As an Irishman, I can say the Irish attitude to our neighbors in Britain is a curious one. The Queen came to Ireland last year and everyone was jolly pleased, marveling at what is essentially a nice old lady in a funny hat. Yet even I, a well-educated and dare I say charmingly handsome young man who is part of a generation that has no real reason to bare any quarrels with the British Isles, still wince at the sound of a quintessentially English accent.
Perhaps more interestingly I think we Irish simultaneously harbor a certain furtive love for the Brits. Yes, we may cheer every time they inevitably disappoint in a world sporting event, even though Ireland probably didn’t even qualify for it, but I think culturally we still look eastward in begrudging admiration at a lot of things. I’ve increasingly noticed this since I got to the good ol’ US of A.
I find myself proudly boasting of ostensibly British stuff. One such example of this came recently when I became involved in a rather heated debate about who is funnier, the Irish or Americans. I, of course, was wearing the green trunks for this one. Central to my contention was how infinitely better the UK version of “The Office” was compared to the American remake. My friend conceded that this was the case and I basked triumphantly in victory, blissfully ignorant to the fact that I won an argument about how funny Irish people are by citing a British television show. This duplicity of appearing feverishly independent and proud of our Irishness yet free to pick and choose the best parts of British culture to associate ourselves with is a peculiar little prerogative that Irish people earned from 800 years of unwanted occupancy, I guess.
Incidentally, I did agree that Americans are funny but perhaps more inadvertently so. A doughnut-based franchise that helps people run, being asked if I would like cheese with every item I’ve ever purchased, including cheese itself, the fact that Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than the average American family, and the Republican party in general all make me laugh regularly. But I’m not sure these are their respective intentions. Ironically, my friend whom I was having this argument did not understand this.
America, like Ireland, is quite a young nation and a former British colony, yet it doesn’t seem to mirror this subversive cultural fondness for our former overlords. Having not been occupied for as long as the Irish, the United States brushed off British imperialism and ironically set about launching their own version of it on the world. Ireland sort of limped, battered and bruised, into independence.
Yet for all its global dominance, the United States is an extremely insular place. Only 35 percent of Americans have a passport, according to a 2012 Forbes Magazine report. Pretty much everyone in Ireland has one, though you would too if you lived on an island that, for a large part, consists of empty fields and rocks.
People are extremely proud of their nationality here, to the point where there is seemingly no need to acknowledge much else outside these 50 states. The television, the cars, the music, the clothing, everything here is well, very American, even if it was probably made in China.
It speaks volumes that Irish Americans seem to have more pride in being Irish than the Irish themselves. As well as making American women weak at the knees (I jest, or do I?), my accent seems to evoke more Irish patriotism in Americans than I’ve ever experienced at home even if it might be a bit far-fetched at times. “OMG you are Irish,” they say. “I used to dog sit an Irish water spaniel.” “Wow, you should contact the embassy – that might make you eligible for citizenship,” I murmur.
It’s an old joke that Irish people identify themselves simply as “not British,” but that’s a fallacy. Take away the hubris of nationality and our innate anti-British sentiment and you’ll find not much difference between Britain and Ireland. Of course there are certain national characteristics specific to Ireland but not as many as we’d like to think there are.
So as an Irishman suffering a national identity crisis, I must admit to a certain admiration of your land’s sense of cultural independence, which judging by the show that’s on Fox News as I type this column, can even be independent of common sense at times.
– Greg McInerney can be reached at [email protected]
