The Irish in the First World War - Guest speaker Kevin Myers

Del.Monte

Kevin Myers is a well known Journalist, historian and autobiographer with a particular interest in the First World War. He has done much to revive and sustain the memory of those Irishmen who died in that bloody conflict, and this he did at a time when it was not popular to do so. His perspective is sometimes controversial but always accurate and thought provoking and it is always a pleasure to hear him speak.

Martin Staunton works as Senior Finance Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Budapest. He was educated at Blackrock College and at UCD. Martin has a profound interest in history with particular emphasis on the First World War. He is a foremost authority on the campaigns and personnel of the Royal Munster Fusiliers and has spent many years collecting data on the regiment.

www.msoi.eu

enfield

A gentleman and a scholar, who really knows his subject.

Peregrinus

Which one of them is the gentleman, and which the scholar?

BalcombeSt4

The gentlemen, the self-drescribed anti-Semite, "Africa has giving nothing to world but aids." well excepet all their natural recsources the Western powers during the race for Africa & right up to today stole & steal. Has nothing but contempt for Irish people because not enough (even though a big lot turn out) to WW1 comemorations.

I really do hate seeing anyone lose their jobs but this vindictaive, evil little man should have been fired 15 years ago, it was the only time I felt joy at someone getting fired.

whisky_galore

Hope the keyboard is ok after the vicious hammering it got there.

pedroeibar1

I’d bet that poor old Balcomb has never been to Africa. In the corruption stakes of today, after decades of self-rule, Sub-Saharan Africa is the most corrupt region in the world with its countries averaging just 32 points out of 100 (using Transparency International’s guidelines). It is followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia (with an average score of 35 points) and the Middle East and North Africa (39 points).
Does he really believe that the DRC is really democratic or a republic?
I wonder does he know the old joke ‘Where is the capital of Nigeria?’
Answer : In a Swiss bank account’.

BalcombeSt4

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

I’d bet that poor old Balcomb has never been to Africa. In the corruption stakes of today, after decades of self-rule, Sub-Saharan Africa is the most corrupt region in the world with its countries averaging just 32 points out of 100 (using Transparency International’s guidelines). It is followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia (with an average score of 35 points) and the Middle East and North Africa (39 points).
Does he really believe that the DRC is really democratic or a republic?
I wonder does he know the old joke ‘Where is the capital of Nigeria?’
Answer : In a Swiss bank account’.

What does this have to do with anything? Everybody knows Nigeria is the most corrupt country in the world (probably).
It probably doesn't help that the US & the rest of the West prop up these dictators & then sell them weapons to keep down their own people because the arms trade as we all know is highly profitable. You get your hand chopped off for robbing bread in Riyadh, but hey, those are our kind of exremtists.

Anyway it' not like we can point to many fingers, after all we did invent cronyism.

Franz Von Peppercorn

BalcombeSt4 wrote: »

Anyway it's like we can point to many fingers, after all we did invent cronyism.

What now? The Irish invented cronyism? A defence of Africa marred by a general attack on paddy has left this argument in moral tatters.

donaghs

BalcombeSt4 wrote: »

The gentlemen, the self-drescribed anti-Semite, "Africa has giving nothing to world but aids." well excepet all their natural recsources the Western powers during the race for Africa & right up to today stole & steal. Has nothing but contempt for Irish people because not enough (even though a big lot turn out) to WW1 comemorations.

I really do hate seeing anyone lose their jobs but this vindictaive, evil little man should have been fired 15 years ago, it was the only time I felt joy at someone getting fired.

Myers has written plenty of clumsy controversy generating journalism. But to address your points, he claims he didnt use that exact phrase in his article (AIDS), it was added as a headline by editorial staff. I don't believe he ever described himself as an anti-semite either. You are either referring to his article about Jewish people being good at negotiating salaries? Or his "holocaust denial" semantics about how not all the "holocaust" victims were burned. Ridiculous stuff, but not quite as you portray it.

Africa, generally speaking, has among post-colonial societies, has had far more failures when compared with other countries and regions. e.g. Asian former colonies. The question of "how to get out of this mess", should always be of more importance than "how did we get into this mess?" ("who did this to us?" etc).

Maybe don't go to hear him speak if you don't like him.

BalcombeSt4

whisky_galore wrote: »

Hope the keyboard is ok after the vicious hammering it got there.

Well one of the Alt keys is gone missing but I have two Alt Keys so who cares.
And I didn't even move on to his "Little Bastards" or "The Black & Tans legacy has been ruined by lazy people." articles.

It's funny seeing him described as a Journalist & Historian, when he actually is a Propagandist, a very good Propagandist, like the Irish Goebbels (who I'm sure he'd have a lot in common with).
I remember Myers wrote an article about Irish people in Ireland during WW2 supporting the Germans (never misses a chance to have a go at Ireland, as he wishes he was born in Belgravia) like dock workers giving German U-Boats fish & fags & **** like that & that the majority of the country supported Germany, I'm not sure how he knew that, but Myers probably would have been part of the German supporting majority.

Fintan O'Toole, who I also sometimes throw into that Lib-Con Dublin Metropolitan elite with the likes of Cusack & Dunphy, O'Toole wrote a great article about why Myers was actually fired, he was fired for the anti-Jewish stuff, which wasn't that bad compared to his attacks on the BBC radio people (forget their names) as women, it is a whole lot more acceptable to slam women, than Jewish people, and that's the mistake Myers made, he's usually very careful about who he bullies, single mothers, starving Africans living in poverty, refugess, Palestinians, dead Republicans basically anyone with out a voice to fight back, which is what a bully does, and he is a bully, but luckily Jewish people can defend themselves and they called him out on his bullshiiiit & using hyperbole every senetence.
The only reason the Jewish Council of Ireland came out in support of him is because he always takes swipes at Palestine & defends Israel.

A good comparison is Ruth Dudley Edwards, has basically the exact same views as Myers, she hates poor people, single mothers, loves Israel, loves Unionist, hates Republicans etc... they should have got married. But she's not a bully, she actually came to the Falls Road and debated with former PIRA Tyrone Commander Tommy McKearney, who took part in the 1980 Hunger Strike lead by Brendan Huges, he lost 3 brothers, one was blown up in 1973, on was killed at Loughgall & the only brother who was not in the IRA was shot by the UVF in 1992 along with his uncle. She also debated George Galloway & Gerry Kelly, for people who don't know Gerry Kelly bombed the Old Bailey in 1973 & lead the 1983 Maze mass escape & set up an ASU in the Netherlands, that killed 3 British RAF men. So RDE will at least sit down & debate with these people she roats but Myers couldn't do that because he's a bully.

Del.Monte

@ BalcombeSt4

Will you be going?

pedroeibar1

When the forum is quiet I think the guys at Boards want to kick-start it. They then write a load of old s#ite and post it under an alias to get a discussion going. I cannot believe that this country, bad an all as it is, can ordinarily contain writers of such twisted waffle.

whisky_galore

I'm not even going to waste my time responding to pub republican one-trick ponies. It's getting boring at this stage.

riffmongous

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

When the forum is quiet I think the guys at Boards want to kick-start it. They then write a load of old s#ite and post it under an alias to get a discussion going. I cannot believe that this country, bad an all as it is, can ordinarily contain writers of such twisted waffle.

Mod: If you disagree with a post you can reply to it, if you have a problem with a post report it and cut out the snarkiness.

riffmongous

BalcombeSt4 wrote: »

Well one of the Alt keys is gone missing but I have two Alt Keys so who cares.
And I didn't even move on to his "Little Bastards" or "The Black & Tans legacy has been ruined by lazy people." articles.

It's funny seeing him described as a Journalist & Historian, when he actually is a Propagandist, a very good Propagandist, like the Irish Goebbels (who I'm sure he'd have a lot in common with).
I remember Myers wrote an article about Irish people in Ireland during WW2 supporting the Germans (never misses a chance to have a go at Ireland, as he wishes he was born in Belgravia) like dock workers giving German U-Boats fish & fags & **** like that & that the majority of the country supported Germany, I'm not sure how he knew that, but Myers probably would have been part of the German supporting majority.

Fintan O'Toole, who I also sometimes throw into that Lib-Con Dublin Metropolitan elite with the likes of Cusack & Dunphy, O'Toole wrote a great article about why Myers was actually fired, he was fired for the anti-Jewish stuff, which wasn't that bad compared to his attacks on the BBC radio people (forget their names) as women, it is a whole lot more acceptable to slam women, than Jewish people, and that's the mistake Myers made, he's usually very careful about who he bullies, single mothers, starving Africans living in poverty, refugess, Palestinians, dead Republicans basically anyone with out a voice to fight back, which is what a bully does, and he is a bully, but luckily Jewish people can defend themselves and they called him out on his bullshiiiit & using hyperbole every senetence.
The only reason the Jewish Council of Ireland came out in support of him is because he always takes swipes at Palestine & defends Israel.

A good comparison is Ruth Dudley Edwards, has basically the exact same views as Myers, she hates poor people, single mothers, loves Israel, loves Unionist, hates Republicans etc... they should have got married. But she's not a bully, she actually came to the Falls Road and debated with former PIRA Tyrone Commander Tommy McKearney, who took part in the 1980 Hunger Strike lead by Brendan Huges, he lost 3 brothers, one was blown up in 1973, on was killed at Loughgall & the only brother who was not in the IRA was shot by the UVF in 1992 along with his uncle. She also debated George Galloway & Gerry Kelly, for people who don't know Gerry Kelly bombed the Old Bailey in 1973 & lead the 1983 Maze mass escape & set up an ASU in the Netherlands, that killed 3 British RAF men. So RDE will at least sit down & debate with these people she roats but Myers couldn't do that because he's a bully.

Mod: You need to tone down your posting style if you are to keep posting here BalcombeStr, it is needlessly aggressive.

steddyeddy

I think I've seen Martin talk before. I went to an event organised by UCD's Law Society dealing with the Irishmen who fought in WW1 and 2. It was a serious and very interesting discussion about the bravery those men exhibited throughout intense hardships. The talk featured Irishmen who rose through the ranks in WW2 and one who even served as a prisoner of war. As I say it was an extremely interesting piece of history that needs more exposure in Ireland.

Saying that, why in god's name are they involving a contrarian like Kevin Myers in it. This is a man whose life's work involved getting a rise out of people. His Africa article belied the fact he's definitely not an historian. Africa gave us humanity, Maghreb (North African region that gave us the Moors), Moorish Spain, Moorish Sicily, Egypt and a ton of rare Earth minerals. It completely diminishes the memory of the dead to have them Represented by a modern shock jock.

BalcombeSt4

steddyeddy wrote: »

I think I've seen Martin talk before. I went to an event organised by UCD's Law Society dealing with the Irishmen who fought in WW1 and 2. It was a serious and very interesting discussion about the bravery those men exhibited throughout intense hardships. The talk featured Irishmen who rose through the ranks in WW2 and one who even served as a prisoner of war. As I say it was an extremely interesting piece of history that needs more exposure in Ireland.

Saying that, why in god's name are they involving a contrarian like Kevin Myers in it. This is a man whose life's work involved getting a rise out of people. His Africa article belied the fact he's definitely not an historian. Africa gave us humanity, Maghreb (North African region that gave us the Moors), Moorish Spain, Moorish Sicily, Egypt and a ton of rare Earth minerals. It completely diminishes the memory of the dead to have them Represented by a modern shock jock.

Thank you, finally some sanity in the thread. You're right he's not a historian he's a right-wing (pretty far right at that) propagandist.

He's a terrific article Fintan wrote (who I'm no huge fan of either but he's 100% spot on here) after Myers got sacked for the now infamous article he wrote, although he wrote plenty of others that should have got him sacked..

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-kevin-myers-broke-the-only-rule-that-matters-1.3172618

Here's a small part of the article.

Myers’s problem, though, is that this stuff is everywhere now. It is no longer contrarian: the president of the United States spouts it. Far-right rhetoric runs on automatic pilot. You don’t have to think about it. And it is obvious that Myers didn’t and nor did his editors. It was just standard-issue bile. Even those who trade in it are bored by it.


But they failed to notice they were sleepwalking across a line. They broke the only rule that matters – don’t pick on people who can answer back. Jewish people have learned from the most abysmal experiences to be alert to the tropes of anti-Semitism and to call them out when they see them. It’s a matter of survival. Myers was probably half asleep and wholly bored when he threw in some of those tropes to try to enliven the corpse of a moribund column. He woke up out in the cold he has so long pretended to enjoy inhabiting.

Like Fintan points out Myers likes to take on people with no power, Africans who have aids, poor Africans, poor Irish people, single mothers, Muslims etc... I also remember a strange article he wrote were he praised the SS for being "brave soldiers" & that the IRA(Old IRA) were not brave because they relied on using ambushes like Tom Barry. Even tho Tom Barry was an Irishman in WW1 which Kevin usually loves, I think it's safe to say Kevin hasn't got a good graspe on the basics of Guerrilla Warfare.
The VC used ambushes against the Americans & they were some of the bravest soldiers in history.

Anyway as for the Irishmen in WW's I actually think the Irishmen who fought in Spain (for the elected government) & WW2 actually deserve more praise than the WW1 soldiers.

pedroeibar1

BalcombeSt4 wrote: »

Thank you, finally some sanity in the thread. You're right he's not a historian he's a right-wing (pretty far right at that) propagandist.

He's a terrific article Fintan wrote (who I'm no huge fan of either but he's 100% spot on here) after Myers got sacked for the now infamous article he wrote, although he wrote plenty of others that should have got him sacked..

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-kevin-myers-broke-the-only-rule-that-matters-1.3172618

Here's a small part of the article.

[ ]

Like Fintan points out Myers likes to take on people with no power, Africans who have aids, poor Africans, poor Irish people, single mothers, Muslims etc... I also remember a strange article he wrote were he praised the SS for being "brave soldiers" & that the IRA(Old IRA) were not brave because they relied on using ambushes like Tom Barry. Even tho Tom Barry was an Irishman in WW1 which Kevin usually loves, I think it's safe to say Kevin hasn't got a good graspe on the basics of Guerrilla Warfare.
The VC used ambushes against the Americans & they were some of the bravest soldiers in history.

Anyway as for the Irishmen in WW's I actually think the Irishmen who fought in Spain (for the elected government) & WW2 actually deserve more praise than the WW1 soldiers.

Why do you bother posting uninformed, factually incorrect and plain silly statements? Asserting that Myers said ‘the Waffen SS were brave soldiers’ and then using it as the basis for an attack on him is wrong when he did not say the words and stupid when the difference between bravery and ethics / morality are not understood. The ill-informed un-read love attributing phrases like that because they provide a platform from which to spout nonsense.

Myers views on the Waffen SS were an aside in his ‘An Irishman’s Diary’ on Feb 5, 2000 when he was commenting on boycotting Austria.

……. the Waffen SS, loathe them as I do, were nonetheless perhaps the best soldiers the world has ever seen……………Yes, its einsatzgruppen were the butchers of East European Jewry, and the Totenkopfverban de - Death's Head Band, who were largely despised by other sections of the SS - ran the concentration camps. But for the most part, the Waffen SS - waffen means "armed", as in "weapon" - was a corps d'elite unique in war. It remained aloof from and disdainful of the concentration camp thugs. Even when, under an order from Himmler in 1941, all the various arms of the SS were to be amalgamated, the einsatzgruppen remained separate from the main body of the fighting SS…………The SS were not gentleman, and some were responsible for dreadful atrocities. That doesn't mean they all were. Is this not the way of war?

Get your facts right, that is what most people here want. Your unresearched opinions are dull and boring.