Majority Oppression Quotes
A delegation from Sinn Fein, headed by Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins, had negotiated a treaty of Irish Independence except that it did not cover Northern Ireland where the majority of the people wanted to stay a part of Britain. For 700 years, the Irish had fought for independence, and finally they got it for the vast majority of Ireland and the overwhelming majority of the Catholics of Ireland. The alternative to agreeing to the treaty was to continue the war between the IRA and the British Troops. At the time, the IRA was just about totally beaten and probably could not hold out another month. De Valera, a very shrewd politician, as the leader of Sinn Fein (and the IRA) would normally have headed the Irish Delegation. But he chose not to because he realized that they would never get independence for all 32 counties of Ireland as the British would not leave the Northern Ireland Protestants to their fates against their will. The best Ireland could get was Independence for all of Catholic majority Ireland. And he knew that public opinion would oppose giving up even one county becuse that was what the leaders had told the people for years. So De Valera let his two associates take the popular blame after he denounced the treaty with his famous quotation {639690}. Shortly after that, Michael Collins, the brilliant military Commander of the IRA who signed the treaty was assassinated. To many, it was as if De Valera had pulled the trigger. The treaty was ratified by a 7 vote margin by the Dail as there was no army left to fight, and the angry Irish electorate voted for De Valera as Ireland’s first President. The politician had won; the patriot had died. De Valera continued to speak out against the Dail Majority for the “immoral” act of ratifying the treaty
See {639974} and {638572} for quotations going one step further.
Many disagree with Hook. While there are few total societies as examples, recently they point to Pakistan where the Islamic majority not only tyrannized non-Muslims, but even Muslims who are not devout enough. Hooks opponents argue that tyranny of the majority is generally exhibited in areas. For example, the white American majority tyrannized the Black minority for the first 150 years of American history. Within local and state governments there are many more examples of Tyranny of the Majority. The Mormons tyrannized non Mormons when they first settled the Utah territory. The Mormons themselves had been tyrannized by Christian majorities throughout their trek from New York State to Utah.
There has been a similar demographic condition since.
