It was once claimed that "the sun never set on the British Empire". There is no doubt that this was true until recent decades.
However, it took an unknown Irish humorist to come up with the answer as to why "the sun never set on the British Empire". It was because God could not trust the English in the dark.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
WE WANT OUR CELTLAND BACK
One must admit that whoever wrote the following song did not know much about the history or the politics of the Celtic fringe. And maybe there's a touch of hypocrisy about it.
WE WANT OUR ENGLAND BACK
Goodbye to my England, So long my old friend
Your days are numbered, being brought to an end
To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh that's fine
But don't say you're English, that's way out of line.
The French and the Germans may call themselves such
So may Norwegians, the Swedes and the Dutch
You can say you are Russian or maybe a Dane
But don't say you're English ever again.
At Broadcasting House the word is taboo
In Brussels it's scrapped, in Parliament too
Even schools are affected, staff do as they're told
They must not teach children about England of old.
Writers like Shakespeare, Milton and Shaw
The pupils don't learn about them anymore
How about Agincourt, Hastings, Arnhem or Mons?
When England lost hosts of her very brave sons.
We are not Europeans, how can we be?
Europe is miles away over the sea
We're the English from England, let's all be proud
Stand up and be counted - Shout it out loud!
Let's tell our Government and Brussels too
We're proud of our heritage and the Red, White and Blue
Fly the flag of Saint George or the Union Jack
Let the world know - WE WANT OUR ENGLAND BACK !!!!
In this respect the English have not been much different from the Europeans and London, like Brussels, has rode roughshod for many centuries over all attempts by the Celtic countries to retain some vestige of independence
The following statements are well known facts which I have obtained from various sources and are easily confirmed by all who have access to the internet.
We should not forget that it was the English who first forced the Welsh, then the Scots and finally the Irish into the political union of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This was achieved by the application of overwhelming force against the wishes of the majority of the Celtic peoples by the more numerous and agressive English. It has also left an enduring bitterness amongst the Celtic peoples of the Isles.
Wales was incorporated into England by the English Parliament, with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, creating the legal entity known today as England and Wales. The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707 when it joined in a political union with the Kingdom of England to create a united Kingdom of Great Britain. There were widespread protest across Scotland against this action. In 1800, the British and Irish Parliaments passed the Act of Union which, in 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, (now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). This was done at the insistence of the English Parliament , to whom the Irish Parliament was subservient and it was done against the wishes of the vast majority of the Irish people.
We should also remember that it was the forcible imposition of English laws over the past 900 years that led to the almost total destruction of the Celtic languages and cultures of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Laws, by the way, that were not only anti Celtic but which declared that the practice of Celtic culture would be an illegal act. Not a great deal different from what Brussels have been doing to the English over recent years and who are also showing as much a dislike to such legal coersions as the Celts did to the imposition of coersive English laws. All that remains, is for us to see if the English are willing to fight as long and as hard against overwhelming odds, as did the Scots and Irish.
It was only in the latter half of the last century that the advent of a human rights culture and at the behest of the European Union, which has allowed the Celtic countries to express their pride and re-emphasise their own unique and un-English cultures.
And all this should help explain why "To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh that's fine". It was at the insistence of the English that there is an United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the first place and therefore the line "But don't say you're English, that's way out of line" is of their own making.
It would be right for the English to "Fly the flag of Saint George" but if they really mean to express their Englishness, they should not fly "the Union Jack", as it's made up of the cross not only of St. George, but also the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick.
I think that the only way for England to be recognised as an separate entity and to be officially known as England, is to start dissolving the various acts of union which originally set the United Kingdom up.
But then maybe one should expect the Cornish to demand their independence. One may also have Cumbria and Cumberland joining on the bandwagon. And I can't count the number of times that the good men of Yorkshire have informed me that they are not Englishmen but Yorkshiremen.
Oh! and by the way, if we're to believe Professors Sykes and Oppenheimer, both geneticists at Oxford University, the ancestry of the people of the Isles mainly traces back to the prehistoric Palaeolithic Iberian people. In fact the Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxons, Vikings and Normans are all relative newcomers to the Isles and their genes, which we all share in differing amounts, are only a very small part of our genetic inheritance. Much as some may not like it, we are much more closely related then you think.
In Origins of the British (2006), Stephen Oppenheimer states (pages 375 and 378):
"By far the majority of male gene types in the British Isles derive from Iberia (Spain and Portugal), ranging from a low of 59% in Fakenham, Norfolk to highs of 96% in Llangefni, north Wales and 93% Castlerea, Ireland. On average only 30% of gene types in England derive from north-west Europe. Even without dating the earlier waves of north-west European immigration, this invalidates the Anglo-Saxon wipeout theory..."
"...75-95% of British Isles (genetic) matches derive from Iberia... Ireland, coastal Wales, and central and west-coast Scotland are almost entirely made up from Iberian founders, while the rest of the non-English parts of the British Isles have similarly high rates. England has rather lower rates of Iberian types with marked heterogeneity, but no English sample has less than 58% of Iberian samples..."
WE WANT OUR ENGLAND BACK
Goodbye to my England, So long my old friend
Your days are numbered, being brought to an end
To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh that's fine
But don't say you're English, that's way out of line.
The French and the Germans may call themselves such
So may Norwegians, the Swedes and the Dutch
You can say you are Russian or maybe a Dane
But don't say you're English ever again.
At Broadcasting House the word is taboo
In Brussels it's scrapped, in Parliament too
Even schools are affected, staff do as they're told
They must not teach children about England of old.
Writers like Shakespeare, Milton and Shaw
The pupils don't learn about them anymore
How about Agincourt, Hastings, Arnhem or Mons?
When England lost hosts of her very brave sons.
We are not Europeans, how can we be?
Europe is miles away over the sea
We're the English from England, let's all be proud
Stand up and be counted - Shout it out loud!
Let's tell our Government and Brussels too
We're proud of our heritage and the Red, White and Blue
Fly the flag of Saint George or the Union Jack
Let the world know - WE WANT OUR ENGLAND BACK !!!!
In this respect the English have not been much different from the Europeans and London, like Brussels, has rode roughshod for many centuries over all attempts by the Celtic countries to retain some vestige of independence
The following statements are well known facts which I have obtained from various sources and are easily confirmed by all who have access to the internet.
We should not forget that it was the English who first forced the Welsh, then the Scots and finally the Irish into the political union of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This was achieved by the application of overwhelming force against the wishes of the majority of the Celtic peoples by the more numerous and agressive English. It has also left an enduring bitterness amongst the Celtic peoples of the Isles.
Wales was incorporated into England by the English Parliament, with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542, creating the legal entity known today as England and Wales. The Kingdom of Scotland was an independent state until 1 May 1707 when it joined in a political union with the Kingdom of England to create a united Kingdom of Great Britain. There were widespread protest across Scotland against this action. In 1800, the British and Irish Parliaments passed the Act of Union which, in 1801, merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, (now the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). This was done at the insistence of the English Parliament , to whom the Irish Parliament was subservient and it was done against the wishes of the vast majority of the Irish people.
We should also remember that it was the forcible imposition of English laws over the past 900 years that led to the almost total destruction of the Celtic languages and cultures of Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Laws, by the way, that were not only anti Celtic but which declared that the practice of Celtic culture would be an illegal act. Not a great deal different from what Brussels have been doing to the English over recent years and who are also showing as much a dislike to such legal coersions as the Celts did to the imposition of coersive English laws. All that remains, is for us to see if the English are willing to fight as long and as hard against overwhelming odds, as did the Scots and Irish.
It was only in the latter half of the last century that the advent of a human rights culture and at the behest of the European Union, which has allowed the Celtic countries to express their pride and re-emphasise their own unique and un-English cultures.
And all this should help explain why "To be Scottish, Irish or Welsh that's fine". It was at the insistence of the English that there is an United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the first place and therefore the line "But don't say you're English, that's way out of line" is of their own making.
It would be right for the English to "Fly the flag of Saint George" but if they really mean to express their Englishness, they should not fly "the Union Jack", as it's made up of the cross not only of St. George, but also the crosses of St. Andrew and St. Patrick.
I think that the only way for England to be recognised as an separate entity and to be officially known as England, is to start dissolving the various acts of union which originally set the United Kingdom up.
But then maybe one should expect the Cornish to demand their independence. One may also have Cumbria and Cumberland joining on the bandwagon. And I can't count the number of times that the good men of Yorkshire have informed me that they are not Englishmen but Yorkshiremen.
Oh! and by the way, if we're to believe Professors Sykes and Oppenheimer, both geneticists at Oxford University, the ancestry of the people of the Isles mainly traces back to the prehistoric Palaeolithic Iberian people. In fact the Celts, Romans, Anglo Saxons, Vikings and Normans are all relative newcomers to the Isles and their genes, which we all share in differing amounts, are only a very small part of our genetic inheritance. Much as some may not like it, we are much more closely related then you think.
In Origins of the British (2006), Stephen Oppenheimer states (pages 375 and 378):
"By far the majority of male gene types in the British Isles derive from Iberia (Spain and Portugal), ranging from a low of 59% in Fakenham, Norfolk to highs of 96% in Llangefni, north Wales and 93% Castlerea, Ireland. On average only 30% of gene types in England derive from north-west Europe. Even without dating the earlier waves of north-west European immigration, this invalidates the Anglo-Saxon wipeout theory..."
"...75-95% of British Isles (genetic) matches derive from Iberia... Ireland, coastal Wales, and central and west-coast Scotland are almost entirely made up from Iberian founders, while the rest of the non-English parts of the British Isles have similarly high rates. England has rather lower rates of Iberian types with marked heterogeneity, but no English sample has less than 58% of Iberian samples..."
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Foley/Supple family’s female genetic roots
The Foley and Supple family’s, female genetic roots go back to a time when northern Europe was still covered in ice and no modern human foot had trodden it.
Research on our genetic roots using modern DNA sequencing has scientifically established that our maternal great great ------ grandmother was born about 45,000 years ago and lived near a place that would become the classical site of Delphi, in what became know as Greece. That’s about 2000 generations ago.
To overcome the clinical coldness of scientific nomenclature, Professor Sykes of Oxford University has given her the name of Ursula. She is one of seven women who have been scientifically identified by their Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) as the Clan mothers of 95% of all Europeans.
Although all the offspring of Eileen Kelly, née Foley, will all have the Ursula mDNA, it is only going to be passed on by the females in the family. Therefore there is only one immediate family member who has it and that is Eaodine (hope I’ve spelled your name right my dear, my spell-check wants to spell it iodine).
We do have a near relation who also has the Ursula mDNA and that is our first cousin Maureen O’Brien. She will have passed it on to her daughter Anne Marie who will in turn have passed it on to her daughter.
These two young ladies now bear a huge responsibility in that they are the only ones who will be able to pass it on to their female descendents and continue our mDNA line of descent. Amazing considering that by my latest reckoning there are 43 surviving descendents of Eileen and Michael Kelly. Three are deceased and there are six adopted children in the family
It is of course possible, that the sisters and maternal aunts of our maternal grandmother Julia Foley, nee Supple, also had daughters and that they in turn had daughters. Sadly that part of our family history is unknown to me.
Should you wish to know more about Ursula and her descendents and how they found their way into north-western Europe and Ireland you can read Professor Syke's book The Seven Daughters Of Eve or click on;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Sykes
Gwen wants to know why I have left out the other female members of the family. Well, I think it highly unlikely that my two sisters Theresa and Sheila will have any more babies. But who knows what modern science can do. I excluded Kerry, Gail and Tina as I'm reluctant to ask them what their future family plans are. None of the other females in the family carry the Foley/Supple mDNA.
Ursula would have grown up in a society where the men hunted wild animals for protein and fat and where the women scratched around in the vegetation for edible roots, nuts and fruit. These people would become known to historians as hunter gatherers.
She would have lived 35,000 years before the invention of agriculture and the domestication of animals. She also lived in a time before man discovered and used metals. Her people would have used stone tools and would therefore be classified by historians as Stone Age people.
As the climate warmed up and the ice began to retreat, Ursula’s descendents began to migrate. It is believed that the route of migration was along the southern coast of Europe bordering the Mediterranean, eventually arriving in Iberia (modern Spain).
From there they turned north along the western coast of Europe bordering the Atlantic. They eventually arrived about 14,000 years ago in an area of north-west Europe, which as the glaciers and ice covering Europe melted and the sea level rose was to become an archipelago of islands in the north west Atlantic. This archipelago, known geographically as the British Isles from the original Celtic inhabitants, is today politically unacceptable. Political Correctness reigns supreme.
The skeleton remains of one of Ursula’s earliest descendents in the British Isles and now known as Cheddar Man, was found in a cave in Somerset in 1998. It has been carbon dated to be 9,000 years old.
I have searched the data bases for the same mDNA sequences as ours and found only two with an exact match so far. One is in Texas and she is from German descent and the other lives in Belgium. Interestingly Belgium got its name from the Celtic tribe called the Belgae, who occupied parts of Europe that later became known as England and France.
Ursula would have lived at a time when Neanderthals, a member of the genus Homo but not a modern human, would also have roamed in the same areas as Ursula’s bands. Although Neanderthal people eventually fade from history, scientists are not yet ready to declare if they interbred with Ursula’s people or were wiped out by them or otherwise. Political correctness would have us believe that it was our ancestors who wiped them out and by our connection to them our conscience would dictate that we must therefore be guilty of genocide.
Research on our genetic roots using modern DNA sequencing has scientifically established that our maternal great great ------ grandmother was born about 45,000 years ago and lived near a place that would become the classical site of Delphi, in what became know as Greece. That’s about 2000 generations ago.
To overcome the clinical coldness of scientific nomenclature, Professor Sykes of Oxford University has given her the name of Ursula. She is one of seven women who have been scientifically identified by their Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) as the Clan mothers of 95% of all Europeans.
Although all the offspring of Eileen Kelly, née Foley, will all have the Ursula mDNA, it is only going to be passed on by the females in the family. Therefore there is only one immediate family member who has it and that is Eaodine (hope I’ve spelled your name right my dear, my spell-check wants to spell it iodine).
We do have a near relation who also has the Ursula mDNA and that is our first cousin Maureen O’Brien. She will have passed it on to her daughter Anne Marie who will in turn have passed it on to her daughter.
These two young ladies now bear a huge responsibility in that they are the only ones who will be able to pass it on to their female descendents and continue our mDNA line of descent. Amazing considering that by my latest reckoning there are 43 surviving descendents of Eileen and Michael Kelly. Three are deceased and there are six adopted children in the family
It is of course possible, that the sisters and maternal aunts of our maternal grandmother Julia Foley, nee Supple, also had daughters and that they in turn had daughters. Sadly that part of our family history is unknown to me.
Should you wish to know more about Ursula and her descendents and how they found their way into north-western Europe and Ireland you can read Professor Syke's book The Seven Daughters Of Eve or click on;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Sykes
Gwen wants to know why I have left out the other female members of the family. Well, I think it highly unlikely that my two sisters Theresa and Sheila will have any more babies. But who knows what modern science can do. I excluded Kerry, Gail and Tina as I'm reluctant to ask them what their future family plans are. None of the other females in the family carry the Foley/Supple mDNA.
Ursula would have grown up in a society where the men hunted wild animals for protein and fat and where the women scratched around in the vegetation for edible roots, nuts and fruit. These people would become known to historians as hunter gatherers.
She would have lived 35,000 years before the invention of agriculture and the domestication of animals. She also lived in a time before man discovered and used metals. Her people would have used stone tools and would therefore be classified by historians as Stone Age people.
As the climate warmed up and the ice began to retreat, Ursula’s descendents began to migrate. It is believed that the route of migration was along the southern coast of Europe bordering the Mediterranean, eventually arriving in Iberia (modern Spain).
From there they turned north along the western coast of Europe bordering the Atlantic. They eventually arrived about 14,000 years ago in an area of north-west Europe, which as the glaciers and ice covering Europe melted and the sea level rose was to become an archipelago of islands in the north west Atlantic. This archipelago, known geographically as the British Isles from the original Celtic inhabitants, is today politically unacceptable. Political Correctness reigns supreme.
The skeleton remains of one of Ursula’s earliest descendents in the British Isles and now known as Cheddar Man, was found in a cave in Somerset in 1998. It has been carbon dated to be 9,000 years old.
I have searched the data bases for the same mDNA sequences as ours and found only two with an exact match so far. One is in Texas and she is from German descent and the other lives in Belgium. Interestingly Belgium got its name from the Celtic tribe called the Belgae, who occupied parts of Europe that later became known as England and France.
Ursula would have lived at a time when Neanderthals, a member of the genus Homo but not a modern human, would also have roamed in the same areas as Ursula’s bands. Although Neanderthal people eventually fade from history, scientists are not yet ready to declare if they interbred with Ursula’s people or were wiped out by them or otherwise. Political correctness would have us believe that it was our ancestors who wiped them out and by our connection to them our conscience would dictate that we must therefore be guilty of genocide.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
View Of Haiti From An Irishman
From the Irish Independent
Kevin Myers: I can say Americans are lazy and boorish morons. That's fine. If I say the same about Nigerians, I'm jailed
By Kevin Myers
The most fascinating aspect of the debate about the future of Haiti is its absence. All "discussion" consists of assertions that "the west" must rebuild the country. "The west" is a useful term. If things go very well, the Haitians will get the credit. If they go moderately well, the EU -- but probably the French -- will claim the kudos. If they go badly, the US will be universally blamed (because that's what Yanks are there for) and everyone will be happy.
To suggest that the best thing that outsiders can do once the immediate rescue work is finished, and the water is flowing, is to leave the Haitians to rebuild their own country is merely to invite shrill accusations of racism. However, you might have forgotten that the Chinese were hit by an earthquake two years ago. It killed 68,712 people, left 17,921 missing, with more than 374,000 injured and at least 15 million homeless.
Even if those figures are invented -- and I suspect they're not -- they bespeak the existence of a government that can count, which is more than Haiti has ever had. (Cue hisses of "racist!" at this irrefutable truth). Yet the two earthquakes rather conveniently bring together the two extremes of foreignness. The Chinese -- who probably had the worst 20th century of anyone save the Jews -- do not naturally attract pity, yet without it, have largely rebuilt Sichuan. The Haitians have been cursed by pity throughout their existence, and now are probably about to be suffocated by it. In 10 years' time, I bet, outsiders will still be rebuilding Haiti, while the Haitians will continue to do whatever it was they were doing before the earthquake struck, back when George Hook went to build houses for them. It must be Stephen Hawking's turn soon.
Pity is the most human of emotions. It is also one of the most ruinous. It robs its subjects of responsibility, initiative, independence, courage, self-respect and will: hence the fate of so many African countries. Yet no pity rescued Poland or Italy or the Ukraine or Germany or Japan after the Second World War. Their peoples alone did.
Moreover, uncontrolled pity can damage those who feel it, sentimentalising judgment and elevating emotions. It makes an intellectual assessment of any problem almost impossible, for to use your brain equates with "heartlessness".
Yet pity is also a strangely useful tool, for it reveals a strange global hierarchy. At the bottom are black people, whom everyone pities. At the top are the Chinese, whom no one pities. Alongside them are the English, the one foreign group that Hollywood may officially reduce to unpleasant racist stereotypes. And the cultural censor that allows this actually has a strange Oedipal streak. For the only US ethnic identity which can be perpetually reduced to a stereotype of grasping, greedy, shallow bigots are WASPs. Not far behind them are the hillbillies of the Appalachians, namely, the Ulster-Scots.
Yet these are the very peoples who made the US (and who are both symbolically represented in that convenient pastiche, the Hatfields and McCoys). Between them, they founded and refined and fought for American freedoms, and then opened the doors of their country to the peoples of the world. The outsiders poured in, and ever since have shown their gratitude to the founding peoples of the USA by lampooning WASPs called Dexter and trailer-trash called Bub, in ways which would be unacceptable if the subjects were African-Americans or Jews or Irish Catholics.
The taboos of this cultural hierarchy cause even simple truths to remain unspoken. Jews have been disproportionately responsible for financial crime in the US, yet even to utter this simple truth is to court shrieks of anti-Semitism. In Europe, on the other hand, the only public criticisms of Jews that are not merely allowed, but are actually encouraged, are of Israel, about which "liberals" may utter the most ludicrously untrue and racist libels, and be applauded.
This strange cultural censor reluctantly allows us to acknowledge the role of blacks in street crime in Britain and the US, but preferably as a measure of their "victimhood". That blacks are grossly over-represented in sex offenders' wings in jails, however, or are responsible for the vast majority of trans-racial sex-crime, may not be publicly discussed at all.
Moreover, the total absence of Jews from sex offenders' wings is similarly unacknowledged, for it could lead to uncomfortable questions. If Jews don't rape, and they don't, then is it possible that our secular Christian culture -- never mind Afro-culture -- actually creates rapists? And if we can talk about Jews NEVER being sex offenders, can we then discuss Jews' disproportionate role as swindlers? Of course not: so we discuss neither.
You can say we have free speech -- but we haven't. Example: I can say Americans are loud, boorish, lazy and insensitive morons, and that's fine. If I say the same about Nigerians, I am in jail.
Look, you cry, he's at it again! He starts off quite innocently on Haiti, and look where's finished up!
Quite. I agree. You are looking nervously at the door. I am making you uncomfortable. You wish to leave. I quite understand.
Kevin Myers: I can say Americans are lazy and boorish morons. That's fine. If I say the same about Nigerians, I'm jailed
By Kevin Myers
The most fascinating aspect of the debate about the future of Haiti is its absence. All "discussion" consists of assertions that "the west" must rebuild the country. "The west" is a useful term. If things go very well, the Haitians will get the credit. If they go moderately well, the EU -- but probably the French -- will claim the kudos. If they go badly, the US will be universally blamed (because that's what Yanks are there for) and everyone will be happy.
To suggest that the best thing that outsiders can do once the immediate rescue work is finished, and the water is flowing, is to leave the Haitians to rebuild their own country is merely to invite shrill accusations of racism. However, you might have forgotten that the Chinese were hit by an earthquake two years ago. It killed 68,712 people, left 17,921 missing, with more than 374,000 injured and at least 15 million homeless.
Even if those figures are invented -- and I suspect they're not -- they bespeak the existence of a government that can count, which is more than Haiti has ever had. (Cue hisses of "racist!" at this irrefutable truth). Yet the two earthquakes rather conveniently bring together the two extremes of foreignness. The Chinese -- who probably had the worst 20th century of anyone save the Jews -- do not naturally attract pity, yet without it, have largely rebuilt Sichuan. The Haitians have been cursed by pity throughout their existence, and now are probably about to be suffocated by it. In 10 years' time, I bet, outsiders will still be rebuilding Haiti, while the Haitians will continue to do whatever it was they were doing before the earthquake struck, back when George Hook went to build houses for them. It must be Stephen Hawking's turn soon.
Pity is the most human of emotions. It is also one of the most ruinous. It robs its subjects of responsibility, initiative, independence, courage, self-respect and will: hence the fate of so many African countries. Yet no pity rescued Poland or Italy or the Ukraine or Germany or Japan after the Second World War. Their peoples alone did.
Moreover, uncontrolled pity can damage those who feel it, sentimentalising judgment and elevating emotions. It makes an intellectual assessment of any problem almost impossible, for to use your brain equates with "heartlessness".
Yet pity is also a strangely useful tool, for it reveals a strange global hierarchy. At the bottom are black people, whom everyone pities. At the top are the Chinese, whom no one pities. Alongside them are the English, the one foreign group that Hollywood may officially reduce to unpleasant racist stereotypes. And the cultural censor that allows this actually has a strange Oedipal streak. For the only US ethnic identity which can be perpetually reduced to a stereotype of grasping, greedy, shallow bigots are WASPs. Not far behind them are the hillbillies of the Appalachians, namely, the Ulster-Scots.
Yet these are the very peoples who made the US (and who are both symbolically represented in that convenient pastiche, the Hatfields and McCoys). Between them, they founded and refined and fought for American freedoms, and then opened the doors of their country to the peoples of the world. The outsiders poured in, and ever since have shown their gratitude to the founding peoples of the USA by lampooning WASPs called Dexter and trailer-trash called Bub, in ways which would be unacceptable if the subjects were African-Americans or Jews or Irish Catholics.
The taboos of this cultural hierarchy cause even simple truths to remain unspoken. Jews have been disproportionately responsible for financial crime in the US, yet even to utter this simple truth is to court shrieks of anti-Semitism. In Europe, on the other hand, the only public criticisms of Jews that are not merely allowed, but are actually encouraged, are of Israel, about which "liberals" may utter the most ludicrously untrue and racist libels, and be applauded.
This strange cultural censor reluctantly allows us to acknowledge the role of blacks in street crime in Britain and the US, but preferably as a measure of their "victimhood". That blacks are grossly over-represented in sex offenders' wings in jails, however, or are responsible for the vast majority of trans-racial sex-crime, may not be publicly discussed at all.
Moreover, the total absence of Jews from sex offenders' wings is similarly unacknowledged, for it could lead to uncomfortable questions. If Jews don't rape, and they don't, then is it possible that our secular Christian culture -- never mind Afro-culture -- actually creates rapists? And if we can talk about Jews NEVER being sex offenders, can we then discuss Jews' disproportionate role as swindlers? Of course not: so we discuss neither.
You can say we have free speech -- but we haven't. Example: I can say Americans are loud, boorish, lazy and insensitive morons, and that's fine. If I say the same about Nigerians, I am in jail.
Look, you cry, he's at it again! He starts off quite innocently on Haiti, and look where's finished up!
Quite. I agree. You are looking nervously at the door. I am making you uncomfortable. You wish to leave. I quite understand.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Haiti and Black Africa
FROM THE BOTSWANA SUNDAY STANDARD
Haiti and the blacks! by Loose Canon
I hope black people will learn a lesson from the earthquake that hit Haiti. If they don’t learn anything from it, then I throw up my hands in despair and give up. Let’s start with a few basic facts.
Until the earthquake, I never knew there was a place called Haiti. I was taught geography at school but I cannot remember a time when the mistress told us about Haiti. It must have been one of those insignificant countries that we had no reason to know about. I was fairly good at geography because I knew which country was on which continent. I also knew many capital cities. But as for Haiti I was clueless. Now the whole world, including myself, knows about Haiti.
I heard news of the earthquake on the radio. I wondered where Haiti was and what sort of people lived there. Finally, when I switched on the television, I was informed that Haiti is an island out in the Caribbean. Television pictures revealed a place populated by black people. From the non-stop television coverage of the earthquake, I got to learn about the history of Haiti. It was not a good history lesson. It would seem throughout its existence Haiti has suffered a series of natural calamities. In the process it has sunk even deeper into poverty and deprivation. Like all places populated by black people, Haiti is poor.
As I watched the television images, I felt very sorry for that forsaken place. Then I was hit by a thunderbolt. I wondered what if there were no white people. You see, when the earthquake hit Haiti somebody had to come to its assistance. There had to be a rescue effort. The Haitians who survived of course did their fair bit by digging out their families from the collapsed ramshackle buildings. But such was the scale of the devastation and the loss of human life that a bigger effort was needed. For that sort of work, you need heavy lifting gear and other sophisticated rescue equipment.
I have been following the story of the earthquake keenly. I can attest to the fact that the first people to arrive with sniffer dogs were white crews from all over the world. The aero planes that set off carrying water and food were from white countries. Not only that, the teams of volunteer doctors that I saw on television comprised white people from across the world. As the sniffer dogs went into action, the organized rescue teams that carried the stretchers were made up of white people. It was announced that a mobile hospital was on the way. It was coming from a white country.
For all intents and purposes in the aftermath of the earthquake, Haiti was literally swarming with white people. They had all arrived to save the poor blacks. And the locals were so happy to see them. Granted there were teams from the Orient such as the Chinese and Japanese. They too had quickly left their homes and families to go and assist the stricken people of Haiti.It is obvious to everyone that this was a devastating earthquake and the work to repair Haiti and return it to a modicum of normalcy will take many years. Somebody had to commit funds to this effort.
Most of the countries that have committed funds to aid the recovery are white. In fact, it would seem the whites are running the show in Haiti. What is my point? My point is that ever since Haiti was hit by the earthquake I have not seen any of my folks from Africa. Unless the television cameras deliberately ignored them, I never saw a rescue team from my motherland. Nor did I see any sniffer dogs from down here. Heck, I never saw a single traditional doctor busy divining where to find people buried under the rubble.
Haiti is a land of black people. I would have expected the place to be swarming with black people helping their own. They were nowhere to be seen. I never saw any ships from black countries pulling into the harbour. As the air traffic circled above the small airport, none of the planes was reported as coming from Africa. The blacks were nowhere to be found. They issued tepid statements of condolence to the people of Haiti and a few of the African countries donated small amounts of cash. Granted that was better than nothing. But I must say I was disappointed. I was sad because the blacks did not behave as I had expected.
You see, for far too long black countries have been insolent to the point of being abusive. They have a tendency of insulting the white man and telling him to keep out of their countries. In Fact, black people have the temerity to tell white people they can perfectly survive on their own. So I had expected the black countries to be consistent and behave true to form.
Why didn’t black countries tell white countries to stay away from Haiti because we were quite capable of leading the rescue effort? We should have insulted them as we often do at international forums.There, our countries insult white countries and accuse them of imperialism and neo colonialism. I was extremely disappointed when our countries failed to accuse white people of practicing imperialism and neo colonialism by coming to rescue the blacks of Haiti.
We should have told them we have better sniffer dogs that have been taught only to rescue black people. We should have told their ships to stay away and their planes not to overfly Haiti because we were up to the job with our own ships and aeroplanes. We should have brought in our traditional food instead of the strange rations the Haitians are not accustomed to.
I am so disappointed by the black leaders that I hope never to hear them again bleating about how bad white people are. The earthquake in Haiti was the most opportune time to show the whites, once and for all, that we don’t need them. From now onwards, I want black leaders to shut up and never accuse ever white people of being bad. I am sick and tired of big words such as imperialism and neo colonialism which are unable to rescue victims of the earthquake.
I hope this is not the last earthquake that hits a black country. I want the next one to specifically hit the residence of Old Man in Harare. Then we will see if he will abuse the white crew coming to rescue him and Pretty Face!
Haiti and the blacks! by Loose Canon
I hope black people will learn a lesson from the earthquake that hit Haiti. If they don’t learn anything from it, then I throw up my hands in despair and give up. Let’s start with a few basic facts.
Until the earthquake, I never knew there was a place called Haiti. I was taught geography at school but I cannot remember a time when the mistress told us about Haiti. It must have been one of those insignificant countries that we had no reason to know about. I was fairly good at geography because I knew which country was on which continent. I also knew many capital cities. But as for Haiti I was clueless. Now the whole world, including myself, knows about Haiti.
I heard news of the earthquake on the radio. I wondered where Haiti was and what sort of people lived there. Finally, when I switched on the television, I was informed that Haiti is an island out in the Caribbean. Television pictures revealed a place populated by black people. From the non-stop television coverage of the earthquake, I got to learn about the history of Haiti. It was not a good history lesson. It would seem throughout its existence Haiti has suffered a series of natural calamities. In the process it has sunk even deeper into poverty and deprivation. Like all places populated by black people, Haiti is poor.
As I watched the television images, I felt very sorry for that forsaken place. Then I was hit by a thunderbolt. I wondered what if there were no white people. You see, when the earthquake hit Haiti somebody had to come to its assistance. There had to be a rescue effort. The Haitians who survived of course did their fair bit by digging out their families from the collapsed ramshackle buildings. But such was the scale of the devastation and the loss of human life that a bigger effort was needed. For that sort of work, you need heavy lifting gear and other sophisticated rescue equipment.
I have been following the story of the earthquake keenly. I can attest to the fact that the first people to arrive with sniffer dogs were white crews from all over the world. The aero planes that set off carrying water and food were from white countries. Not only that, the teams of volunteer doctors that I saw on television comprised white people from across the world. As the sniffer dogs went into action, the organized rescue teams that carried the stretchers were made up of white people. It was announced that a mobile hospital was on the way. It was coming from a white country.
For all intents and purposes in the aftermath of the earthquake, Haiti was literally swarming with white people. They had all arrived to save the poor blacks. And the locals were so happy to see them. Granted there were teams from the Orient such as the Chinese and Japanese. They too had quickly left their homes and families to go and assist the stricken people of Haiti.It is obvious to everyone that this was a devastating earthquake and the work to repair Haiti and return it to a modicum of normalcy will take many years. Somebody had to commit funds to this effort.
Most of the countries that have committed funds to aid the recovery are white. In fact, it would seem the whites are running the show in Haiti. What is my point? My point is that ever since Haiti was hit by the earthquake I have not seen any of my folks from Africa. Unless the television cameras deliberately ignored them, I never saw a rescue team from my motherland. Nor did I see any sniffer dogs from down here. Heck, I never saw a single traditional doctor busy divining where to find people buried under the rubble.
Haiti is a land of black people. I would have expected the place to be swarming with black people helping their own. They were nowhere to be seen. I never saw any ships from black countries pulling into the harbour. As the air traffic circled above the small airport, none of the planes was reported as coming from Africa. The blacks were nowhere to be found. They issued tepid statements of condolence to the people of Haiti and a few of the African countries donated small amounts of cash. Granted that was better than nothing. But I must say I was disappointed. I was sad because the blacks did not behave as I had expected.
You see, for far too long black countries have been insolent to the point of being abusive. They have a tendency of insulting the white man and telling him to keep out of their countries. In Fact, black people have the temerity to tell white people they can perfectly survive on their own. So I had expected the black countries to be consistent and behave true to form.
Why didn’t black countries tell white countries to stay away from Haiti because we were quite capable of leading the rescue effort? We should have insulted them as we often do at international forums.There, our countries insult white countries and accuse them of imperialism and neo colonialism. I was extremely disappointed when our countries failed to accuse white people of practicing imperialism and neo colonialism by coming to rescue the blacks of Haiti.
We should have told them we have better sniffer dogs that have been taught only to rescue black people. We should have told their ships to stay away and their planes not to overfly Haiti because we were up to the job with our own ships and aeroplanes. We should have brought in our traditional food instead of the strange rations the Haitians are not accustomed to.
I am so disappointed by the black leaders that I hope never to hear them again bleating about how bad white people are. The earthquake in Haiti was the most opportune time to show the whites, once and for all, that we don’t need them. From now onwards, I want black leaders to shut up and never accuse ever white people of being bad. I am sick and tired of big words such as imperialism and neo colonialism which are unable to rescue victims of the earthquake.
I hope this is not the last earthquake that hits a black country. I want the next one to specifically hit the residence of Old Man in Harare. Then we will see if he will abuse the white crew coming to rescue him and Pretty Face!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)