Things go boom

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Rog, I'm not sure I understand what you're going for. I'm not blaming Americans for anything. I'm just noting that it's interesting that people of Irish descent here feel that they understand and know what's best for the homeland.

Freeky, thanks. I've thought of other people who haven't checked in yet, within my personal sphere. Hoping for the best.

That's the bone of contention, here.  They don't know, and they don't WANT to know.  They want to ease their emigre guilt a bit, so they throw some cash at some guy who tells them that, as A True Irish Patriot, he DOES in fact know.

Also, I have been told by reliable sources IN THIS VERY THREAD that Ireland ISN'T their "homeland". 

So I'm not buying this line of horseshit.  America may in fact be one gigantic asshole, BUT:  To pretend that it is the ONLY asshole and thus the source of EVERY PROBLEM ON EARTH or at least trying to DICTATE to everybody with a problem on this Earth is Goddamn intellectual laziness at its worst.  In fact, it's a Goddamn COMA.

I'm not disagreeing with you, and I admit that though I am a citizen of Ireland, that Boston is my homeland. I'm just not connecting the dots.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Rog, I'm not sure I understand what you're going for. I'm not blaming Americans for anything. I'm just noting that it's interesting that people of Irish descent here feel that they understand and know what's best for the homeland.

Freeky, thanks. I've thought of other people who haven't checked in yet, within my personal sphere. Hoping for the best.

That's the bone of contention, here.  They don't know, and they don't WANT to know.  They want to ease their emigre guilt a bit, so they throw some cash at some guy who tells them that, as A True Irish Patriot, he DOES in fact know.

Also, I have been told by reliable sources IN THIS VERY THREAD that Ireland ISN'T their "homeland". 

So I'm not buying this line of horseshit.  America may in fact be one gigantic asshole, BUT:  To pretend that it is the ONLY asshole and thus the source of EVERY PROBLEM ON EARTH or at least trying to DICTATE to everybody with a problem on this Earth is Goddamn intellectual laziness at its worst.  In fact, it's a Goddamn COMA.

I'm not disagreeing with you, and I admit that though I am a citizen of Ireland, that Boston is my homeland. I'm just not connecting the dots.

Dots:
1.  Irish guy secretly thinks he isn't Irish enough, because he lives in North America.
2.  Cynical bagman for the IRA capitalizes on that guilt to fund all manner of nonsense, in the name of FREE IRELAND or whatever the fuck.
3.  This somehow equates to MURRIKANS telling Ireland what to do.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Also, the very notion of being utterly severed from your heritage by means of immigration - as mentioned earlier, to do with "Irish-Americans" being some heinously offensive term - is utter rot and nonsense.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Also, the very notion of being utterly severed from your heritage by means of immigration - as mentioned earlier, to do with "Irish-Americans" being some heinously offensive term - is utter rot and nonsense.

I agree, which is why I don't quite understand the MURRICANS aspect.

My mother has no recent immigration. I consider her an Irish-American only in that her Irishness has been Americanized. She just happens to strike me as very Bostonian.

I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that what we're getting stuck on is that you're perceiving my comments as Americans shouldn't comment on Ireland, whereas I am saying is that for various reasons, Americans of Irish descent might not have a good handle of what's going on in Ireland and are dealing with more noise than signal.

I'm not getting where the offense comes in. I'm Irish, American, and Irish-American. I don't feel offended by your hypotheticals.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Also, the very notion of being utterly severed from your heritage by means of immigration - as mentioned earlier, to do with "Irish-Americans" being some heinously offensive term - is utter rot and nonsense.

I agree, which is why I don't quite understand the MURRICANS aspect.

Dunno, you tell me.  Somehow the situation I described is "reverse colonialism".

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Short answer, I think, is that the intellectual laziness going on around here is getting a little fucked up.

White + Male + American + Middle Class = privilege.  I don't think anyone outside of the teabaggers would argue this.

HOWEVER

White + Male + American + Middle Class = ALWAYS responsible for EVERYONE'S BAD ACTS is just plain Goddamn LAZY.  It's a substitute for THINKING.  Why think, when you know who's to blame, right?

So some cheeseball in Boston or NYC or Chicago or St Johns that thinks singing Erin-Go-Brawl (or whatever the fuck it is) and donating some cash when he has 6 glasses of knockoff Guiness in him will somehow connect him to his roots is the BAD GUY, and the IRA bagman who actively pursues that money to buy more Makita drills for the kneecaps of the <name of weird, incomprehensible faction here> is being TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF, because THAT, my little Interbutt Misery-Monkeys, gives us all that soft glow of self-righteous indignation WITHOUT ALL THE WORK OF ACTUALLY ANALYZING THE PROBLEM

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Also, the very notion of being utterly severed from your heritage by means of immigration - as mentioned earlier, to do with "Irish-Americans" being some heinously offensive term - is utter rot and nonsense.

I agree, which is why I don't quite understand the MURRICANS aspect.

Dunno, you tell me.  Somehow the situation I described is "reverse colonialism".

Maybe I worded it poorly then.

I'm just speaking from my experiences of Irishness in Boston. You still see graffiti here saying "Up the RA" which is the same as saying "go Jihad" in my book. As I understand it, the Irish Irish, since we can't call them Homeland Irish. Hibernian Irish? Irish Hibernians? have a certain animosity towards how Irish-American American-Irish feel they have a pulse on what is actually going on, and what is right for the Republic (of Ireland) and the Kingdom (of Ireland, aka Northern Ireland). There is also animosity within the Republic, towards Republicans, as there is in the Kingdom. It's a very complex situation. I make a poor citizen of the Republic in that, I don't quite understand the whole thing. I make an excellent Irish-American in that, I say, I get this a bit. I get it enough to wash my hands and say, let the North decide. The War was over a long time ago, and I don't see the need for Republicans to continue it, and I don't see the need for misinformed Irish-Americans to fund it. I still don't get what you're getting at, but I hope that I've clarified my position further, which , tl;dr I live in America, so I don't get a say.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Short answer, I think, is that the intellectual laziness going on around here is getting a little fucked up.

White + Male + American + Middle Class = privilege.  I don't think anyone outside of the teabaggers would argue this.

HOWEVER

White + Male + American + Middle Class = ALWAYS responsible for EVERYONE'S BAD ACTS is just plain Goddamn LAZY.  It's a substitute for THINKING.  Why think, when you know who's to blame, right?

So some cheeseball in Boston or NYC or Chicago or St Johns that thinks singing Erin-Go-Brawl (or whatever the fuck it is) and donating some cash when he has 6 glasses of knockoff Guiness in him will somehow connect him to his roots is the BAD GUY, and the IRA bagman who actively pursues that money to buy more Makita drills for the kneecaps of the <name of weird, incomprehensible faction here> is being TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF, because THAT, my little Interbutt Misery-Monkeys, gives us all that soft glow of self-righteous indignation WITHOUT ALL THE WORK OF ACTUALLY ANALYZING THE PROBLEM

Oh, no, clearly the North American is being taken advantage of, and I am sorry if I implied otherwise, since I do not believe that to be the case. The IRA guy is the douche here. The rat, as my grandmother would have said.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I am arguing that the Irish American is working from a place of ignorance. It's not his fault. It's bad signal.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm just speaking from my experiences of Irishness in Boston. You still see graffiti here saying "Up the RA" which is the same as saying "go Jihad" in my book.

That's learned behavior that is easier, for the graffiti artist, than thinking.  I just started a thread about that sort of thing.  It is proof that there are assholes everywhere.

As I understand it, the Irish Irish, since we can't call them Homeland Irish. Hibernian Irish? Irish Hibernians? have a certain animosity towards how Irish-American American-Irish feel they have a pulse on what is actually going on, and what is right for the Republic (of Ireland) and the Kingdom (of Ireland, aka Northern Ireland).

What has me chortling in mean-spirited glee at the moment is that I have heard no end of shit from at least 5 people in Ireland who feel that they know what is best for America, particularly on firearms issues.  So, you know, every asshole gets an opinion.  Even we ignorant colonials.  If they don't like that, they can go shit in their flat caps...Or stop handing US advice, know what I mean?

There is also animosity within the Republic, towards Republicans, as there is in the Kingdom. It's a very complex situation. I make a poor citizen of the Republic in that, I don't quite understand the whole thing.

Have you possibly considered that there isn't anything to understand, that the whole fucking mess is every bit as senseless as the Hatfield/McCoy feud?  That not only do we Americans NOT know what's best for Ireland, but also that neither do the fucking Irish?

I mean, it's patently obvious that America has no clue what IT'S doing, so there's NO FUCKING WAY anyone in Ireland understands it, so why are they telling US what to do?  Just as it may seem "obvious" to Irish folks that Americans probably shouldn't have a gun up every orifice, so it seems "obvious" to me that the Irish are too Goddamn stubborn to let the past rot in hell where it belongs.  I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, and I'm reasonably certain that the Irish don't, either.

But somehow, I think, that the two situations will turn out to be different, somehow.  In a way that I am not equipped to understand.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Everyone in my town is pretending nothing happened in Boston. One person mentioned it and was rushed away by her husband. I mentioned it in passing and was given the freeze. It's weird and it's making my head spin in uncomfortable ways.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Everyone in my town is pretending nothing happened in Boston. One person mentioned it and was rushed away by her husband. I mentioned it in passing and was given the freeze. It's weird and it's making my head spin in uncomfortable ways.

Having spent time in Georgia, I can hazard a guess.  I was just ranting about intellectual laziness, and this is just another form of it.  To the people I knew in Georgia, TERRORISM = ISLAM.  I think, though, that they can SMELL that this isn't what they want it to be, that maybe it was ONE OF THEM, meaning some white assbag with a head full of Rush Limbaugh.  So they have to pretend that it ISN'T HAPPENING.  IT ISN'T HAPPENING.  THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING.

Ho ho ho!  You betcha it's happening.  You bet your Gramma's ass it's happening.  All the stupid hate and vitriol that's been spewed since 1980 has COME HOME TO ROOST.  They can sense this.  They have The Fear.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I'm just speaking from my experiences of Irishness in Boston. You still see graffiti here saying "Up the RA" which is the same as saying "go Jihad" in my book.

That's learned behavior that is easier, for the graffiti artist, than thinking.  I just started a thread about that sort of thing.  It is proof that there are assholes everywhere.

As I understand it, the Irish Irish, since we can't call them Homeland Irish. Hibernian Irish? Irish Hibernians? have a certain animosity towards how Irish-American American-Irish feel they have a pulse on what is actually going on, and what is right for the Republic (of Ireland) and the Kingdom (of Ireland, aka Northern Ireland).

What has me chortling in mean-spirited glee at the moment is that I have heard no end of shit from at least 5 people in Ireland who feel that they know what is best for America, particularly on firearms issues.  So, you know, every asshole gets an opinion.  Even we ignorant colonials.  If they don't like that, they can go shit in their flat caps...Or stop handing US advice, know what I mean?

There is also animosity within the Republic, towards Republicans, as there is in the Kingdom. It's a very complex situation. I make a poor citizen of the Republic in that, I don't quite understand the whole thing.

Have you possibly considered that there isn't anything to understand, that the whole fucking mess is every bit as senseless as the Hatfield/McCoy feud?  That not only do we Americans NOT know what's best for Ireland, but also that neither do the fucking Irish?

I mean, it's patently obvious that America has no clue what IT'S doing, so there's NO FUCKING WAY anyone in Ireland understands it, so why are they telling US what to do?  Just as it may seem "obvious" to Irish folks that Americans probably shouldn't have a gun up every orifice, so it seems "obvious" to me that the Irish are too Goddamn stubborn to let the past rot in hell where it belongs.  I have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, and I'm reasonably certain that the Irish don't, either.

But somehow, I think, that the two situations will turn out to be different, somehow.  In a way that I am not equipped to understand.

Oh, the Irish Hibernians should have no say in what goes on here. I seem to recall Faust commenting on guns about a year ago, and me pointing out that we still have predators, and he conceded the point. Now, I don't give a crap about guns, but I can see how they would be necessary in certain parts. Also I like the phrase Irish Hibernians. It makes me chuckle.

And I agree that the Irish Hibernians don't know what to do about the North. It's a mess. Irish Ulsterians and British Ulsterians don't know what to do either. That's why I say, let the Northerners decide when they come to an agreement. All I know is that I come from Republicans who feel reluctant about Republicanism. So if the rest of Ulster wants to join the Republic, hey, welcome. If they want to remain part of the United Kingdom, hey, slainte. If they want to form an entirely independent government, hey... good luck. It's their choice.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Everyone in my town is pretending nothing happened in Boston. One person mentioned it and was rushed away by her husband. I mentioned it in passing and was given the freeze. It's weird and it's making my head spin in uncomfortable ways.

Having spent time in Georgia, I can hazard a guess.  I was just ranting about intellectual laziness, and this is just another form of it.  To the people I knew in Georgia, TERRORISM = ISLAM.  I think, though, that they can SMELL that this isn't what they want it to be, that maybe it was ONE OF THEM, meaning some white assbag with a head full of Rush Limbaugh.  So they have to pretend that it ISN'T HAPPENING.  IT ISN'T HAPPENING.  THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING.

Ho ho ho!  You betcha it's happening.  You bet your Gramma's ass it's happening.  All the stupid hate and vitriol that's been spewed since 1980 has COME HOME TO ROOST.  They can sense this.  They have The Fear.

It's really weird. I can't get over Georgia - at least this part of it - how the people react to things. Everything remotely controversial is just swept under the rug and Not Discussed. It Isn't Done, you see. There Are Rules. It's . . . eerie, I guess. I have the feeling that if I walked downtown I'd see line after line of people with their heads stuck in the dirt of the scenic petunia sidewalk plantings, like ostriches in the sand. Heads down, hands covering their assholes.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Everyone in my town is pretending nothing happened in Boston. One person mentioned it and was rushed away by her husband. I mentioned it in passing and was given the freeze. It's weird and it's making my head spin in uncomfortable ways.

That's... kinda weird.