A brief history lesson on how Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland came to be two separate places and why what Minx said has such an impact on Northern Irish people :

Northern Ireland is part of a region of Ireland called Ulster. Ulster has always had a large amount of support for the British crown, having a majority being on the side of the British during the hundreds of years of Ireland’s fight for independence from Britain.

After the Irish war of independence, negotiations started for a treaty, so that Ireland could become independent. Britain was in a better position as they had more experience with treaty negotiations and would have the upper hand if we returned to war.

In the end, Ireland made a deal with Britain, essentially signing away the 6 counties of Northern Ireland. The republic went to war over this, many people in Ireland disagreed with signing away the 6 counties, but in the end, the majority agreed with the treaty, to end the war.

While the south were fighting over this, tensions in the north began to rise between unionists(who wanted to remain part of Britain) and Nationalists(who wanted to become part of the republic). This eventually led to the troubles, a period of 30 years of violence between the two+

Groups in the north. This ended in 1998, when the good Friday agreement was signed, pleasing everyone.

Here we are not even 25 years later, and the fighting has escalated again, all because Boris Johnson wanted his shiny new blue passport.

Read this thread for more information on what’s going on currrently in the north. https://twitter.com/jubileesoph/status/1379889589456896004

Now onto why what Minx said was invalidating and upsetting to so many Northern Irish people.

During the troubles, the catholic nationalist minority in the north suffered from a lot of sectarian discrimination and didn’t have equal rights to the Protestant loyalist majority. A lot of the reason why they wanted to be a part of the south was not only due to the hundreds +

Of years of history behind their Irish identity, but also because they felt that they would be treated more fairly if they were a part of the republic. They faced years of discrimination, purely because they wanted to be able to call themselves Irish.

They fought back for years so that they could have this right, only to be told by clueless people from the south like Minx, that they can’t have that. There is centuries of reason behind why the Irish identity is so important to these people and having Minx strip them of it +

In front of such a large audience must have been such a punch to the gut. As someone from the south, I am disappointed and embarrassed that this is the person representing us.

To anyone from Northern Ireland who was offended by this, I am sorry that someone with such a large platform was so clueless about this <3 you are valid whether you choose to be British or Irish, nothing anyone says can change that.

You can also read this thread from someone for a perspective from someone from Northern Ireland. https://twitter.com/jubileesoph/status/1380653962550992896

Here is another thread on what’s going on in the north right now, as this thread was more directed at the people who thought that the people who were upset by what minx said were ‘being sensitive’ https://twitter.com/_kara16_/status/1379919561592561667