Comments | thejscheck: regarding st. pat's and american exceptionalism (and rampant maudlinism)

thejscheck

regarding st. pat's and american exceptionalism (and rampant maudlinism)

Mar 17, 2010 04:15

as many of you know, st. patrick's day is quite my thing. i've asserted for years it's a uniquely american event with deep affect on me and mine, a day i consider much more resonant within the national id than, say, the fourth of july. maybe that's a stretch, or a function of vestigial ethnic enclavery ("hailing from the northeast") knee-jerking ( Read more... )

Comments 3

lavagabonde84 March 18 2010, 01:25:55 UTC

Does everyone really measure their success against the Irish?
Also, what do you mean by our mongrel beast of a culture?

I got into an argument with some nitwit who was saying how Ireland doesn't want to distinguish itself from the UK. If shes right its only a very small portion.

I also registered on Ancestry.com and found a heck of a lot of info there. Lots of Irishness everywhere! (Scottish and British on my dad's side, too. I cant say it doesn't feel awesome tracking a relative all the way back to their journey on the Abigail from Middlesex to Jamestown, VA, 1666.)

thejscheck March 18 2010, 05:02:53 UTC

oh, i doubt many remaining enclaves would say "look to the irish," since the irish waves have almost passed out of living memory, but i think if you could ask central and southern european immigrants between 1880 and 1920, they'd point to the previous wave as the model to emulate.

mongrel because we're wonderfully from everywhere, beast because i see eastern european kids rapping, brits and aussies singing country, and koreans playing baseball.

btw, 1666 was the last big plague year (and london fire). a lot of folks fled then (and plenty of religious types took the last three digits of that year a bit too seriously).

lavagabonde84 March 18 2010, 08:21:28 UTC

Oh you meant it in a positive way, gotcha. I was confused. Its nice to hear someone proud of the place in which he lives. You're very patriotic, but not in the cheesy "watch me wave the flag" way.

He started a tobacco plantation: John Browning. Tried to see if I was in any way related to the poet and the poetess (barret browning) but cant seem to connect it. (in regards to my ancestors)

But thats why I love The New World. Whenever I watch the skinny rotten-toothed foul-mouthed Brit spit obscenities at Pochahantas I say, "hey great great great great great great Uncle John!"

PS-Wozyneck came in the mail yesterday. Klaus Kinski looks intense.