Comments on: St. Patrick’s Day: A Shameful History

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:51:56 +0000

@an actual Irishman- so if he were Irish, then it’d be ok? I’m 25% Irish so is it ok if I leave this comment under 140 characters?

By: Lauren

Lauren — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:35:17 +0000

Dan Quayle! Haha. I had ALMOST forgotten about that! Nice catch Jason. Kevin, great post.
I’m not Irish at all(more like Polish, Dutch and Russian), but my fiance is 95%…I have learned so much about Ireland and your history, culture and traditions. He feels the same way you do about St. Patrick’s Day; too much mainstream garbage to bother even trying to celebrate it the “right” way.

By: Jason Miller

Jason Miller — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:14:33 +0000

I didn’t realized that Dan Quayle was an actual irishman.

By: Kevin Marshall

Kevin Marshall — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:17:39 +0000

What? Too soon?

By the way, the 19th Century called; they want their comically overstated self-righteousness back.

By: an actual irishman

an actual irishman — Mon, 03 May 2010 12:59:19 +0000

your article disgusts me particularly your mocking of the potatoe famine, to say we’d rather die then eat anything else is a shocking and disturbed statement, the simple fact is that there was nothing else. you are not irish, never make any such claim.

By: jack

jack — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:42:06 +0000

I just took the dogs out for a walk and saw a group that was bar hopping that included 2 latinos in green t-shirts and an asian girl dressed like a leprechaun. Yeah i think its pretty safe to say that people have lost sight of this holiday. The only thing better is when i see people who i know are atheists mainly b/c of their disdain for organized religion out “celebrating” st. patricks day.

By: Ski

Ski — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:44:27 +0000

I used to actually boycott St. Patrick’s Day. Then I learned that a lot of old friends were coming to visit their families on parade weekend, so I’ve turned it into a reunion weekend. Still, what every one is saying about downtown Albany? Completely true. What a mess that was, we’re never going to bring the niece down there again. We actually watched a guy try a choke some one, who was too drunk to defend himself.

Don’t get me wrong, I love beer. I love how the Irish love beer. But have you ever been to a real Irish pub? (You don’t need to go to Ireland to find it) It’s a bunch of pale people, with half drained pints, talking the night away. No one is chugging their beer, there’s no such thing as an ‘Irish Car Bomb’ (at least not in the sense we know it as). It’s all talk and storytelling.

When we get to the stereotype of “Irish being alcoholics,” well. Yes. That’s a very sad, sad part of our history, one we can’t ignore. Some of it is unlucky genetics, but really it comes from the ‘No Irish Need Apply’ days. These unemployeed Irish Catholics, with a million kids at home, could only spend the day at the pub. When they came home, they took the frustrations of unemployment out on their wives. This is a thing we shouldn’t forget, but we shouldn’t glorify it either.

Albany is incredible for Irish history (and our German history too!) and it’s a shame that no one looks into it further, particularly when we have so many living scholars who can share their knowledge with us.

One note: Be careful with treatment of the potato famine! The potato is not indigenous to Ireland, it only one type of potato was imported by Spain. The English were exporting all of the other goods, such as grain, so the Irish had no choice but to consume potato. The potato blight only hit that specific potato breed that year, and it wasn’t just in Ireland. The blight hit all over the world. Other countries just had the option of going, “Oh. Bad crop. Let’s eat another potato.” The Irish weren’t so lucky. The English, instead of providing assistance, continued to export the grain. If you were lucky enough to live on the coast, you could fish. But every one else, as we know, starved.

…even after all that, the Irish love their ‘taters. I met some off-the-boat Irish who got all excited that some one brought potatos for a BBQ. I said, “Don’t you think you’d be sort of mad at the potato?” To which they gasped, glared at me, and said “It wasn’t the potatos fault.”

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:44:03 +0000

I’m jealous. People tend to get nervous whenever we Germans have a parade. It also gets pretty awkward when you start screaming “FOR ZA FOSSERLAND!” when you’re not German or in Germany.

By: ezzykeegan

ezzykeegan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:40:41 +0000

I am equally disgusted with the celebration of St. Pat’s day but I find you all to be a bit off the mark. Although St. Patrick is the Pope’s appointed Patron Saint of Ireland but he also committed genocide (yes you heard me) against our Irish ancestors. How did Ireland become Catholic? St. Patrick killed everyone who refused to convert (i.e. chasing the snakes out of Ireland). Under English rule the Irish also lost their language and were some of the first subjugated people in the world to be forced to convert from subsistence agriculture to cash crops (i.e. potatoes). It was in fact English rule that led to the potatoe famine and the refusal of English government and landlords to allow anything else to be planted in Ireland that caused such massive starvation. Not the refusal of the Irish to plant anything else.
The celebration of St. Patrick’s day as we all know it in the states was never an Irish holiday. Most christians seriously observed Lent back in the day meaning they fasted from sun up till sun down from Fat Tuesday to Easter Sunday. The Pope excused the Irish and their ancestors from fasting during lent after over a million people starved to death in Ireland during the potatoe famine. He figured they went hungry enough. At the time the US was the only area of the world where several christian cultures were mixed together in one big pot. People began to notice that the Irish kept on eating, drinking, and dancing all through Lent while they went hungry and prayed. St. Patrick’s observance day fell right in the middle of Lent and so people began observing St. Patrick’s day as a break from Lent. A time where they could “party like the Irish” meaning eat all day, drink, and dance. Celebrating St. Patrick in Ireland is really no different than celebrating any other Catholic Saint.
I am also equally disgusted with how the Irish are now portrayed on St. Pat’s day. I will not attend the parade in Albany. This year although I avoided the parade @ all costs I was not able to avoid the nonsense that ensues as a result of said parade and everyone’s misconseption that celebrating St. Patrick’s Day is an excuse to become completely beligerant. My neighbors & Albany home owners were jumped by 5 male college students because they calmly asked to leave them to leave their property after breaking a window. There were students randomly passed out on the side walk outside of my home. A drunk girl walked into another neighbor’s home w/out permission, harrassed her children who were home alone at the time, and refused to leave.

By: Actually, I'm Polish

Actually, I'm Polish — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:30:25 +0000

Or as I like to say, “I’m not Irish, kiss me anyway!”