Addiction

Ruairi McKiernan's article in today's Irish Times, Natasha Eddery has shattered the national silence on alcoholism, explores some important issues to do with addiction, some of which are relevant to Irish society while others are relevant to societies in general. If Ireland is an addictive society, which it is, there are reasons particular to the Irish character that causes addiction. They include a lack of steadiness and a lack of self-discipline. The Irish character tends to be weak and, as a consequence, wild.

We tend to be sensitive about criticism of the Irish abroad in places like the UK, the US or Australia. We shouldn't, as the criticism is based on the lived experience of the people there. We tend to see a hint of racism in the criticism as the travelling people here do about the criticism of them by settled people. The plain reality is that there is an element of racism in the criticism but we have no one to blame but ourselves. Racism has now largely gone underground but certain events are likely to trigger racist comments. When OJ Simpson was on trial for the murder of his wife, Jay Leno, on the Tonight Show, used it as an excuse to make jokes that he would not otherwise have got away with. When the students were killed and injured in Berkeley some months ago (in an accident where the students were not at fault), the New York Times saw fit to make the kind of comments about the Irish that would have been ten a penny in the paper fifty years ago but that can't easily be expressed now. The paper was obviously dying to have a go at the Irish, something that is, I believe, always just below the surface in the NYT.

Angela's Ashes got rave reviews in the US as it was a way of good old-fashioned Irish-bashing. The author should have realized that. Perhaps he did but went along with it for commercial reasons. It was very obviously a gift to the NYT and others and they were not prepared to look a gift horse in the mouth. Literature is often used by the media and others outside Ireland as a way of indulging in good old-fashioned anti-Irish sentiment. We don't seem to be as aware of that as we should be.

The behavior of our emigrants in the past was generally very good and brought great credit on themselves and on this country. Their behaviour, courage, hard work and sticking by the old religion, often in the face of discrimination, generated a great deal of (admittedly often grudging) respect and countered the deep anti-Irish racism that was a natural part of the make-up of the establishments in the US and the British Empire. They were, after all, basically English states. There was, no doubt, wild behaviour by enough of our emigrants to keep the stereotypes alive but overall the majority of our emigrants, by their behaviour, successfully countered the stereotypes.

It is ironic or paradoxical or something that the first generations of better educated and reasonably well off Irish travelling abroad to work or to explore the world (including countries that were traditionally well disposed to Ireland) have rekindled the stereotypes of the Irish as wild and drunken. Watching the Irish abroad myself, it is clear that there is much truth in the criticisms of them. Many of the Irish abroad now are very unattractive in their behaviour. They are not aware of it because they are ignorant and the collapse of religious practice has removed a certain level of restraint and self-discipline that was a positive feature of the behaviour of most Irish abroad in the past. Lastly, many young Irish today (at home and abroad) have a diminished capacity to see themselves as others do. That seems to be a consequence of modern parenting, which appears to leave a lot to be desired. You frequently see the opposite to over confidence (bordering on boorishness) in youngsters who are working for solid organizations that have core values, including courtesy. The contrast between those who clearly are aware of the need for courtesy and those who are not (a contrast that did not exist fifty years ago) can at times be striking. It is sad to think that the hard work and struggle of millions of poor emigrants over two hundred years is in danger of being undone by the excesses of our time but that could be the case.

It is up to us to address the excess in our behaviour (at home and abroad) that generate criticism. That must begin not by talking about alcoholism (Natasha Eddery's article won't result in one less pint of beer being consumed in Ireland tonight) but by recognizing the deep flaws in the Irish character, which have always been there and explain much of our history. We blame the Normans/English/British for our miserable history. We should blame ourselves for being weak and for not evicting the intruders centuries ago.

The collapse of religious practice is a factor that needs to be mentioned in trying to grapple with the problem of excess that is the other side of the coin to a weak character. Religious practice imposes rules and teaches people self discipline, whether it is not to drink too much or not to cheat on a spouse. The rules have gone and have not yet been replaced by a new set of secular rules.

Ireland may be an island but we live in a globalized world. Our weak character and addictive nature are extreme but capitalism and the promotion of goods and services are contributing significantly to the destruction of Western societies everywhere. Tackling that problem would make climbing Mount Everest appear like a stroll up to Faery Castle from Tibradden!