So to recap, Scotland was formed when the Romans built Hadrian's wall, and maintained independence until England finally shook off the last of its string of occupiers, and decided to get into the Empire business itself. After Scotland was subdued, they (some of them at least) got enthusiastic about the imperials enterprise, acting as muscle (so much so that journalist Michael Fry wrote an enter book about it, "The Scottish Empire").
Nowhere is this more true than in Ireland. After many of them were no longer needed there, they fled to the new world, where they were forced into rural ghettos in the mountains. If Webb is correct about deep-rooted, immutable cultural traits, they apparently maintained their zest for service to empire in the guise of nationalistic fervor, "rugged individualism, warrior culture built on extended familial groups (the 'kind of people who would die in place rather than retreat') and an instinctive mistrust of authority" [though a willingness ot zealously serve it]. If they have "created an American culture that mirrors these traits," it's certainly a toxic stew they've brewed up. I think it's useful to remember the pictures of Lynndie England in Abu Ghraib; a great archetypal image of the "hillbilly" in the service of Empire.
At any rate, it's hard to construct the Scottish role in Britain's brutal occupation of Ireland as harmless familial fun, like giving your cousin a noogie or something. Sure, it happened a long time ago, but the past informs (at least) the present.
I like fighting with you guys cause you fight fair - wingers don't.
On 6/18/07, Scott Peden <scotpeden@cruzio.com > wrote:Damn it Kathleen,
If you can't fight with friends and family, who the hell can you fight with? Besides, who else could ya practice on?
Scott
From: OregonDems_etc@
yahoogroups. [mailto:OregonDems_etc@com yahoogroups. ] On Behalf Of Kathleen Bushmancom
Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 11:48 PM
To: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups. com Subject: Re: [OregonDems_etc] Scots/Irish history
Sounds like a threat to me - I'm not talking to most of my family - the wingers, anyway.
On 6/18/07, Scott Peden < scotpeden@cruzio.
com > wrote:Ahh Good! We were just sharing 'family!'
From: OregonDems_etc@
yahoogroups. [mailto:OregonDems_etc@com yahoogroups. ] On Behalf Of Larry Wilsoncom
Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 8:35 AM
To: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups. com
Subject: Re: [OregonDems_etc] Scots/Irish history
Scott,
Maybe I came across wrong; you know how the net screws up voice inflection and body language!
I hadn't taken offense at anything you said - we're good.
LarryOn 6/17/07, Scott Peden <scotpeden@cruzio.
com > wrote:Larry,
Maybe you don't understand me well. As far as I am concerned, we're cousins due to the Scots or Irish lineage, or for that matter just for being of the aboriginal races of Europe. I was picking on you like family, nothing more!
I have a bit of education on all of us as a race, overall, recent history being about 500 AD forward, I specialized in the time before that back to BC 1800-2000.
I use to do a lot of highland games and Irish festivals. The Irish would pick on me for the Scots side, which originally came from Ireland (we were just a bit to far north to get starved out by the English then offered Northern Ireland if we would put down the rebellion, form those that are our cousins anyway, but never have been able to not fight with, since about 1700 BC….
So I developed the phrase to mollify my Scots and Irish kin. If you can't fight with friends and family, who the hell can you fight with? If we can't agree to disagree, then what do we have? A few walk away in mystery, but most just get sheepishly quiet and thoughtful.
I consider all of us great people, and think that everyone should be aware of at least their general heritage, no matter their race, and be proud of it, without having to be proud of any base acts that may have been done by some members of their ancestors, I can name a great many skeletons in my closet right along with other folks, keeps us on even ground and our fat heads outta the clouds!
When government become your parents and your ancestral history, then the fascists have ya by the balls and you just scream for them to do it some more. It is part of the historical rewriting or lying by omission that has been done so that we aren't aware of the cycle of having been here, done that before, and they can get us to do it again.
From: OregonDems_etc@
yahoogroups. [mailto:OregonDems_etc@com yahoogroups. ] On Behalf Of Larry Wilsoncom
Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:57 PM
To: OregonDems_etc@yahoogroups. com
Subject: [OregonDems_etc] Scots/Irish history
Scott,
Just an FYI.
Sen James Webb is Scots/Irish, and has written a GREAT book about our history.
http://www.amazon.com/Born- Fighting- Scots-Irish- Shaped-America/ dp/0767916883
--
Larry
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgment of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist".
Winston Churchhill
--
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution
inevitable." - JFK
--
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution
inevitable." - JFK
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch format to Traditional
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment