Told K about a previous entry - the one about graffiti. 'IRA' and 'White Power NF' on my way to work. I said how the IRA graffiti didn't mean much to me and that it was simply funny to write 'Gershwin' underneath - it was not a political statement for me.
Being English, from Birmingham, with a strong mental picture of the bombing in the Bullring, the IRA mean terrorism for her. The IRA are the 'bad guys' no matter how much sympathy she has for their cause.
For me, being Australian, the IRA are not a threat, even if there are bomb alerts every christmas on oxford street. Seeing ourselves as colonised by the english and subject to all the snobberies and bias that comes from being a english colonial country, I have some sympathy for their cause - though, in no way do I condone terror or violence. I guess I can see them, the IRA and not just the moderate irish republicans, as legitimate because I don't see myself as a target.
So the graffiti doesn't signify for me at all. But I guess it does for most english people - being the target of their terrorism.