Legion Of Doom

The tents have been taken down, the lights extinguished, the farewells exchanged. The circus moves on from Beijing. Its next stop is the Democratic Party convention in Denver, Colorado. Barack Obama is their chosen one, though whether the rest of the United States agrees is another matter.

Colorado is Wild West. On the whole its leanings are Republican, being a frontiers-y place where folks like to hunt and shoot and fish and where the steaks are big and the mountains bigger. The signs at trail heads warn you of bears, coyotes, mountain lions and snakes. They let you know that out there you are responsible for your own welfare and offer a last piece of advice – ‘if attacked, fight back’.
No claims culture there.
What with its railroads and mines it’s no surprise to find a strong Irish connection. Last year when Lady Hog and I checked into the Hotel Delaware in Leadville the guy on reception cheerfully told us he was ‘full-blooded Irish, on both sides’.
Histories of the old mining towns tell of raucous Saturday nights that frequently ended in violence. And when attacked, they fought back!
Ah yes, the Fightin’ Irish. Maybe we’re just like that. Maybe history made us so, a collective grievance carefully nursed and nurtured over generations and easily triggered by drink and depression. But it was often harnessed into military service too, for example in the 1st Regiment Irish Brigade, better known as the ‘Fighting Sixty-ninth’, who went into battle wearing a green sprig in their hats and whose battle cry was ‘Fág an bealach’.
But as well as fight they also built. Among their exploits was the construction of Fort Corcoran – Federal officials estimated it would take a month to build; the Irish did it in a week.
There will be many Irish-Americans among the delegates to both Democratic and Republican conventions. It goes without saying that both Obama and McCain claim Irish blood. The ‘Irish vote’ is still canvassed and still matters.
And in our own courtship of foreign direct investment we have targeted firms with strong Irish roots. It works for us too. And it works because those firms get the same kind of commitment as that shown by the Fightin’ 69th, as they’ll tell you themselves.
Of course, bigger global pressures mean that factories get closed. That’s life. But overall we do well. That’s easily forgotten in the middle of a shitty summer where fresh bad news piles high on top of old bad news. For sure, the next eighteen months are going to hurt.
But just as the Irish have fought their way to the top table and have demonstrated cunning, commitment and a capacity for hard graft, they also have a deeply embedded strain of self-hatred.
Where this comes from is hard to fathom. But by Jaysus it’s there in spades, and it’s been given a right royal airing in the last year or so. Betimes it’s hard to hear a good word for ourselves, or a reason to be cheerful, so pervasive is the rage, bitterness and gloom.
Last Friday I listened to RTÉ’s Drivetime while members of the Commentariat raked over the economy and the Olympics. There wasn’t even a hint of balance, everything was flayed! Sure, the successful Olympic boxers got a brief clap on the back from the haut-bourgeoisie, but then they went to town on the horse that failed a drug test. Disgraceful this and shameful that. It never occurred to any of them that if a quarter of the horses in the final failed the test there might be something wrong with the information available on what was and was not permitted.
And so it goes.
Oh well. Autumn looms. Schools and colleges are back in business. Any day now the weather will turn. With sunlight, perhaps, the mood will lift. And to help in that we can take inspiration from the feats of our sports stars like Padraig Harrington in golf, Eoin Rheinisch in the Olympic kayak slalom, Olive Loughnane in the walk and of course our Olympic boxers, led by Ken-E.
It’s unfashionable in many circles to cite the Irish-American experience and the blogs and chat-rooms will rattle with anti-American rhetoric over the coming months as O’Bama and McCain do battle.
But if we’re to dig our way out of the troubles we’re in, it’s the battling spirit shown by the Fightin’ 69th and the Olympic boxers of 2008 that’ll do it for us, not the moaning and ollagoning of the whingers and doomsayers.
And if you don’t like that you can kiss my fightin’ Irish ass!