You speak as if trying to educate me, and that's alright (The extermination of ignorance is a noble thing), but it's not a question of ignorance. I know the facts.
Countries seldom do have one culture, true. But Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are not one country, but two separate ones, more separate than you intend to be from Britain. If I were to call Scotland a mere extension of England, you would not like it, not one bit. Given that you are talking about one country, this point is invalid. We are talking of definition.
Why should I challenge that? The Irish do not want associations with Britain, vehemently so. There is no way to challenge that. And, as we are two separate countries, it is rather handy to simply redefine ourselves as not Irish. And you forget, the Ulster Scots did not go abroad; they simply went from one part of the country to another.
Of course it's possible to be as Northern Irish as I am now if I were defined as Irish. But the term would hold the same meaning, and that meaning would not be me-again, two separate countries. It is simpler to redefine myself. And again, the Republic of Ireland would not welcome a Protestant or Ulster Scot facet to their name. The mass exodus of Protestants from the Republic proves that. And why shouldn't I get hung up on borders? I'm sure the Ukrainians are rather hung up on their own border right now.
No, there's nothing stopping me from being an Irish Protestant, if I did have a religion. Except where I am, which is Northern Ireland. Religion is simply one more difference. A very much so fought over one. The Catholic majority Republic does not like Protestant Northern Ireland people. That is simple truth. And why should I be defined, yet again, as something that I'm not, and something which doesn't even like me?
And a United Ireland simply won't happen. Not in my generation, anyway. It is deeply ingrained. "No surrender" etc. To do less would be forfeit, which to many is unacceptable. Your arguments convinced me that I may be wrong on the matter of Scotland, and that separation may indeed be of benefit...especially when I think and look at my own situation. It would be Scotland and the U.K., only worse. You have same religion, no huge levels of animosity and few legal/political deviations with the rest of the U.K. Northern Ireland and its separate culture would be sidelined. There is no getting around that.
And yet again, we come to borders. Republican and Northern Ireland are not the same country. It comes down to America and Canada again; Ireland is America, Northern Ireland Canada. Canada is not called America, because it isn't. Northern Irish people shouldn't be called Irish, because they're not.
There is a brutal divide between the two parts. Mend it if you will, and I wish you luck, but the differences and old hurts will still be there. Northern Ireland wants Union with Britain. Republic of Ireland doesn't. Northern Ireland has its own identity, its own culture, its own laws, its own education, its own music, its own parades, its own history and its ow ethnic background. The only reason why Northern Irish people should be called Irish is because of proximity to Ireland. Or unless they expressly want to be called Irish.