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Entry: St. Patrick and All Those Potatoes Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/st_patrick_and_all_those_potatoes#486 Post contents: Mr Henry Barth, Very good points, you made. However (as I suggested in my prior comment), I think today - even if it's an artificial American holiday - it's best to diminish the ancient family feuds between Ireland and England and the Normans and Rome, and to focus on the peculiar kind of Christian light which Ireland has given to the world and to all civilisation. And, I PARTLY disagree with Mr Barth that the English oppression of Ireland was "so-called." Ireland truly WAS oppressed for around 800 years. But the thing is, Ireland was oppressed by native born Irishmen for most of those 800 years, by Irishmen whose feudal powers were derived from England (and France and other parts of Europe.) "The English" never oppressed Ireland; Ireland was oppressed mostly by Irishmen. And most of "The English" were almost equally oppressed - or rather, impoverished, for various reasons - for the past 800 years. The majority of Irish people suffered horribly for the past 800 years. But this has more to do with a combination of the stupid ways of Irish land use and the stupidities and cruelties of the Irish overlords (the working classes and the upper classes of Ireland all contributed to this problem in equal measure), than with any national hostilities or national identities. I am not a "class-warrior." I do not believe that any class is more or less stupid than any other; but on the other hand, I believe all classes are equally stupid, and so I understand how Ireland's suffering had far more to do with the essential human stupidity of Irish people of all classes, than with any class OR national differences. So, on the one hand, I disagree that Ireland's oppression was "so-called." Ireland truly has been a victim, for 800 years. But on the other hand, I do not attribute Ireland's suffering to any class or to any nation. I attribute Ireland's suffering to basic Humans Stupidity, which is the one thing that all classes and all nations have in common. Sent at: 2008 09 06