I can't but find it overwhelmingly funny how many Irish-Americans embrace this holiday, especially here in America, especially in NYC, despite how the Irish were attempted to be driven from this land as 'snakes'.
The Irish were originally not wanted here in America, for they were the people who took all the jobs. They were willing to risk their lives to build the bridges, it's why many bridges along the East Coast have the Cross in them. The Irish took the low pay, and sent the money back to Ireland to give their families a chance at a new world; a chance in America.
Does this story sound painfully familiar? Does the story of a man busting his ass, to send dollars across an ocean to his family, where they save those dollars and hoard them as if they were the last dollars on earth, for those dollars eventually equate to a ticket to America? How about shanty houses and "ghettos"? Surely you've driven through a ghetto and thought, 'What degenerates!', without realizing that the Irish originally brought the ghetto to America.
"Poor Irish were illiterate and faced considerable discrimination. They were considered best for manual labor. Thus they often feared losing jobs to freed blacks." (3)
Yeah, the Irish used to be *"the Mexicans"* , a disgusting racial blanket term Americans use to refer to illegal immigrants / emigrants & legal immigrants /emigrants who appear to be of Spanish descent. These are the people that do all the jobs we didn't want to do, these are this generation's Irish, and look at how all of you treat them. "Irish immigration peaked in mid to late 19th century. This was largely because of dire poverty and starvation in their homeland," (3) much like the current emigrants and immigrants of america. I fail to see the difference between the two groups of people: They both brought disease and crime, but also culture and economy.
While 'Saint' Patrick is said to have drove the Druids from his land and is commended for this controversial act of hate and bigotry (1), the glorification of this man highlights the very hypocrisy of the current American culture. It highlights how the now upper class Irish of America have taken it upon themselves to assert not only the bigamist attitudes of St. Patrick, but to be a part of the fist of society keeping the modern day 'Irish Immigrants' down.
Today, on the streets of most cities around America, you will see people wearing flags with painted faces, screaming for love of their heritage. There will be brawls, most likely, for alcohol will be involved in copious amounts: That is after all the point of this day here in America.
St. Patrick's Day, a day of fun. The point of the day is to get raucously drunk on extremely shitty Green Beer, assert your heritage as superior for but one day, use your heritage (or the honoring of a heritage that you do not acknowledge as your own) as an excuse to waste as much money as possibly on extending an inebriated state. You are encouraged to vomit in public, it's practically a badge of honor, and the more civil unrest you cause the better. Take to the streets in the middle of the night yelling *"FUCK YOU I'M IRISH! BAHAHAHA"* , then throw your empty beer can at a homeless man, or just on the ground, because Fuck Everyone: You're Irish. Most don't know the speculative history behind the holiday, and if they do, they chant whole heartedly, "Fuck the Pagans!", if only so their fun isn't ruined, their Idol for the day tarnished, despite how they sound like braying mules.
Is this holiday anything more than history itself being defiled by commercialism, here in America?
A very prideful day indeed, for the Irish, here in America.
here is not used to raise moral, or rally the Irish against oppressors. It is used as an excuse to get drunk, a reason to spend money, and potentially worst of all it is used as a manipulative tool, leading the Irish away from their true heritage and turning them into the monsters they have been oppressed by for so long.
Some links:
- (1) http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2012/03/saint-patrick-druids-snakes-and-popular-myths.html
- A wonderful read about the associations of Snakes and Pagans, as well as the historical and heritage-wise importance of St. Patrick's Day to the Irish
- (2) http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2000/03/st_patrick.html
- "No snakes, no shamrocks, just the facts"
- (3) http://www.udel.edu/soe/deal/IrishImmigrationFacts.html
- Facts about Irish Emigration to America.
Thank you!
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