Recently I've been thinking far too much. That's what happens when you're laid up on the couch for a few days on painkillers after a right side inguinal hernia repair. There have been a few paradigm shifts in my attitude towards life, towards other people, and towards sweaters, coffee, girls, flirting, careers, parenthood, illegal drug abuse, and many other things. One thing I remembered today, however, was that England is terrible.
England, in my mind, has always had some lovely country side, some lovely musicians, lovely ladies, and on occasion, a few interesting things. However, I will always remember my good friend Dennis Tierney's pin on a hat of his that read "KEEP ENGLAND OUT OF IRELAND" and how that always made me proud. Like most Irishmen, I'm proud of being one; I love my heritage and can't stand those who would dare oppress it. Today, I was reminded of how much England sucks by a few lists of injustices carried out in the last millennium.
I can't stand unjust oppression of people. You know, Johnathan Swift made some lovely satire in his day. That Modest Proposal was hilarious and seemed practically logical to me. You might as well eat the young if you're going to live like the people of Eire back in the day. I was told today about how Johnathan Swift hated his homeland, hated England, and I don't blame him. When people are exposed to such horror and oppression, the socioeconomic influence of all of that psychologically effects generation upon generation not only by nurture but when one person lives their life without joy, that effects brain chemicals and that effects offspring and the whole nation grows up depressed.
Today we see less of this. I say we see less of it because it happens, but we tend to avoid dealing with it. In the world there are millions of people fighting to eat and fighting to breathe and most of it could probably be helped by their own governments whose leaders don't really give a rat's ass about the people. So yeah, I just try and live my life the way I can and ignore it because I'm pretty apathetic.
I don't have any big solutions. I don't want you to go protest. I don't want you to go give to charity, although that would be sweet of you to do so. I don't hate Robert Mugabe and the Janjaweed. I didn't cry for the Tsunami victims, all two-hundred-thousand of them, in 2006. I cannot stand English people's attitudes about the Irish though.
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ReplyDeleteLiam-
ReplyDeleteFirst of all- you MUST keep your posts on this blog school appropriate!!! No cursing or discussion of illegal drugs, please!
I like where you started with this, but your general statements (such as, "England sucks") surprised me very much. You know as well as I do that generalizations of an entire nation of people are very dangerous, and are, in fact, what lead to oppression in the first place. It is important to see people as individuals, not as components of a larger stereotype. It is very possible to discuss injustice without being a bit unjust yourself ;-).
For future connections, make your issue a little clearer (I think it was the injustice of England toward Ireland- but it was a little muddy) and your literary connection a bit more developed. Also, the societal connection needs to be a bit more specific. Remember, informal means you can use "I" and stream-of-consciousness- but you still need a cohesive, well-written piece.
Your opinion, although, was very strong and clear! ;-)