"I'm Irish"...but what does that mean?

Owwmykneecap · 25-04-2011 05:25AM

Why would anyone have pride about where they came from, it's idiotic, it's no achievement, you might as well be proud to have brown hair or be proud to be 6 foot tall.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 25-04-2011 06:05AM

A nation is society united by a delusion about its ansestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.

WRI

Icarus152 · 25-04-2011 06:13AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

^ i have no accent, loads of people comment on this...posh or middle class is the best description, and most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

I'd say you're missed in the pub.

Icarus152 · 25-04-2011 06:14AM

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

A nation is society united by a delusion about its ansestry and by common hatred of its neighbours.

WRI

Eh,everyone hates the English,not just us.

KeithAFC · 25-04-2011 07:50AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

The national identity eh?....it's like when you go abroad, oh....you're Irish.
What does being Irish mean to you?.....because for me, it's meaningless. Ireland is where i was born, nothing more.

I don't identify with what it means to be Irish, i hate GAA, i don't speak Irish, i don't enjoy the craic or going on the lash.

Hell if i'm honest i identify more with being Martian.

Your a loyalist.

Sunnyisland · 25-04-2011 09:05AM

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. ~Abraham Lincoln

Dionysus · 25-04-2011 10:20AM

Discussing "being Irish" is juvenile. These days it's invariably an exercise in self-hatred and lamentation about how terrible the Irish are and how comparatively sophisticated/nicer/better people from other countries (Britain particularly) are.

It's long past time to grow up. Nobody is forced to be Irish. If you really do not want to be Irish then choose another nationality and change to it legally. If you cannot legally be accepted by your preferred state, then choose another state. Any identity, after all, must be better than being Irish.

It is that simple.

25-04-2011 10:25AM

You're Irish, Richard? I could have sworn you were American.

One of the things I hate is when someone makes a comment about their having no accent. Everybody has an accent- if you have a voice, you have an accent of some form.

suicide_circus · 25-04-2011 10:26AM

If you identify yourself as Irish above all other nationalities and have and affinity or connection to Ireland which supersedes or is equal to your affinity or connection with any other nation, then youre Irish. Plenty of people without an Irish passport are Irish and plenty with one are not.

m@cc@ · 25-04-2011 11:06AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

"I'm Irish"...but what does that mean?

You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!

Kevin Duffy · 25-04-2011 11:19AM

Richard Dower wrote: »

most Irish people i know are arseholes, even the Polish are more polite.

Are you just generally misanthropic, or specifically racist about Poles and Irish?

fryup · 25-04-2011 11:23AM

do you still have to be a catholic to be seen as true-blue irish?

or has that narrowminded notion gone out the window?

JBnaglfar · 25-04-2011 11:34AM

"It never ceases to amuse me how every single Irish person thinks themselves witty just because they were born on the same island as me.”
~ Oscar Wilde on Ireland

Ireland, not to be confused with Iraq, is the boggy, green mound located a fair bit west of Japan and is renowned for its rolling drunks, being a former Soviet republic, green hills, paints and scholars, friendly, 364 days of rainfall each year, unexcused sentimentalism, Luck of the Irish and the turf (ah, the turf). Ireland has been president of the Federation of Nations that hate Britain since 1169. The island of Ireland is split into two parts, Northern Badlands and the Republic of Ireland. Northern Badlands is part of the UK and has been since 1955.

Linky

Diving Board · 25-04-2011 11:43AM

Why do Irish people, particularly on this site, go on about being Irish, and what it means so much. It was just an accident of birth, no more no less. Contrary to what many on here believe, Irish people arent special, they are no better or worse than anyone else. Enough of this who are we navel gazing and maybe try asking questions like where do we want to go as a nation and how do we get there?

Dwellingdweller · 25-04-2011 12:16PM

Owwmykneecap wrote: »

Why would anyone have pride about where they came from, it's idiotic, it's no achievement, you might as well be proud to have brown hair or be proud to be 6 foot tall.

I'm proud to be 6 foot tall!

and I'm also proud to be irish. What does that make me? :pac:

JBnaglfar · 25-04-2011 12:21PM

Diving Board wrote: »

Why do Irish people, particularly on this site, go on about being Irish, and what it means so much.

I don't know but possible answers: Herd mentality. The concept of a national identity provides a sense of togetherness, comfort, maybe even purpose. Postcolonialism and establishment of a national identity go hand in hand.

As a country, this cannot be formed around an easily identifiable commonality. Our native language is fairly marginal, Catholicism (which rightly or wrongly has been associated with Irishness) and the Church have been rocked by scandal and its numbers have fallen - the census will be interesting in this regard. Republicanism can hardly be the thing around which we gather, just look at the debate around Queen Elizabeth's visit. Again, Republicanism seems to be in the margins of Irish society. For fecks sake, the first thing we did after the war of independence was to start the civil war.

You ask where we go as a nation, while questioning the search for identity. Are we just a state, a collection of people united only by the boundaries within which our political and legal systems have infuence? Or, are we a nation with a national identity (or identities)? This does not need to be based on past national identities - we can be Irish without being Anti-Brit for example. It must also take into account that a significant amount of people living in Ireland do not share our history.

I don't know what Irishness is, but it must be based on the present, how we live today, and our vision(s) for the future. Without such an identity, we are merely a collection of individuals and small groups bound together by law. National identity is not about being better or worse than other nations, but recognising the things which make us a society, and what makes us want to be and remain a society.

Tubsandtiles · 25-04-2011 12:32PM

Op men of only eighteen fought and died many years ago yesterday, whenever you get the sudden urge to acclaim your sense of not wanting to be Irish, think of the young lads that willingly gave their life so that you could question too what does it mean to be Irish"

Dudess · 25-04-2011 12:59PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

Your a loyalist.

Don't be silly. Where has he said anything about supporting Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom? Unless you feel loyalism also constitutes looking down on the Irish...?

KeithAFC · 25-04-2011 01:03PM

Dudess wrote: »

Don't be silly. Where has he said anything about supporting Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom? Unless you feel loyalism also constitutes looking down on the Irish...?

Dunno. He could be.

St.Spodo · 25-04-2011 01:09PM

It means you're not English :pac:

Dudess · 25-04-2011 01:16PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

Dunno. He could be.

It would seem you dunno what you're saying a lot of the time.

Dr Bob · 25-04-2011 01:22PM

Dwellingdweller wrote: »

I'm proud to be 6 foot tall! and I'm also proud to be irish. What does that make me? :pac:

..quite tall

KeithAFC · 25-04-2011 01:23PM

Dudess wrote: »

It would seem you dunno what you're saying a lot of the time.

Don't talk nonsense.

Dudess · 25-04-2011 01:33PM

Honestly. It really doesn't appear as if you fully understand much of the rhetoric you spout here. Unless you're deliberately trying to wind people up, but I'm not sure you are.

Logical Fallacy · 25-04-2011 01:36PM

Tubsandtiles wrote: »

Op men of only eighteen fought and died many years ago yesterday, whenever you get the sudden urge to acclaim your sense of not wanting to be Irish, think of the young lads that willingly gave their life so that you could question too what does it mean to be Irish"

The OP didn't say he doesn't want to be Irish.

God job though, for a while this WASN'T a thread that was gonna be taking over by misplaced Republican sentiment.

Wolfe Tone · 25-04-2011 01:39PM

Dudess wrote: »

Honestly. It really doesn't appear as if you fully understand much of the rhetoric you spout here. Unless you're deliberately trying to wind people up, but I'm not sure you are.

Actual loyalist or a very dedicated caricature of one? AH decides!

Sonnenblumen · 25-04-2011 01:39PM

Dionysus wrote: »

Discussing "being Irish" is juvenile. These days it's invariably an exercise in self-hatred and lamentation about how terrible the Irish are and how comparatively sophisticated/nicer/better people from other countries (Britain particularly) are.

It's long past time to grow up. Nobody is forced to be Irish. If you really do not want to be Irish then choose another nationality and change to it legally. If you cannot legally be accepted by your preferred state, then choose another state. Any identity, after all, must be better than being Irish.

It is that simple.

That's some achievement, so much gobblegook in so few words. BTW, are you Irish?

Dudess · 25-04-2011 01:42PM

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

That's some achievement, so much gobblegook in so few words.

Usually when one dismisses something as gobblegook, it looks better for one to provide an outline as to why?

BTW, are you Irish?

BTW, why is that relevant?

Sonnenblumen · 25-04-2011 01:48PM

Dudess wrote: »

Usually when one dismisses something as gobblegook, it looks better for one to provide an outline as to why?

BTW, why is that relevant?

You disagree? Why? Clue in the thread title.:o

el dude · 25-04-2011 01:49PM

Diving Board wrote: »

Why do Irish people, particularly on this site, go on about being Irish, and what it means so much. It was just an accident of birth, no more no less. Contrary to what many on here believe, Irish people arent special, they are no better or worse than anyone else. Enough of this who are we navel gazing and maybe try asking questions like where do we want to go as a nation and how do we get there?

See, i don't think it's like that at all. Not any more anyway, i think in more innocent times it was a bit like that, but with the internet and immigration we see now that we're no different than anyone else. Maybe it's that realisation that has the whole nation depressed? :P It cuts both ways though, we aren't any more patriotic than any other nation. Right now, there's someone, somewhere asking the very same question you've asked, but in a different language.

I wouldn't say i'm proud to be Irish a the notion of taking pride in where you're from is a bit daft really. Any "pride" i take in Ireland would come from Sport, so i guess that makes me more of a fan really.

"I'm Irish"...but what does that mean?

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