It is a fact universally acknowledged……….. that Belfast rarely makes any kind of international headlines, except when something terrible happens [usually people being murdered by paramilitary organisations] However Belfast did make the news recently at the launch of the new Titanic Belfast Visitor…
THIS.
This is a prime example of the weird anti tourism attitude of most of Belfast’s people (generalising is fun, huh?) that makes us out to be a bunch of sour faced cunts.
Ok! Yes the Titanic sunk! due to navigational errors… but what our ship builder’s have achieved at the time was tremendous… Belfast was not always just known for The Troubles; we were at one point the number one manufacturer for all things ship building. If we as a city try to move on from that for tourism; what is the big fucking deal? I mean seriously.
People around the world are interested by the Titanic, and as Belfast is essentially the birth place of it… Why should we not advertise that? Should we discourage people from travelling here, because we like to feel isolated? The money we will get from this increase in tourism will obliterate all the spending to gain it, but I guess that’s bad for Our Wee Country!
I will never understand the people when asked of their home Belfast, immediately talk about The Troubles, when most weren’t alive for the worst of it (or at all)! It’s almost as if people cling to that bit of history. Thrive on telling people that Belfast once upon a time was similar to Downtown Baghdad.. Ugh. Just. Shut up.
Belfast is actually a wonderful city. People that live here don’t seem to realise this; or want too. Seriously. Go travel. Walk in a few cities around the world, you will realise how nice a place Belfast is. How Northern Ireland is. Enjoy it. It’s fucking gorgeous.
I am sorry for the OP getting the brunt of this, but this struck a nerve. There is only so many ‘Fuck the Titanic’ posts I can see in a night…
When something good happens to this city; people are up in arms about how much of a irritation it is. Yet when there’s nothing of note happening; why does Belfast always get skipped out? Fuck off. Some people literally can’t be happy unless they’re miserable. /rant
This is a reply to http://skypipez.tumblr.com/
Thank you for reading my post. It is the first post I’ve written and I’m glad it has encouraged some discussion and debate :) However, I disagree with some of the points you raised. I would like to say, that I am not anti-tourism, I do not necessarily condemn the Titanic centre… and I don’t think my post represents that view at all. It is just when you consider the sheer amount of money which has been pumped into it [The Northern Ireland audit estimate for the centre made it one of the most expensive venues in Europe in terms of money spent to build it per visitor that was expected to see it.] For £100 million – it does need to justify itself.
You mention it as being part of a celebration of an achieved accomplishment for Belfast- and I agree there is nothing wrong in wanting to do that, but surely the most appropriate thing would to call it the Harland and Wolff centre, or the Belfast Shipworkers centre – something along those lines, instead of advertising it as the Titanic Centre - after a ship famous for the deaths of 1500 people which ultimately becomes a brand to be sold. This is the main problem that people I know have with the centre – the ‘cashing in’ aspect [especially with the likes of Tayto and ofc, James Cameron’s film]. All of this contrasting with the deaths of so many, means that it is not only distasteful but just disrespectful.
Lastly I’d just like to talk about the troubles aspect – well, you say that some people can’t let go of them.. obviously, they were a hugely significant part of history and their after effects are unfortunately still being felt today, however the ‘Troubles Experience’ is being marketed in the city and makes up a significant fraction of its tourism, with black taxi tours and open bus tours exploring the old murals and most violent sites of the city. I have mixed feelings about this. But, this is, in essence, why I find the Titanic centre interesting [although I don’t agree with everything about it]– it is interesting in that it marks a new step for how Belfast represents itself through tourism, which I think is very significant.
I don’t condemn such things – it is an ambitious venture, but its just whenever you have the people behind the Titanic Centre asking Kate Winslet and Leonardo di Caprio to cut the ribbon for the opening [yes they really tried to do that] – this is what completely cheapens the whole thing – and cheapens the deaths of people, all in all ironic considering 100 million pounds went into it.
(via derevaun-seraunnn)
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belfastvulture reblogged this from derevaun-seraunnn
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thegardenparty answered:
Travelling has made me realise how great Belfast is, and made me appreciate how great N.I. is.
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thegardenparty likes this
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skypipez reblogged this from belfastvulture and added:
THIS. This is a prime example of the weird anti tourism attitude of most of Belfast’s people (generalising is fun, huh?)...
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skypipez answered:
i fail to see why celebrating an engineering accomplishment is so bad? should we just stick to our stigma of the troubles
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belfastvulture posted this
