Irish Kilt?

[seanachie]

I can't help but actually feel a bit sorry for the Irish diaspora because fantasy Ireland has taken prescendence over real Ireland and, in some ways I understand that, but fantasy Ireland seems to honestly make Ireland out to be a little worse than it really is. The celebration of St. Patricks Day, a day of a Catholic saint, has turned into one of the biggest drinking days of the year, and green beer has now become what it means to be Irish. Many Irish-Americans have no idea what being Irish is or what being Irish means. Most of us have no idea about the dark Irish history in America and, to be honest, most of us wouldnt care. Being Irish means wearing a "kilt" (or a thigh-length womens pleated skirt like I saw on one man), a bright orange wig, and getting totally and completely s*itefaced on St. Pattys Day.

I think there are a lot of generalizations and stereotypes in these comments. it might be best to speak for one self. I won only ever one academic award ever in school and I wrote my year long paper on Eamonn de Valera. So no claims on knowing but a little, but I read what I can. You should also know there are places like Boston College that have very well regarded Irish studies programs. Another question you should ponder is who the drunk hooligans are on St Patrick's day, I have seen many who come from a wide range of ethnicities looking for nothing better than a reason to get drunk. There is no membership card for stupid caricatured outfits. Look at the men who lost their lives in the after math of Easter 1916 and amongst that group are men who wore the kilt. You can have varied opinions on that but that is history and many look up to them. There are chapters of the Ancient Order of Hibernians that bear their name.

If I seem at all touchy on the issue, look at the comments in USA Today after Katie Taylor won the gold medal pretty ignorant comments to my mind.