"We want to bring Poitín out from the shadows and let Irish people have a national white spirit they can be proud of"




Great white spirit? Don't we already have St. Patrick?

For a quick Mick to English translation: Poitin is usually spelled Poteen and pronounced Poe-cheen and translated to American English as "moonshine"

Another Government Employee: Sounds like something the Dropkick Murphy's would write a song about.

Please don't give them any ideas.

jaytkay: Komplex: When they should "Take our country back" they are talking about taking it back for the Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Asians etc.. and giving it to back to the White Christian Southern Males.

32oz High Life: All white Christian southern males are terrible people who should just go ahead and kill themselves because they're so terrible.

jaytkay: conservatives love to play the victim and lash out

It really does write itself, doesn't it?


realmolo: Of course, taking "pride" in your race is a stupid, backward, racist idea in general, but that's a different discussion.

+1

The accomplishments of one person, or even group of people in no way reflect upon yourself unless you were that person/group. Sharing a flesh tone or country of origin doesn't grant you any share of which to be proud. Not only that, you don't get your pick of ethnicity. You didn't do anything to be what you are. You have nothing to be proud of in regards to where you came from. Accidents of birth do not qualify as reasons to be prideful.

All of that being said, there is a very real reason to be happy when, as an oppressed class, someone from your same class manages to do something great. It provides evidence that being one thing does not preclude you from greatness. Oprah and Obama could never have existed just 100 years ago. Yet here they are as examples of what is possible for women and "blacks". (I really hate racial terms) This really is one of those times the Fark filter is appropriate: "Successful and Attractive African American." (hate racial qualifiers as well...) But here we are, with icons of possibility for young people who would historically be held down and refused participation. Oprah's success doesn't lend you any benefits, but it does set the precedent. You can be rich and powerful regardless as to whether you are a woman or of an historically oppressed ethnicity. Obama proves that, while there is going to be a great amount of friction, you can even be president (sorry girls, we're still not there yet*).

* Yes, that's a joke. Hillary could have been our first female president had she not a) been running against a personality cult and b) not been Hillary Clinton.

tl;dr - Shove your unearned pride up your ass. People who look like you or came from your social standing are trail blazers, not personal avatars.

Sarah Palin's Conscience: tomWright: That's racist

I am going to sound like an ignorant sow for asking this, but why is it not OK for a white person to take pride in being white? No one has ever given me a satisfactory answer.

Because there is no such thing as "white". "White" as a racial identifier is a moving target that is basically defined by who it excludes rather than who it includes. The Irish, the Italians, the Germans, the Poles, and most especially the Jews were not, at one point considered "white" by those who called themselves that. So in essence "White" really means "not black/brown/other"\

So there really is no "White" heritage or culture to celebrate, so celebrating "white pride" is really celebrating membership in group that defines itself solely by who it excludes