Monday, October 22, 2007

The Irish Oikophobes Fly Under the Radar at Notre Dame

Did you know that the University of Notre Dame in South Bend just concluded a week-long symposium on the “new” Ireland? I didn’t either. When a reader sent me some information I was unable to find anything substantive on the web (I don’t think the Irish Daily Mail has a website, but if you know of one, I’d be happy to hear about it).

However, what I have instead is still the real thing, minus a URL. Our reader contacted Dr. Mark Dooley, who was kind enough to send me his editorial.

I am reprinting here in its entirety. Dr. Dooley demonstrates only too well the creeping Marxist rot that plagues academia in the West. I am sad that Ireland has succumbed, but then why should it be exempt from this moral decay? I know the trendy academics like to talk about “deconstructing the text” but all they’re really doing is destroying literature and history and philosophy…

Their work is a kind of decomposition; perhaps when it is entirely done, we can spread the resulting manure on the green, green grass of home.



“WHY THE IRISH LEFT WILL GO AS FAR AS AMERICA TO RUIN A WAY OF LIFE HERE”

By DR. MARK DOOLEY
IRISH DAILY MAIL
October 16, 2007

How would you react if I told you there is a conference entitled: Race and Immigration in the New Ireland, currently being staged at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana? I suspect it wouldn’t bother you too much, would it?

Well, perhaps this might change your mind. The sub-title of the event is: The world accepted the Irish. Will the Irish accept the world?

It is being addressed by Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson, the Minister for Integration, Conor Lenihan, and an array of radical left-wingers from academia, the trade union movement and the immigration industry.

Have I got your attention now?

Joining our esteemed former President in Indiana, is David Begg of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Philip Watt of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, and the Secretary of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland, Ali Selim. Yes, that is the same Ali Selim who last year declared that ‘Sharia law should rule in Ireland in the event of a Muslim majority’.

The conference is, moreover, packed with postcolonial, pseudo-Marxist professors from all the major Irish universities. It is being organised by the Professor of Irish Studies at Notre Dame, Luke Gibbons. Gibbons, a former lecturer at Dublin City University, is a fanatical postmodernist who thinks that Irish identity can and must be debunked.

Apart from Conor Lenihan, there is not a single person on the list of speakers who has cautioned against unlimited immigration into Ireland.

Why wasn’t someone on the other side of the argument asked to give a paper? I for one would have been happy to make the case. As both a journalist and academic, I have repeatedly dealt with the issue of immigration in depth. The reason is simple: I don’t believe Ireland either can or should ‘accept the world’.

Furthermore, why is a conference on race and immigration in Ireland, being conducted in the United States? Once again, the answer is crystal clear: the organisers knew that holding it in Ireland would invite unwelcome attention. [emphasis mine - D]

Voices like mine, as well as those of writers such as Kevin Myers and Mary Ellen Synon, would have demanded balance and serious debate. But in the States, they are shamelessly free to indulge their multicultural delusions without criticism or condemnation.

What this proves, is that Irish academia is in complete denial about the problems we face due to uncontrolled immigration. It shows that on this vital issue, they are intellectually redundant and morally vacuous. It highlights yet again what I have often said in these pages: Irish universities have been hijacked by a bunch of left-wing ideologues, for whom national loyalty is a cardinal sin. Like those on the Titanic, they prefer to party on while the ship slowly sinks.

Yes, the liberal establishment has declared war on the old values that formerly bound the Irish together. They sneer at those ordinary folk who remain faithful to their traditional customs. But have they considered, even for one second, the damage done to working-class communities by our lousy immigration policies? Have they ever asked what will become of this nation if tough integration models are not imposed?
- - - - - - - - -
No, they have not. Why? Because they couldn’t care less. You see, for ideologues like Luke Gibbons, the world is neatly divided between the oppressed and the oppressors.

And who, pray tell, are the oppressors? Are they tyrants like Robert Mugabe, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Colonel Gaddafi? Oh no, according to academic Marxists, such scum are victims of colonial oppression, who bravely liberated their citizens from Western imperialism.

For them, the real oppressors are the great bourgeois democracies of the Western world. Why? Because it is they who invaded and plundered all the rest. The result? We in the West are morally obliged to give unconditional sanctuary to those who show up on our shores.

Utter nonsense. First, post-colonial powers like France and Britain do indeed owe something to their former colonies. But we don’t owe the world anything. Contrary to what those in Indiana contend, the world did not accept the Irish. Britain and America accepted our emigrants, and in return we constructed their cities and seamlessly integrated into their societies.

But we did not go in droves to Africa, the Middle East or Asia. Yes, our missionaries travelled to Africa to educate the destitute and relieve their suffering. But the Irish never sought sanctuary in such places.

So here it is in plain English: Ireland owes Africa nothing. Ireland owes Arabia nothing. Ireland owes Asia nothing.

Why then are we being called on to ‘accept the world’? True, we are obliged to share this state with our neighbours from Eastern Europe. That, however, is where our obligations stop.

But that is not how the postcolonial professor sees it. For him, a nation’s identity is a bourgeois fiction sustained by the ruling elite. As such, it must be unravelled until its false foundations are fatally exposed.

I agree that the idea of a pure Irish identity is a monstrous fabrication. But we are nevertheless bound together by common norms and customs. We are inextricably tied together through a shared history and heritage. We are, in sum, bound by a deep love for this place we call ‘home’.

Those who demand that we unconditionally ‘accept the world’, are what one philosopher calls ‘oikophobes’. ‘Oik’ is the Greek word for ‘home’ or ‘dwelling’. Hence, oikophobia, in contrast to xenophobia, means ‘the repudiation of inheritance or home’.

As George Orwell observed, left-wing intellectuals ‘take their cookery from Paris and their opinions from Moscow’. In other words, they despise their homeland, their common culture and traditions. As such, they are the quintessential oikophobes, whose principal aim is to ‘reinvent Ireland’.

Well, I have news for them: the ordinary people of Ireland will not be reinvented or deconstructed. Yes, the Irish are naturally a charitable people, and will grant hospitality to those that genuinely need it. But, in the end, this is their home, and they have no intention of casually surrendering it to any chancer who comes calling.

When will Irish intellectuals and their political cheerleaders get that message? When will they cease using immigration as a weapon to beat those of us who cherish what is our birthright? When will they stop trying to destroy this country with their mad ideology?

Never. Why? Because for them, creating a ‘new Ireland’ is an article of faith. And if that means trampling over the sensitivities of the silent majority, then so be it.

So no, those currently assembled in Indiana are not morally serious intellectuals. They are, in the words of Orwell, ‘purely negative creatures’ who assume, ‘as though it were a law of nature, the divorce between patriotism and intelligence’.

Had they invited someone with a different view to their shameful shindig, it would not have taken long to disabuse them of that ridiculous assumption. But they didn’t, which is why they now stand condemned as nothing more than condescending cowards.


Who sneak out of the country to have their meetings.

Don’t forget Notre Dame is the school which made a place for Tariq Ramadan to teach. Fortunately, his visa was denied so he had to settle for London instead.
-- D.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Britain and America accepted our emigrants, and in return we constructed their cities and seamlessly integrated into their societies.

Actually, there was a lot of "Irishophobia" in the US initially, as anyone who's seen Gangs of New York remembers. The Irish were thought to be popish, primitive and breeding like rats. Also look what happened to the first (and last?) Irish Catholic president there!

Unknown said...

When I saw the incredible progress Ireland made over the past decades, I knew the liberals would not be far behind. Simply put, liberals ruin everything they touch. When a society begins to enjoy the fruits of its labor, the liberals come out of the woodwork proclaiming how bad society is. They then proceed to ruin it. The ironic thing is, is that liberals can only exist in a successful society, until they destroy it.

Ireland - Don't let the liberal disease ruin everything you have worked for. You owe the world NOTHING!

atheling2 said...

What is it about academia that makes it so stupid and intolerant of dissenting ideas?

R. Hartman said...

Tariq Ramadan was made a place to teach at Erasmus University in Rotterdam as well. All universities have been taken over by the Frankfurter schule.

Hal K said...

Contrary to what those in Indiana contend, the world did not accept the Irish. Britain and America accepted our emigrants, and in return we constructed their cities and seamlessly integrated into their societies.

It seems that Dr. Dooley has still not seen the light. He should realize that a century or two from now the descendents of current immigrants will make up self-serving stories about their ancestors the same way he is doing about Irish ancestors in America, etc. America would have done just fine without the Irish. Note that Hispanics are now saying that they are "building" America. Try telling that to displaced American construction workers.

I agree that the Irish have integrated seamlessly, although too many of them seem to nurture and cherish this sense of grievance over attitudes towards their ancestors 100 or 200 years ago. They will truly see the light when they realize that the attitudes of WASPs and others towards their ancestors were largely justified. The key is to stop immigration now. Then the melting pot can be allowed to work, and more recent immigrant groups will assimilate just like earlier immigrant groups.

Zerosumgame said...

When it comes to immigration, the Irish are actually rather lucky -- the largest group of immigrants are Poles and other Slavs -- white, fair-skinned, blond -- and Catholic -- like the Irish.

Sure beats having to assimilate 200,000 Moroccans, doesn't it?

History Snark said...

@Lauri Olavi: I don't really believe-nor does anyone I know- that Kennedy's murder had anything to do with him being Irish Catholic. But then, being Italian/Polish Catholic myself, maybe there's a different viewpoint. Dymphna, care to weigh in?

**********

As for the rest, the Irish were looked down on when they came over- no question of that. Recall the famous lines, "No dogs or Irishmen allowed" and "No Irish need apply". I recall seeing a book some years back titled (if I recall correctly) "How the Irish became White", claiming that the Blacks and the Irish were lumped into the same general category, and the Irish used Black votes and muscle to gain political power in places like New York and Boston. At which point, according to my understanding, they then of course sold out their allies.

Utter Blarney, IMHO.

All that being said, recall that most immigrants to the US were looked down on and "oppressed" in a vague sort of way. My father came over from Italy as a child in 1936, and it wasn't as if he and his peers were welcomed with open arms. And that was after the wave of Italian immigration had already crested.

Of course, to some extent this fear of immigrants still exists in the US, though now it's because of A) The fear that the ones from the Mideast are hostile to American and Western culture; and B) the fact that the ones from Hispanic lands are coming in illegally and also demanding rights that fly in the face of American tradition.

Finally, recall the movement in the early years of the US of the "Know-Nothings" who were anti-foreigners.

It's simply human nature to resent anybody "different" that comes into your little corner of the world. However, I think the US has traditionally done a pretty good job at assimilating. As long as the immigrant wants to assimilate.

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of something I had to attend today for extra credit. The speaker quoted authors that said the US really wasn't one nation, that it was a current of different peoples or something like that. These professors, it makes you wonder what they would do if any of their "ideas for a better world" came into fruition.

History Snark said...

Matt,

Interesting. Once upon a time (and this is no lie), we were taught that America is "one nation, under God". And there was a really strange concept of it being a "melting pot".

Guess that idea is too patriarchal, racist, bigoted, and whatever other term we can come up with.

Ethnocentric. There's another one.

Sigh.

John Sobieski said...

These people are evil and they come to America to plot the destruction of Ireland and the West. Disturbing that Notre Dame is part of the scheme but then again, Notre Dame had a hissy when the master of taqiya, Ramadan got his visa denied - he was going to set up shop at the Dame and work the naive infidels a good one. One of the few decisions the State Dept. got right.

Mad Fiddler said...

Thank you for bringing this conference to our attention. Sometimes the excrement we have to work with every day numbs the senses, and the deadened nerves only begin to respond to a new stink.

For instance, work around the municipal sewage leeching plant and in the fullness of time, the obnoxious aroma fails to register. But drive home past the hog farm, and your olfactory system will snap to attention. Very wary and panicky attention, but nonetheless...

It’s a sad metaphor.

But it is sobering to see that even the famously independent and stiff-necked Irish (Hey! I’m ONE!) are feeling the grinding bootheel of a NEW oppressor --- THE ACADEMIC LEFT-WING MORONS who have hijacked the Irish Universities!!!!!!!

Jeez - o - Peez! They’re everywhere.

So these sorry rascals are trying to quietly fob off their own trans-national utopian delusions on the Irish population, without giving them any chance to consider their options.

Well, hell, isn’t that EXACTLY what the un-elected and un-accountable bureaucrats of the European Union have been getting away with for the last few decades?????

I for ONE refuse to accept the idea that resistance is futile.

Maybe there is some comfort in considering how the Academic Administrators so conspicuously caved in to the student radicals that took over Columbia University’s offices in 1969. The brave response of the courageous Columbia President was as follows:

“Ooooh, you dangerous radical students, you! Please don’t bust up my office and drink my 69-year-old single malt, and pee in my files and make long-distance calls on my office phone! Hey, look! We’ll set up a whole battalion ... oops I mean, a whole bunch of new programs without grading, no curriculum, no testing, no standards, and trainloads of ranting, spitting, fulminating leftwing turds with advanced degress showing how deeply committed they are to their pathetic loser dogma, AS YOUR PROFESSORS!”

"Er... did I say already... PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

Maybe we just need a new flavor of radicalized and alienated students.

Anonymous said...

Well, this one got past me. The blaggards!

Thanks, Dymphna & Dr. Dooley!

HG

Unknown said...

Ireland couldn't have prevented it. Not without losing face amongst Europe's elites - and no nation is quite prepared to do that yet, is it? (Maybe Switzerland is heading there) Ireland is part of the West so it's inevitable that it will suffer the same fate as the rest of the West.

But it is good thing - we need it to happen. Eventually we'll all be in the same boat - maybe then we can start to communicate properly.

Simon de Montfort said...

In the past 5-6 years, Ireland does seem to have been overrun with Eestern Euros, at least in the cities and larger towns. Northeast Dublin is less Irish every day.

But the immigrants will have to contend with a strong cultural / ethnic identity existing among most Irish people. I was in the center of County Wicklow asking about a relative on my mother's side, an O'Mara, and no one had heard of him. They asked where he came from and I said Tipperary, North Riding, and the answer was usually, "Ah, that's a long way", or "that's too far a distance", etc.

It's about 60-70 miles..........

Profitsbeard said...

The "world" now means Britain and U.S.?

And being driven to starvation and forced off your land into a diaspora, in the British instance, and being openly villified and discriminated against, in the later case, is now considered "welcomed"?

Interesting "thought" processes going on here.

So now Ireland must welcome the "world"?

Logically, that should mean only American and U.K. residents would be allowed to move to Ireland.

And even that should be up to the Irish.

What this Mad Rush to Dissolve is all about has more to do with lunatic theories of "multiculti" fools than anything good for the Irish, or any other people.

I like the Irish, and Ireland, as they are.

I can't see why they want to bow to these "thinkers" who only wish to destroy overnight what it took millennia for the Irish to achieve.

I guess the book "How the Irish Saved Civilization" is now obsolete.

And soon to be banned?

Dymphna said...

Kennedy was killed by a guy who'd just returned from Russia. I read recently that they're finding old KGB files that link Oswald and Russian "orders."
___________

Simon de Monfort-- they pulled a fast one on you. That's the tag line to an old Irish shaggy dog story about the doings of a poor rary. At the end, the punch line is, "ah, that's a long way to tip a rary." [/groan]

I'm an O'Mara. It's me middle name. From the Limerick O'Maras who were lords mayor of Limerick for generations and owned Donnelly Bacon.

Go see Mark Humphrys' blog on on blogroll. Look around till you see his genealogy section...long piece on the O'Maras. Were probably all once the O'Mearas...

The Eastern Europeans won't be the problem in Ireland. It's the M**lims. Africa, mostly.

Dymphna said...

Profitsbeard--

I liked that book. But then I made a study of Coptic/Greek/ME monasticism. There are similarities in the character -- for as outgoing as the Irish are, the monastic life had strong appeal. Still does to some extent.

I also liked "How the Irish Became White" -- very interesting political story. The blacks eventually copied it, but added a layer of resentment and paranoia that has limited their rise.

Bohemian Grover said...

Liberals and respectable conservatives say there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries. The Netherlands and Belgium are more crowded than Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them. Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites. What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries? How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem? I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem? And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this? But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am anaziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews. They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white. Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.”

Post a Comment

All comments are subject to pre-approval by blog admins.

Gates of Vienna's rules about comments require that they be civil, temperate, on-topic, and show decorum. For more information, click here.

Users are asked to limit each comment to about 500 words. If you need to say more, leave a link to your own blog.

Also: long or off-topic comments may be posted on news feed threads.

To add a link in a comment, use this format:
<a href="http://mywebsite.com">My Title</a>

Please do not paste long URLs!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.