Chapter 8: Culture, Communication, and Conflict-Social and Economic Forces
While abroad, I traveled abroad to Galway, Ireland, and met so many interesting people. One of the men I met was one of our tour guides who was taking us to the famous Cliffs of Moher on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. He was telling us thousands of stories while we were there with him riding in the bus, and one of the stories had to do with the conflict going on in Northern Ireland, which is now isolated from the Republic of Ireland. I actually was not truly aware of a huge conflict in history there, and I felt a little out of the loop because of it. But he explained to all of us in the bus that there is, and has been for some time, a religious conflict in the North between Catholics and Protestants. The English tried to push in and settle Northern Ireland bringing in their Protestant ways, but some Catholics in Ireland greatly opposed this. He told us that this social conflict has caused so much damage, and back when Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, shifted into an economic center for the country, the social and religious tension of the people flocking into the city were at an all time high. To this day Protestants and Catholics do not see eye to eye in the area. It is truly a clash of social ethnic groups that were pinned together in the same city they needed for economic survival. There are so many stories just like this strife that exists in Ireland. Differences of religion and belief can most certainly divide and cause hatred to be spawned in others hearts. Social inequality and social problems have existed here in Ireland since
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