St Patrick’s Day? WTF? *
* (what follows is an angry rant, dressed up as a piece on pop culture and the curse of the demon drink**)
** (may also contain references to Obama and yearnings for a glorious past)
When did it become acceptable that “St. Patrick’s Day” was a shorthand for riots, drunkenness, stabbings and bad behaviour that make Halloween look like Christmas Day?
What happened?
Let me make a list from this morning’s news – there were 40 fires, including 22 car fires, all of which were related to “anti-social” behaviour, there were over a dozen stabbings and 200 ambulance call outs…
That’s not all of it – there was a fatal stabbing in Limerick and the Dublin Fire Brigade were called out and attacked in Finglas and Cherry Orchard by gangs of youths throwing rocks and bottles…
Oh, yeah – and my car and the cars of my neighbours got their wing mirrors smashed in, all up and down the quiet road where we live… I got the extra bonus in that the front panel on my car was also kicked in… So, I went to the Gardai… and they said “Ah, sure that’s the night that was in it…”
It’s terribly disheartening to feel like you live in a small, drunken embarrassment of a country – not the land of lyrical poets and high ambition, but a world of cheap cans of cider and a bit of a ruck on the way home…
It’s thrown into sharp contrast by the words of America’s new President, Barrack Obama, who spent an incredible amount of his day, yesterday, in conversation with Brian Cowen and paid a generous, lyrical and moving tribute to the Irish role in American history.
“Irish signatures are on our founding documents, Irish blood has been spilled on our battlefields, Irish sweat went into building our greatest cities, we’re better for their contributions to democracy and we’re richer for their art and their literature, their poetry and their songs,” he said. “Rarely in world history has a nation so small had so large an impact.”
It just makes you wonder, what in God’s name he would think if he ever came here – what have we done to the Ireland of legend? Have we buried it in a bad pastiche of the worst of English yob culture – are we a nation of drunks who demolish culture instead of creating or revering it?
Does it take a visionary President from another country to make us wonder what we are doing?
Or am I just angry about my car?
You’re just angry about your car.
Sweet Jesus, I’m angry about your car - I can only imagine how you feel.
Look, I don’t understand St. Patrick’s Day. Religious aspects aside, it’s a day to celebrate Ireland and being Irish, and yet year after year, it is the day we behave our worst and show ourselves in a very bad light.
The argument that it’s just a minority that are causing the trouble doesn’t wash. These issues are all over the country in abundance - it’s not a small few people causing trouble in a confined area.
I am very fond of the drink and I would never like to blame this behaviour on alcohol. But when people are drinking en masse from the early hours of St. Patrick’s morning, some of the blame must lay with the ‘demon drink’.
The last time I left the house on St Patrick’s day it was to go to work and there were people shit faced at 10 am.
Some use it as an excuse to drink and behave whatever way they want.
It ends up becoming an excuse not to celebrate it at all.
Walking through rural town at 3pm on Sunday, to see the parade (don’t ask about the fact that the parade was on on Sunday, I don’t know either).
Two very drunk lads, staggering down the opposite footpath, singing at the top of their lungs “You’ll never beat the Irish”.
Himself with the kid on his shoulders and without missing a beat “even though you’d really like to”.
You may be angry about your car, but that doesn’t make you wrong.
Yeah I always do my best to avoid the day, it’s so embarrassing. This country is full of knackers.
I think the Irish in Ireland are now ambivilant towards Paddy’s Day. That’s for other people. It’s been many a year since most people I know avoid town because of the madness. Given we don’t really do Hallowe’en and we’re a disaster at New Year’s Eve, the only thing we do really well at all is Christmas.
On an aside, I’m so excited to see you back in the blogosphere Conf. If you’re damaged sidemirror was the means of you coming back, it’s a blessing in disguise, well for me anyway.