John Stevens MBE · @pzj_1564
27th Jan 2018 from TwitLonger
What is all the noise about the Billy Boys?
Again we are witnessing another frenzy in the media & political circles which is raising it's head again surrounding the issue of sectarianism. This of course was & is in response to the repeal of a draconian act which saw football fans criminalised for singing songs.The issue of sectarianism is of course a very ambiguous one as the songs or words that were criminalising football fans had so many & where open to so many interpretations that some of the decisions made by the judicial system were quite simply incredible.
Sectarianism definition '' strongly supporting a particular religious group and not willing to accept other beliefs''
By definition the whole world & all faiths could be described as sectarian according to the Cambridge dictionary definition of the word. But I want to focus on the one song that everybody whether politicos or the Scottish media always turns it's attention on & shines it's particular light on when the issue of sectarianism is raised in Scotland. The Billy Boys.
Now let us be very clear from the outset of the discussion. Some have attempted to associate this song with a certain Billy Fullerton. This is another anachronistic attempt by those who would do anything to smear the name of Rangers or anything they perceive to be Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist. Make no mistake I know of not one person old or young who have sung the song who believed whether in their youth or adulthood that Billy Fullerton was the ''Billy'' in the Billy Boys. In fact a quick glance over the scant information there is on Billy Fullerton's life also reveals that Fullerton named his gang & of course the chant after the memory of his glorious majesty King William the third. But that fact does not fit the narrative or the agenda of a willing political & media world determined to criminalise those who they perceive as Unionist/Protestant.
The offending part of the Billy Boys is of course the mention of the word ''Fenian'' in the song. Now we know the hypocrisy of the media in Scotland & the fact they have no issue with others being up to their knees in blood. It is of course the fact that is fenian blood. Now here again they have anachronistically brought this word into mean someones ethnicity or religion. Despite the fact that the majority of those who are offended at this word or neither Irish or practising catholic.
Now let us make this very clear. ''Fenian'' has never or ever will define or describe a person's ethnicity or religion. From the outset of the establishment of Fenianism the catholic church for example excommunicated these people who had a warped & criminal mind who had an ideology that was very simple in its operation. Murder & mayhem. Throughout the recent troubles in Northern Ireland this same excommunication comes to a clear light when you witnessed the church at war with the inheritors of the warped fenian ideology by refusing to bury these murderers in their paramilitary garb.
So the question is was the catholic church excommunicating this grouping on religious grounds? Was the Irish priest excluding these people on the basis of their ethnicity or religious belief?
Now we hear the old argument that words evolve & can have new meanings. This is what I mean by anachronistically bringing in a word that had another meaning & placing it to mean something else & this has been amplified in the case of fenian. Now it has become in the world of the media & politicians in Scotland & of course Northern Ireland to define a person's belief or ethnicity. Neither is correct & neither is accurate.
Today in this present time those who celebrate the murderous campaigns of these sectarian zealots which the fenains began clearly demonstrate themselves what they believe the word to mean & actually have it correct. Today you can merchandise with the words ''unrepentant fenian b____d'' with of course the obligatory armalite accompanying the slogan. Now you do not need to be a genius to work out what it is defining. The ''fenians'' were a grouping'' who did not represent the people of Ireland. They were outside normal Irish society & were not representative of the Irish people. They certainly did not represent the catholic church.
So as the title goes in this post & the questions asked what has ''fenian'' got to do with someones ethnicity or religious belief? What has the Billy Boys got to do with Billy Fullerton who many contemporaries believed he took the name of Billy in the song to mean William of Orange?