Wednesday, February 08, 2006

The Irish Support The Danes

At least two that I know of do.

Seamus, a commenter on Theodore Dalrymple Looks at Old Europe left some remarks about (the Republic of) Ireland’s good fortune in not having followed the EU down its socialist, statist dark hole. Of course, he has only to look at Northern Ireland to know just how lucky they are in the south. The once-proud rebels of the IRA have deteriorated into a group of common thugs and terrorists who consort with mobsters and Hamas. And the evidence of such allegiances shows in Northern Ireland’s poor economy and fragile religious peace. But then, who did Northern Ireland have to lead them but the British who so ruinously used them over the centuries. As they would have continued to do to us had we not be strong enough, and far away enough, to break free.

Stolen from Mark HumphrysThe other supporter of the Danes is one of my Dublin cousins, who happens to have a blog (since before there were blogs) and is not only pro-American and libertarian, but he has a veritable wealth of information on libertarian and freedomist topics. I suggest you visit the website’s home page to see what’s on offer. There is always some enlightening essay.

Today I went to his Moderate Islam page. As is usually the case, he has lots of links to pertinent sub-topics, but I’ll give you a flavor of his content and style:

For me, Islamic fundamentalism is under siege in its home countries, and will eventually lose out to democracy and freedom. The idea that Islamic fundamentalist immigrants could come to the West and eventually threaten our freedoms I find a bit far-fetched.

My instinct is totally pro-immigration, for many reasons:

I believe human rights and western freedoms are universal, and all races can participate.

Around the world, millions of people who live in tyrannies long for freedom and democracy. We have a duty to give pro-democracy activists, anti-communist dissidents, anti-Islamist dissidents and western freedom-lovers a haven. The west is the natural place for them to set up their opposition parties, newspapers, websites and governments-in-exile, which we should support.

We have a duty to give a haven to people fleeing genocide and persecution.

I believe free movement of people, like free trade, is good for the economy. Skilled people move where the work is. Attempts to stop this are like protectionism, and restrict the economy.

I despise anti-immigration movements that are based on ethnic purity. Some of the paleo-conservatives seem to be in or near this territory. I think the desire for ethnic purity is one of the single worst ideas in human history. My country, the Republic of Ireland, is far too ethnically pure already, having lost most of its ancient Protestant and Anglo-Irish population. In general, ethnic purity is a sign of failure. Immigration is a sign of success.

Having said all that, there is one troubling issue:

How about letting in people who hate you and threaten you? To oppose immigration per se (or be against all immigrants once they are in) seems racist to me. But the western left ignores the fact that immigrants may hate western freedoms, and want to end them, and force their primitive, barbarous ideas on me. Obviously, not all immigrants have been threatening like this, so we must be careful to focus on the ones who have issued such threats. At the moment this category consists almost entirely of Islamists who openly want to destroy our freedom and some day set up sharia law in Europe.

My response to the existence of such appalling people is as follows:

Let in freedom-lovers, exclude freedom-haters. - Yes, I agree that people who hate western freedoms should not be allowed in. Islamist activists should not be let in, even if they are being persecuted. West-haters can be hard to identify on arrival, though. You need to be careful that your rules and checks do not exclude democracy-loving Muslims who are fleeing Islamist religious states. These are exactly the people you want to let in.
I've never met Mark, or any of my Irish relatives. My mother was born in Dublin, and my father was born in Limerick. But the tales of my family are too sad to carry back and forth across the Atlantic. So I know my cousin only through his work, which I much admire.

For sure all my libertarian friends will find his intellectual leanings congenial. Perhaps they could visit Dublin University and chat him up while they're busy dropping tourist dollars on Eire.

Oh...by the way, what Mark said about "racial purity" is spot on. When I married the Baron, my mother remarked dryly that it was about time we widened the genetic pool. He's Anglo-Saxo-German-French with a bit of Scots-Irish thrown in for good measure.

6 comments:

SC&A said...

That is one great site. I can't even imagine the work that went into that.

He's probably a programmer with tons of time on his hands....

Dymphna said...

Oh, heavens, I do hope he reads your comment, Sigcarl. I think he has a bunch of children and he teaches full time at Dublin U. ""Time on his hands"?? Noooo...

But he's been up and running on that site for more than 10 years and he teaches I.T. so it's a busman's holiday.

I only ran across his place because I was googling for info on my political granfather's work on bringing the film industry to Ireland when lo and behold! I stumbled across the wedding picture of my grandmother, his wife..on Mark's blog. Jaw-dropping moment.

I'd love to meet him but I've spent more time on the couch than Woody Allen and I've not yet solved the pain of even the idea of visiting Ireland.

That's a trip for the next life, I'm afraid.

Dymphna said...

BTW, the Baron says you're doing a "Scream"-themed post and I should go over and steal it and hat tip you.

SC&A said...

I was kidding, re the programming remark, of course.

The site really is terrific.

You look great in a crown. Just remember, a crown that's too tight causes headaches. For you and others.

Stop me, please...

Dymphna said...

That crown is there because that's teh only statue of Dymphna extant. So kitschy.

There are some iconic images, one of which i like but I couldn't afford her prices.

I first saw this statue on the fireplace mantle of a psychiatrist's consulting room; previous to that my introduction to Dymphna was thru a holy card that fell out of a used book I bought once. On the back was a prayer of petition for those suffering from mental illness. Now how Jungian can you get, huh?

SO I found the statue company on line and ordered D. She sits atop a bookshelf and occasionally offers a bit of murmured sympathy when my psychosomatosis goes into overdrive. Like now.

There's an icon done by a Benedictine that I like, but D. doesn't look Irish -- she looks like she's been living in the desert where this guy abides. Good piece, though.

And then there is a straaaange one that an artist sent me. She dreams these things and draws/paints them. For her, D. looks like a gothic version of Ophelia whose been dragged from the pond with the pieces of vegetation still hanging on her....

So, for now, I'm stuck with the plaster thingie. I wonder if the Baron could photoshop that crown off...

Dymphna said...

go paddy--

It depends on whose IRA you're talking about. The historic one of the Easter Uprising? It had its thugs, too, but in order to wrest land back from the Brits you had to be as thuggish as they...

But it long since devolved into a group that trained with the PLO -- even taught them a few tricks. The IRA did much to destroy Northern Ireland's economy - compare the GDP to that of the Irish Republic.

The only reason the British could ever gain a toehold is because the Irish will hang separately before they'd be caught hanging together.

The definitive book has yet to be written, but the characters of the players are pretty well known by now. Gerry Adams is a gangster and the PIRA have killed many, many innocent people. And for what??

The Provisional IRA have killed more people than any other organisation since the Troubles began. In addition, they have killed more Roman Catholics, more Protestants, more civilians and more foreigners (those not from Northern Ireland) than any other organisation.

According to the CAIN research project at the University of Ulster, the Provisional IRA was responsible for the deaths of 1,706 people during the Troubles up to 2001. This figure represents 48.4 percent of the total fatalities in the conflict. 497 of these casualties were civilians, 638 of the casualties were from the British Army (183 from the Ulster Defence Regiment- a part time local British Army reserve unit) and 455 from other regiments). Another 271 of the casualties were members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Of its victims, 340 were Northern Irish Catholics, 794 were Northern Irish Protestants and 572 were not from Northern Ireland. According to the CAIN statistics, the Provisionals killed 35 loyalist paramilitaries. Another detailed study, Lost Lives (2004. Ed's David McKitrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney, Chris Thornton, David McVea) gives the following figures for people killed by the Provisional IRA up to 2004: 644 civilians, 456 British military, (including British Army, RAF, Royal Navy, and Territorial Army), 273 Royal Ulster Constabulary include RUC reserve, 182 Ulster Defence Regiment 163 Republican paramilitaries – including IRA members - 28 loyalist paramilitaries, 23 Northern Ireland Prison Officers, 7 Gardai or Irish Army 5 British Police (Lost Lives page 1536). Lost Lives therefore concludes that the Provisonal IRA was responsable for a total of 1781 deaths to date. It has also been estimated that the IRA injured 6000 British Army, UDR and RUC and up to 14,000 civilians, during the Troubles (O'Brien p135).


Just google IRA and terrorism. You'll be busy for hours, and it won't be from the "media."

I had family in gaol in the real uprising. My aunt's middle name is Sinn Fein, though I don't think she'd claim it today...when rebellion goes on too long it deteriorates into lawlessness.

As a Southern Irishwoman I don't like the IRA, despite their attempts at PR. They've made too many compromises, and lay down with too many M.E. terrorists.

Lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.