LETTERS 03 SEPTEMBER 2003
That Wedding Fiasco
TRIVIAL, Grade A nonsense seems to have enveloped the Irish psyche since Bertie Ahern and his greedy buddies swarmed around the honey pot of Hello! magazine in a bid to make some easy money.
I personally don’t have an interest in anything the magazine produces. What I wonder about is how long these two galoots, Georgina Ahern and Nicky Byrne, will remain married?
Will all the glitz and glamour fade after months or years? Will the cheesy boy band Westlife fall apart when so-called “tweens” get sick and tired of their awfully bland music?
When I lived in Ireland in the late 1980s and early ‘90s we had an awesome selection of music to choose from. We had REM, Something Happens, Stars of Heaven, The Stunning, real rock and roll.
I used to go to a gig a week, usually on South Anne Street in Dublin at 3 p.m. on a Saturday. There were real people singing about real issues with guitars and drums and vocal excellence.
The junk spewed out by Mrs. Byrne’s (nee Ahern) husband and his Westlife band is premium, Grade A drivel, packaged and marketed to appeal to the lowest common denominator, just like the wedding of these two.
Looking at the photo of Georgina Ahern with her toy boys on Page 30 of the August 20-26 issue of the Irish Voice. It is enough to make a man (or woman) puke.
Marriage is a serious business, but the way these two perceive it, I doubt they really know much about the practical, day-to-day aspects of it, especially when all of this Hello! nonsense fades away.
Look at Liza Minnelli and all the hype about her now doomed marriage. Now she’s almost divorced.
As for Bertie himself, his political days are numbered, and I’m sure he’ll receive legal notice to sue by one or both of the photographers kicked out of Georgina and Nicky’s hotel in France.
Welcome to post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, land of English magazines dictating policy to the offspring of an Irish taoiseach (prime minister), whose zealousness in defending his daughter’s nest egg of $1 million had him resort to absurd tactics against the privacy wreckers.
And welcome to the extreme cult of personality mixed with fake glamour splashed across a glossy magazine with one goal in mind – loads of money!
A.P. O’Malley
New York, New York
American Questions
I WAS delighted to read James Martin’s letter in the August 20-26 issue regarding the U.S. naturalization examination questions. I wonder how many American born citizens could answer five of the 100 questions correctly?
What would Mr. Martin suggest we do with those Americans who could not answer them correctly? Should they be given a break since they were born here?
Along those lines, if you have an American-born citizen who cannot answer any of the questions correctly, and an immigrant who answers all of them correctly, what should be done in that situation?
It seems to me that this country may be full of American-born citizens of poor caliber. Thanks for calling attention to that Mr. Martin.
I’m sure your note prompted the same tough questions for you only after it went to print. That would be my hope anyway.
Helen Henry
Dorchester, Massachusetts
‘Patriot’ McKevitt
WITH regard to the recent legal lynching of Michael McKevitt, I feel it is my duty to respond.
The recent trial in Dublin was a mockery and the chief witness for the prosecution, David Rupert, an insult to the United States of America and its founding fathers.
The word “informer” is cancerous to all humankind, and the contempt I have for this vile creature Rupert is matched by the respect I have for McKevitt. I compare Michael to some of Ireland’s patriots – the names of Tom Barry and Ernie O’Malley come readily to mind.
McKevitt’s response to the savage sentence speaks for itself. Confined in that sinister Portlaoise prison, he follows the heroic tradition of George Plant and Richard Goss who were executed by the quislings of their time.
Thomas McCurtin and Harry White survived years of harsh jail, but they emerged unbroken to play a leading role in the resurrection of the movement and in its plans for future efforts to free Ireland from British rule.
With regard to the relatives of people who lost their lives at Omagh, we can understand their grief, but hope that they will not be further victimized by being used as pawns by the Empire of Hell and Irish revisionists.
A final message to Michael and his comrades. You are not alone – stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.” And a special salute to your heroic wife Bernadette and family.
George Harrison
Brooklyn, New York
Our Right to Dissent
I WOULD like to respond to Patrick Munroe’s letter in last week’s issue on the lack of support shown by Irish people towards the U.S. campaign in Iraq.
I too am a native of Ireland, and have been living in this country since 1993. I am very grateful for the opportunities that America offered me and the countless others who have come to these shores during that time.
However, I think that Mr. Munroe has spent far too much time isolated in Oklahoma to fully comprehend what’s going on in the world since this country’s government was hijacked by neo-conservative hawks such as Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Wolfowitz, and dare I say it, Bush.
To suggest that Irish people are anti-American by not supporting the Iraqi conflict is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of my compatriots who came out to cheer President Clinton on his numerous trips to Ireland, not to mention the hundreds of thousands who lined up outside the American Embassy in Dublin to sign the book of condolences after 9/11.
Living in a free society means that every citizen has the right to stand up against what they see as nothing short of a neo-conservative-led U.S. hegemony in the world today.
What Mr. Munroe fails to recognize is that most informed Irish people have seen this current U.S. administration snub international institutions such as the UN on numerous issues such as Kyoto and the international criminal court. The behaviour of the White House hawks in the run-up to the Iraqi conflict left them with no other option but to oppose their actions.
Which is more than I can say of the spineless Irish government, which allowed the U.S. military to refuel at Shannon. What was that Mr. Munroe was saying about “Irish neutrality?”
As for liberating Iraq from a brutal dictator, I think Mr. Munroe has been watching too much Fox News. The real reasons for U.S. troops going into Iraq had less to do with the welfare of the Iraqi people, and more to do with extending U.S. power into the oil-rich Middle East.
At the same time, this administration backs a regime in Israel whose oppression of the Palestinian people make the British policy in Northern Ireland during The Troubles seem almost benign.
Just because the U.S. has been good to Ireland in the past doesn’t mean that Irish people have to go along with the inane policies of the current U.S. administration. There is also a growing population in this country who are also wising up to the realities of the Iraqi conflict, and their voice will be heard soon enough.
I too am an American citizen, and I plan to exercise my democratic right in next year’s presidential election. And I will not be voting for Mr. Bush and his neo-conservative lackeys!
Dermot Murray
Woodlawn, New York
Rose TV, Please
IT is a shame that we can put a man on the moon but we cannot pipe in the Rose of Tralee broadcast to the U.S. Especially when nearly half of the contestants are Americans. There should be, at least, a web cast.
Brian Christin
Washington, D.C.
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