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30 April 1998 Edition

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Television: Ye Blackhearted Sinners!

By Sean O Donaile

Dr. Paisley I presume Channel 4, Mon
Children of the Ashes UTV Tues
People in need RTE 1 Fri
I gCillin an Bhais TnaG
I recall being sandwiched between Nelson McCausland and a preacher from the Free Presbyterian Church while addressing students at a seminar on integrated education at Queens a while back.

Nelson spoke of the need for Protestants to rediscover their Irish roots that night and later told me (off the record of course) that he and I had a lot in common. No such sentiments were expressed by the DUP preacher, who informed me that I was ``held in bondage by the Pope o' Rome''.

I tried to reassure him that I didn't have any chains or leather gear in my possession, and that the Pope wasn't my idea of a good night out. Channel 4's documentary ``Dr. Paisley I presume'' gave an insight into the personality and beliefs of big Ian, whose Stormont groupies with blue bags and blue scarves were replaced by a film crew, which was treated with disdain throughout the seven days of his tour of Cameroon.

Paisley is nothing if not energetic and was up every morning at seven at airports and churches bellowing against the ecunemical movement, followed by his ``hard egg'' David McElveen, a leading light (sic) in ``the save Ulster from Sodomy'' (and bondage) campaign.

The church in Cameroon split twelve years ago and Dr Ian is campaigning for the fundamentalist wing, some of whose followers were imprisoned by the state. He campaigned for their release, and one must agree that this was a worthwhile exercise, although his concern for the imprisoned seemed to evaporate at the border.

Paisley paranoia is everywhere and he believes the world is out to get him. He repeatedly refers to his terms of imprisonment - 3 months in Crumlin Road prison in the 60s - and informs us that he is ``persecuted'' and ``under police surveillance all the time''.

He is still imprisoned in his mind - ``I'm a prisoner of the Bible'' - and tells us that ``we have to sweat for the truth''. He claims to have ``met personally Jesus Christ'' and that we're all ``blackhearted sinners'' who look set for the ``torment and fire'' of hell.

McElveen talks of his ``sense of humour'' although I don't know if that includes his continous references to programme maker Jon Ronson as ``our Jewish friend'' and ``the lost sheep''.

Paisley undoubtedly has a very strong personality and this leads to deterioration in relations with the film crew. Ronson talks of being sucked into a world of obseqiousness and of ``walking on eggshells at all times'', nervous of antagonising this ``martyr''. As the trip proceeds one cannot but decipher that he is basically a big bully who intimidates and humiliates those around him. His antics are similar to that of a teenage gang leader.

Ronson concludes that ``there's few things that you can be with him except humble'' which explains his anger at nationalists for refusing to bend the knee on Garvaghy Road and beyond.

Ian Paisley-''bully (bullai) fear''!

Children of the Ashes (UTV), charts the return of three Vietnamese war orphans to Saigon, 22 years after they were first airlifted to ``Christian'' families in Britain.

Of the trio Mai Hoa Thomas seems the most content and declares herself as ``English as they come''. On returning to her orphanage, she is met by a block of flats and fruitlessy attempts to track down records of her parents.

This proves pointless as she was one of hundreds of babies handed over to priests at confession by desperate mothers and all records were destroyed to escape state persecution. Her only comfort is to find her baptism cert and meet the priest who baptised her, which brings her back to the church she rejected back ``home'' in England.

Safi Dang was fortunate to survive a plane crash which killed 140 other toddlers on the American ``operation baby lift''. Unfortunately she has never been able to fit in in either country and her fruitless search leads to an increased sense of isolation.

The sole successful member of the trio, Mink, was handed over to an orphange at twelve and manages to track down old friends and eventually meets his biological father, who abandoned him at birth, thus ensuring a frosty reunion.

Mink decides instead to console himself with re-interring his mothers ashes (who died alone of gangrene) at the local Buddhist temple.

People in need, obviously. The same can't be said for the banks and companies who appeared on RTE's ``People in Need Telethon'' on Friday last, unless you include their need for free brownie points. This is the bi-annual jamboree where Gay Byrne tells us all of the wonderful work we're doing to serve the poor, while neglecting to inform us that the money raised will do little more than buy a single packet of cigatettes for the one third living in poverty.

This charade does little bar giving free publicity to the banks and Dunnes Stores, the same people who are accustomed to milking the country and maltreating their workers. It diverts attention from the real reasons for inequality and falsely reassures that all is well and our conscience is rested for another year. If RTE were to devote as much effort to promoting a day of action to press for increased social welfare payments, the results could be very positive.

Unfortunatly this nonsense gives free publicity to the same politicians who should be targeted. While not doubting the good intentions of many, even the school children would be better off raising money for their own schools, which are the most overcrowded in Europe.

The Hunger Strike documentary ``I gCillín an Bhais'' (previewed here last week) leaves an even stronger impression second time around, particularly the stirring personal testimonies of ``Bik'' McFarlane agus a chairde. Tom McGurk of the Sunday Business Post pointed out recently that the wave of Irish history movies and documentaries have provided Irish people with the opportunity of writing our own history for a change.

This is a crucial point and we should also be positively aware that we now have a medium, TnaG, which is more likely to tackle these issues on an objective basis. The Section 31 era of RTE and others did nothing other than stifle debate and prolong conflict.

Tune in for a repeat on 10 May.


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