July 14, 2003
Fraternité
Many years ago, an English friend of mine was working in a restaurant in a midland town. One day, she approached a table at which an old farmer was sitting. "Can I help you?", she enquired. "Feck off, ya Tan", was the reply. Tan, as in Black and Tans. Indeed. Now, maybe, just maybe, this guy had not heard an English accent since the War of Independence. Maybe. Alternatively, one could argue that working in a sh*th*le in a dreary midland town was more than atoning for past abuses by the British empire.
I was reminded of this episode during the week when the Italian Minister for Tact picked a bad week to go on holidays. It is amazing how stupid politicians can be - the last thing anyone wants is an ever-escalating round of insults and racial taunts (even if it is kind of amusing). Imagine if another European country portrayed Irish people as just a bunch of happy-go-lucky drinkers, wandering from pub to pub singing, playing a bit of diddly-e-eye without a care in the world. A gross caricature, or maybe they had just come from the Willie Clancy Festival in Milltown Mallbay.
Mind you, in response to the Italian jibes, a German tabloid newspaper sent a group of topless models to flaunt themselves on Italian beaches, to show how nice Germans can be. With this in mind, next week I will, on behalf of the West, mainly be insulting Sweden, Brazil and France. I'll be waiting on Silver Strand for their retaliation.
Posted by Monasette at July 14, 2003 07:25 AM | TrackBack