=
×

Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

Head To Head
Log In
Register
U-Know! Forum »
Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland
Log In to post a reply
39 messages
Topic View: Flat | Threaded
grufty jim
grufty jim
1978 posts

Re: Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland
Jul 25, 2009, 23:06
Cheema Deepinder wrote:
What is modern Ireland like? I thought it looked the same despite the trappings of consumer goods and high house prices.

Well, let's see. For a start the Irish population is largely urbanised now. The latest figures suggest a level of urbanisation -- mid 60s in percentage terms -- that compares to the Netherlands, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, etc. Of the remainder, very few are agricultural workers.

So when you describe Ireland as a "peasant" society, you are clearly either (a) completely uninformed, or (b) using the definition of "peasant" that means "An uncouth, crude, or ill-bred person; a boor". And frankly that's the kind of statement about the Irish that I find insulting and borderline racist.

It's worth pointing out that I don't think urbanisation is a positive step for the Irish population. Nonetheless, it's a fact of life and using the word "peasant" is either insulting or inaccurate. Which did you intend?

Secondly, the accusation that Ireland is a "backward" society, coupled with the advice to emigrate to the UK, suggests that you see Ireland as "backwards" in comparison to the UK.

Now, I'm Irish and was born here. But I actually lived the vast majority of my life overseas. Indeed, I only moved back here 3 years ago after a 15 year stint in the UK. Prior to that I've lived in Greece, Egypt, Brazil, Spain, Germany, the USA and worked in perhaps a dozen countries -- most of which would be described as "third world". So I'm probably in as good a position as anybody to judge the relative levels of "backwardness" of Ireland versus the UK. As well as the UK and Ireland versus other places.

Without a doubt, I hate what Catholicism has done to the Irish... the dark shadow it has cast upon our collective soul. But we are emerging from that shadow. It's a slow and painful process but we are going through it.

However when I hear a person recommend the UK as some beacon of enlightenment in comparison... the UK, whose colonial past casts just as dark a shadow as Catholicism ever cast on the Irish. Whose colonial past it was that drove Ireland into the clutches of the church in the first place. A nation that possesses the only hereditary governing chamber in the world. A nation whose people are still subjects of a monarch as opposed to citizens!

Well, in that context, when I hear people call the Irish "backward peasants" and recommend the UK as an escape, it simply reminds me that the old bigoted colonial mindset is still alive and well.

Ireland has plenty of problems. And I do not wish to minimise them. But to hear the nation of Thatcher calling us backwards is a bit fucking rich.

Don't get me wrong... we are backwards. But only in the sense that we have become just as enthralled to the toxic corporate-capitalist mindset as almost everyone else. We are backwards. But only because we are following the lead of those driving us in that direction.

Peasants? No.

Backwards? Yes. But only in the same sense the UK is.
In reply to:
Re: Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland (Cheema Deepinder)		 Replies:
Re: Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland (Merrick)
Re: Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland (cHARLIE)
Re: Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland (buzfuz)
Re: Blasphemy made illegal in Ireland (Jim Tones)
Topic Outline:
U-Know! Forum Index