor Barrie Halliday where he described nationalists and republicans as “rats” who should be dealt with “by rifle and grenade.” In a previous video post, he described the GAA as “Fenian, dark and hellish.”
Condemnation has followed the usual pattern. An Orange Order statement condemned the content without reservation and said they would investigate and take disciplinary action against any members who were found to be involved. But what is the order going to do to stop it from happening again?
The statements from Jeffrey Donaldson, Jim Allister, Doug Beattie and other political figures in unionism condemning the video are, of course, to be welcomed, but they are not enough. What are they actually going to do about it? How are they going to tackle rank and file sectarianism in their own communities?
More importantly, are they going to be honest enough, especially in the case of the TUV and DUP, to shoulder some responsibility for ramping up tensions in their campaign against the Brexit protocol? The content of the speeches we have heard over the last year and the frenzy that has been whipped up, particularly during the assembly election campaign has been using the language of “the enemy” and this only serves to increase division. At a loyalist rally against the protocol in Ballymoney in March, Donaldson told the audience that displays of unionist disunity “is what our enemies want.” We’ve heard a loyalist commentator talking about “despicable enemies in Dublin.”
Where is the mature discourse of the political opponent, rather than enemy?
This type of song sung in 2022 tells you that what happened in that Orange hall is part of a culture of sectarianism that has been ramped up continually. The video underscores a belief that there are no consequences for sectarianism, because there never have been. It is very depressing and distressing and it needs to be a turning point for tackling sectarianism and hate speech.
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask that next month, unionist elected representatives and political activists tour every Twelfth of July bonfire site in their community and insist that election posters and Irish flags mounted on the bonfires are removed and not burned as happens every year. That would be a true demonstration of leadership.
If your culture is grounded in hatred of others, then it’s not culture it’s just hate.
