First of all, I could give a rat’s ass whether or not the self-appointed arbiters of what is or is not Irish consider Irish Americans or their culture to be authentically “Irish.” My father was Irish-born, as were almost all my relatives. My mother was Scottish, and I spent my life surrounded by people from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The culture I was raised in certainly seemed more “Irish” to me than a lot of what I see coming from the smug, bigoted and self-important West Brits and smarmy, lace curtain yuppie Dubliner types you often see in these discussions, who usually model their heavily affected behavior and attitudes on a very stereotypical and contrived view of the English upper class they wish to emulate, and not in a way that’s flattering to them or the English.

I should be recognized that the US is a multicultural society, and that Irish Americans have a distinct subculture here that is different than that of Mexican-Americans, Italian-Americans, American Blacks, and other ethnic groups. This culture is derived from Irish culture in much the same way Tejano culture is derived from Mexican culture. And while that culture may not seem authentically “Irish” to you any more than Tejano culture seems authentically Mexican to many people in Mexico, to us, the distinction is still very strong. It has nothing to do with what our ancestors went through 150 years ago, but our sense of ethnic identity today. If Irish Americans are ignorant of Ireland and its history, the Irish have certainly returned the favor.

Particularly galling to most of us Irish Americans is the idea that we all support terrorism, simply because we are critical of British rule in NI, or that we are “uninformed” if we do not agree with the received wisdom about NI from such impeccable sources as the Daily Mail, or the imperialist apologist du jour.

Frequently, these accusations of support for terrorism are near identical in tone to those made by American neocons against anyone critical of Ukamerisrael’s conduct in the Middle East, and equally credible.

It’s kind of funny, but I have lived here almost my whole life and I have yet to meet anybody who supports the IRA or Noraid. But I have read a large number of apocryphal accounts of travelers braving the wilds of Irish America, landing in a “Plastic Paddy” bar somewhere, and being accosted by men with beards carrying plastic leprechaun hats and threatening extreme violence if said traveler doesn’t pony up for Noraid or the IRA. Indeed, it was while researching these stories that I stumbled across your post, keywords being “plastic paddies” and “Noraid.”

But I have never seen such a thing in my entire life nor do I know any other Irish American who has. Apparently, only anti Irish-American bigots with special 3D glasses available only in the UK and Ireland are able to spot these creatures, as they are invisible to the rest of us, which does unfortunately make it rather difficult for those of us who talk about nothing but our hatred of the Brits and our desire to blow things up to contribute to the cause.

Either that or it’s an urban myth. My vote is for the latter.

I don’t doubt there are Irish Americans who contribute to Noraid, obviously, but the accusations of fund raising in Irish American bars are mostly if not entirely bullshit.

I have never seen any evidence whatsoever that Noraid supports IRA terrorism. I realize that the US, UK and Irish governments have made this claim, but there is no more evidence to back this claim than there is that many legitimate Muslim charities support Hamas or Al Qaeda. Merely making the claim, and repeating it ad nauseum in as part of the UK government’s traditional efforts to pin blame for the problems in NI on Irish Americans does not make it so. Noraid is a registered charity which is required to file annual statements with the US government and whose finances are heavily scrutinized by the agencies of 3 separate governments. If there was solid evidence of money transfers to the IRA, I should think it would have surfaced and been made public by now, and Noraid would have been shut down by the US government.

The IRA has never enjoyed major support from anybody, and there are smalltown militias in Iraq that are better armed than the IRA was in its heyday. If they really received as much financial support from Irish Americans as is alleged by British propagandists, you would think they would be able to afford something more sophisticated than the Bush league arsenal of home-made mortars and obsolescent Tommy guns they are reported to have had.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/386434.stm

So please, next time you come to my country, please try to become a little better informed about who and what we are and what we believe, spare us the whiny racist propaganda, keep your food snobbery to yourself, grab a few pints of green beer, put on some Enya, and relax.

Yes, Kevin. Now go and finish your Lucky Charms.

Get over it.

The entire day is about immigrants carving out space in America; doesn’t have anything to do with you. Don’t like it? Go to a Thai restaurant for lunch on the 17th.

Cowen and the other Dublin pols before him trooping to Washington are just a backdrop for an American ethnic show – just like the Mexicans who troop up to the White House for Cinco de Mayo a few weeks from now. That’s not to say they don’t pander to the Yanks – like generations of folks before them – looking for favors from “Rome.”

If they don’t want to play the role, they don’t have to.

As an Irish American, I’m tediously accustomed to the Irish claiming affinity with me when they want something from my country, from immigration or trade preferences to my “auld” tourist dollar, and giving me their provincial scorn when I might dare to notice that my grandparents had something vaguely in common with their own.

Stash your scorn and enjoy the local customs, or ignore them.

More relevant to the post: I just received what is perhaps the stupidest greeting card ever. I mean, it’s the thought that counts, but Dear Relative could have just called me on the phone and said hi.

[Cover text]:
On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone’s Irish
Pati O’Chair
Jack O’Lantern
Stere O’Speaker
Steg O’Saurus

[Inside text]:
Hope your St. Patrick’s Day is Plenty O’Fun!

Beautiful! Now, what to do with the Jerusalem artichokes?

Regarding Italians, in some places (Portland OR) Italian-Americans were discriminated against during WWII, with a curfew at least. Oral communication by someone who was there.

I would more favor a grocery organization system based on how the food is used, rather than its biological classification. I would put rape and cabbage near the other greens while I would put the turnips, parsnips and rutabagas by the other root vegetables. Since celeriac is a root vegetable, I would put it near the turnips despite it being from the same plant as celery. They probably wouldn’t be near the onions, potatoes, and sweet potatoes since those are rarely refrigerated. In my local grocery store, the meat section is divided up by animal, so there isn’t a strict poultry vs. other meat divide – they just keep it all separate. Rabbit can probably fit easily in with a system like that.

mollymolly & John:
I had always been under the impression that there were explicit signs, though from the article, it sounds like I’m not the only one who was under that impression. I think that John’s point that even if there weren’t explicit signs doesn’t mean that there wasn’t real discrimination is spot on. I’ve always been amazed when I hear my grandmother’s stories about growing up. She’s half German/half Italian, but she has an Italian last name. She had lost of trouble when she was young because her aunt and uncle (her parents died when she was young) wouldn’t let her date Italians and no Germans would go out with her (though she did manage to get a few dates when she pretended that her last name was Heiser, her mother’s maiden name, but when they found out her real name, the dating always stopped).

Also, when we moved to Oklahoma in the 80s, my family had lots of trouble with the local population which didn’t like either Italians or Catholics, so it’s not hard for me to imagine that the Irish legitimately had it hard in the early 1900s.