Comments by "Taint ABird" (@taintabird23) on "TLDR News EU"
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@maxdavis7722 My source is a history book. An Irish history book, you won't find this in a British one.
'The closest I’ve found is just something saying the majority were Protestant, that doesn’t mean English, that doesn’t even mean British, at the time there were quite a few Irish Protestants'
Many landlords were English and lived in England, never setting foot in Ireland. These absentee landlords were the worst and they evicted their tenants, which meant death by the roadside. Others were Irish by birth and lived in Ireland. But they were considered English by the the Irish because they were colonisers who inherited land taken by the Cromwellians, spoke a different language, practiced a different religion, customs, culture, had sole access to the law and the means to implement it.. Ireland was the only country in Europe to be ruled by a minority with whom the majority had nothing in common. What was Irish about the Anglo-Irish to the peasant minority?. This was colonisation. They weren't part of the 'Irish nation' of people. The English recognised no such Irish nation so, they considered Irish landlords to be Irish.
Apparently, the Duke of Wellington understood this distinction. When he was accused of being Irish (he was born in Dublin) he stated 'being born in a stable does not make you a horse'.
The UK government was married to the Laissez-Faire economic system, which prioritises the market forces of over people. Despite feeding 3 million Irish people successfully in 1846, cheaply and efficiently, they went back to the economic model they loved so much, declared the famine over and put all remaining Irish suffering down to 'Providence'. Under such circumstances, who should get in the way of God's will? There was a famine in Scotland at the same time, but it was dealt with differently.
You have a lot of reading to do!
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@Mgaffo222 That was a hard read.
Aside from the abject misery, writing what is essentially a complaint in a single block of text and expecting people to read it is a big ask. Break it up into paragraphs, its easier. And beside, the paragraph is an ancient Irish invention, created by ancient monks long ago. Its a tradition worth keeping.
As far as I can see, Irish culture has never been in a stronger position. Now that it has largely received the approval and recognition outside of Ireland, Irish people are no longer ashamed of it. This has been one of the benefits of coming out from under the cultural vandalism practiced by the British empire.
Irish dancing, Irish music and Irish literature are widely available and recognised all over the world. Just this weekend I received video of a celebration of Irish culture at the Fahy Club in Buenos Aires, where local people performed Irish dancing and played Irish music. There were men in orange kilts with warpipes, none of them born in Ireland only a few would ever have visited our country. There are more GAA clubs in Cork than there are rugby clubs on the Island of Ireland, with the All-Ireland finals in Croke Park, we host two the biggest annual sporting events on the continent of Europe every single year. There is no comparison to the Fleadh Ceoil which I attended in Wexford this year (did you?) anywhere in the world. About 600,000 people came to enjoy the atmosphere, listen to music, part take in competitions, from all over the world. In recent years we have started to use film to tell our story and as a means of cultural expression. One of them, in the Irish language, won an Academy Award as far as I recall. That's all part of Globalisation too. Now you have a rap group from Belfast, rapping in Irish and getting global acclaim.
For the most part, Irish culture lacks your inferiority complex. St Patrick's Day is an inclusive cultural festival that encourages other national identities in our society to express themselves. That is not a sign of inferiority about our culture, it is an expression of confidence in it. This is because the concept of a multi-layered national identity is part of who we are in this country in the 21st century. You can be Irish and British, Irish and Polish and Irish and Nigerian. You might not like that, but it is who we are today. Its reality.
It is my experience that the children of immigrants often take to learning the Irish language like ducks to water. This is because they are already growing up in polyglot households, unlike the natives. It will be interesting to see how this influences the revival of the language in the future. Creative Ireland has providing funding for the recording of our intangible cultural heritage from our elderly people all over the country in recent years, so our culture is not being lost, it is being preserved.
While I would lament the Americanization of Halloween, it is also the case that the traditional halloween is still being taught in primary school. There is no reason why it cannot be revived.
Traditional pub culture is dying, although it is still hanging on, on the western seaboard. In a decade from now it will have passed into history much like the traditional halloween we used to practice as kids. Drinking was always part of the Irish culture and always will be to some extent, but drinking to get drunk is an aspect of Irish culture we can do with out. Irish culture has never been good at providing expression for the significant minority that did not drink at all, but I digress. If you think that 150 years ago everybody was engaged in Irish culture the way you seem to romanticize it, then you are sorely mistaken. For many it was considered backward.
There is no Hibernophobia, in my opinion, and you don't provide a good argument to support this claim. Irish culture is still alive and can be found all around you. Its just not the ONLY culture in Ireland now, but it is the only one capable of creating and maintaining Irish identity. But because it is a living culture and has always absorbed outside influences, it will continue to change and evolve in the years ahead. Irish identity is not under threat either, it is evolving also. Irish people are confident in their identity - it is a pity you don't seem to share it.
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