The Irish in the US

Although Irish immigrants to the US were once viciously discriminated against, their ancestors today are completely integrated into the power structure. John Brennan, the creep who currently heads up the CIA, would be a leading & ignominious illustration of that. Most of the US Catholic hierarchy have traditionally been Irish & many cities have been ruled for decades by mafias of Irish politicians--most notably ( though not only) Boston & Chicago. When St. Patrick chased the snakes from Ireland they came here & morphed into politicians.

What’s curious is that Hollywood hasn’t caught on to this integration yet. The depiction of the Irish in US movies is simply deplorable--& they seldom include the prelates or the politicians where the whammy of condemnation is fully applicable. The Boston Irish are made to typify American-Irish & although they can be a fairly rough-hewn lot, they are not all terrorists & homicidal criminal enterprises like Whitey Bulger as many films depict--from the Harrison Ford series about the IRA to the Ben Affleck & Matt Damon films on Boston to the Clint Eastwood film & many others.

It’s not something many Irish can take personally since for most of us it’s been a long time since Tipperary. And we can always find a parish priest or city mayor who will commiserate with us if we do take umbrage. In a Matt Damon film on Boston we are told Freud complained that the Irish are the only people impervious to psychotherapy. Given what we know now about some of Freud’s theories & practices, this may be high praise for the Irish--though not enough to counterbalance those reptilian politicians.