Luck Of the Irish? LUCK???
I was talking to my good friend Cal the other day, some one you know him as the guy who drove the U-Haul to Cortland for JR. year cortaca, some know him as your southern tier-southern rock guru, and still SOME of you may know him as just another large friend that periodically visited Keith at college. We were talking politics and the phrase "luck of the Irish came up". Now Cal is German, and there's not so much luck there as there is a history of tyranny and destruction, but at least they're labled with such. But why are we Irish so closely collalated with good fortune?
Every minority in America has made their case for experiencing a history of unequal treatment and poverty. They feel a degree of racisms still exists in this country, and that they are judged by the color of their skin. Well I'm here to say, COUNT ME IN. I absolutely believe that there are people that have been "held down" by their racial background. HOWEVER, I think there are some that are forgotten. People look at me and think, "there's just another big, honkey, that's keeping us down". Well, they'd be wrong. I'm an Irishman, a member of one of the most abused people in the history of this world. Is is not racist for a member of a minority to assume I'm just a "white guy"? Hey, the British have treated us worse than they treated the slaves. They didn't take us away from our country, they came in, beat the shit out of us, and then stayed.... and then beat the shit out of us again. In fact, they're still there! Everyone cheered for freedom when the Brits got ousted from South Africa, but they're still hanging around in Northern Ireland. They call the freedom fighters trying to knock the red coats out of Ireland, "terrorists". If the IRA (I think that's the right accronym) are terrorists, than so were the American colonies, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let anyone talk bad about those fine people. They defeated the Indians fair and square. If you ask me, Manhatten for a beaded necklace was a hell of a deal! Would the Indians really want to be in charge of NYC right now? Of course not, we did them a favor.
The potato famine, was that lucky? A whole nation starving, wow, we really got the role of the dice with that whole thing. How pathetic is it to have to say your country went under due to the lack of potatoes! I mean we couldn't have had a chicken famine? Or a beef famine? No, we were completely dependant on the f-ing potato.
One of the most famous Irish symbols is Notre Dame. Then figure in the fact that the most famous character associated with it is some guy with a huge lump in his back. Boy, what a lucky guy. Has a mammoth hump, is hideous, AND lives in bell tower! Talk about a fortunate turn of events. Yes, these two things might not really go together, but there's a relation nonetheless.
When the Irish arrived at Ellis Island we were loathed. It took most of the 20th century for us to fully assimilate into American culture. We were denied jobs, beat up, oppressed and of course, drunk. That's right, let's get right down to it, we drink. The Irish have been stereotyped as heavy drinkers, and I'm here to say.... you're right. We know it and we love it. If you're going to be stereotyped, why not having everyone assume you can put down large amounts of booze. It's manly damn it, real manly. Drinking is something most people like and to be good at it, well in today's society it's something to brag about. We didn't riot or reek havoc with gang violence when times we tough, we just built pubs, got lit, and complained. We were only a danger to our own livers and if that's a crime, lock me up, and throw away the key....
This round's on me!
Every minority in America has made their case for experiencing a history of unequal treatment and poverty. They feel a degree of racisms still exists in this country, and that they are judged by the color of their skin. Well I'm here to say, COUNT ME IN. I absolutely believe that there are people that have been "held down" by their racial background. HOWEVER, I think there are some that are forgotten. People look at me and think, "there's just another big, honkey, that's keeping us down". Well, they'd be wrong. I'm an Irishman, a member of one of the most abused people in the history of this world. Is is not racist for a member of a minority to assume I'm just a "white guy"? Hey, the British have treated us worse than they treated the slaves. They didn't take us away from our country, they came in, beat the shit out of us, and then stayed.... and then beat the shit out of us again. In fact, they're still there! Everyone cheered for freedom when the Brits got ousted from South Africa, but they're still hanging around in Northern Ireland. They call the freedom fighters trying to knock the red coats out of Ireland, "terrorists". If the IRA (I think that's the right accronym) are terrorists, than so were the American colonies, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let anyone talk bad about those fine people. They defeated the Indians fair and square. If you ask me, Manhatten for a beaded necklace was a hell of a deal! Would the Indians really want to be in charge of NYC right now? Of course not, we did them a favor.
The potato famine, was that lucky? A whole nation starving, wow, we really got the role of the dice with that whole thing. How pathetic is it to have to say your country went under due to the lack of potatoes! I mean we couldn't have had a chicken famine? Or a beef famine? No, we were completely dependant on the f-ing potato.
One of the most famous Irish symbols is Notre Dame. Then figure in the fact that the most famous character associated with it is some guy with a huge lump in his back. Boy, what a lucky guy. Has a mammoth hump, is hideous, AND lives in bell tower! Talk about a fortunate turn of events. Yes, these two things might not really go together, but there's a relation nonetheless.
When the Irish arrived at Ellis Island we were loathed. It took most of the 20th century for us to fully assimilate into American culture. We were denied jobs, beat up, oppressed and of course, drunk. That's right, let's get right down to it, we drink. The Irish have been stereotyped as heavy drinkers, and I'm here to say.... you're right. We know it and we love it. If you're going to be stereotyped, why not having everyone assume you can put down large amounts of booze. It's manly damn it, real manly. Drinking is something most people like and to be good at it, well in today's society it's something to brag about. We didn't riot or reek havoc with gang violence when times we tough, we just built pubs, got lit, and complained. We were only a danger to our own livers and if that's a crime, lock me up, and throw away the key....
This round's on me!
posted by Keith "the leg" Hannon at 3:05 PM
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