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[Adapted from the latest Radio Derb, now available exclusively on VDARE.com]
Tomorrow, Sunday March 17th, we mark St. Patrick’s Day. I’m sure you all know the story of St. Patrick, but I’ll offer a very brief reminder.
Patrick was a BRITISH! lad who, when just a teenager, was kidnapped by raiders from IRELAND!! and carried off to be a SLAVE!!! in their country.
ARRGH!!
This was actually a common occurrence sixteen hundred years ago. Some of us Brits have been petitioning the U.K. government to bring a case for reparations against the Irish in the International Court of Justice, but so far without result.
Eventually, young Patrick escaped back to Britain, where he then studied to become a priest. After ordination he returned to Ireland to convert his former slavemasters. Snakes feature in the story somehow, but I forget the details.
Patrick duly became the principal Patron Saint of Ireland. And there is news from Ireland on the cultural front that’s worth noting.
The people of Ireland—the Republic of Ireland—had a referendum on March 8th.
The referendum concerned their country’s Constitution, which has been the basis of Ireland’s law and identity since its adoption in 1937.
In particular, the referendum was about whether or not to amend two particular parts of the Constitution. To amend them or not to amend them? Yay or nay?
Both concerned Article 41, which concerns the family. Currently, it opens with a firm declaration of the importance of that institution.
The state recognizes the family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.
The state pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of marriage, on which the family is founded, and to protect it against attack.
That’s Section 41.1. Immediately following is Section 41.2:
In particular, the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.
The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.
I’m sure you see the problems there. “The institution of marriage, on which the family is founded”? “By her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved”?
You can hear the Progressives howling. WHAT IS THIS, THE MIDDLE AGES? AFGHANISTAN?
So the proposals before the voters were to amend the Constitution by changing the wording there.
The proposal for that first section there was to change it with an addition and a subtraction. The addition would have enlarged the section by adding a qualifying clause after the word “family.” Here’s the proposed clause: “Whether founded on marriage or on other durable relationships.”.
That addition of words in the first section was to be swiftly balanced by a subtraction. In the existing Constitution the word “marriage” is followed by the clause “on which the family is founded.” The proposal would have struck out that clause.
For the second section, about a woman’s life within the home as a key support of the State, the proposal was for total replacement. The section would be replaced by new wording that identifies as the key support “the provision of care, by members of a family to one another by reason of the bonds that exist among them.”
The word “woman” would then not be present at all.
So Yay votes on these two questions would amend Ireland’s Constitution to bring it more into line with the sensibilities of our Ruling Classes in the modern Western world.
A key axiom of those sensibilities is of course that there is no such thing as sex. So what need to mention women or traditional marriage in one’s national Constitution?
So on March 8—which happened to be International Women’s Day—Ireland’s voters went to the polls to vote on these Constitutional amendments.
The result, not to keep you in suspense: Overwhelming majorities voted Nay on both proposals.
- On the first, the one with an addition and a subtraction both designed to suck all meaning from the word “marriage,” the Nays were 68 percent.
- On the second, the one annihilating talk of “a woman’s life within the home,” the Nays were 74 percent.
Ireland Rejects Constitution Changes, Keeping ‘Women in the Home’ Language, by Megan Specia, NY Times, March 9, 2024
The single district that voted Yay: Dún Laoghaire, an upscale suburb of Ireland’s capital Dublin, no doubt contaminated, I’m ashamed to say, by its historic role as the terminus of the ferry from England.
The large context here is the West’s Cultural Revolution, in which Ireland has played the part of a key indicator.
I’ve been writing about this for more than twenty years. Here I was for example in March 2002 at National Review Online, a column I titled “All Eyes to Ireland.”
“All changed, changed utterly: a terrible beauty is born,” remarked Yeats at the time of the Easter Rising. What has actually been born in Ireland during this past 20 years has been a modern, secular, hedonistic welfare state with a globalized economy, a Marxified Academy, a crime problem, a drug problem, an immigration problem and a terrorist problem. Is that terrible? Or beautiful? Your answer is probably a good indicator as to whether or not you are going to enjoy the first half of the 21st century.
Ireland’s swing towards Leftism is all the more striking because the country was, until it joined the European Union in 1973, one of the most rigidly conservative nations in Europe, the Roman Catholic church dominant in its cultural life. I can testify to that: I first visited Ireland in the mid-1960s.
That has all been swept away, as Mary Kenny wrote in Goodbye to Catholic Ireland. Another couple of decades, in my May 2020 Diary here at VDARE.com, I passed on a report I’d had from a Croatian friend living and working in Ireland.
This is the most pozzed country in the world. If Ireland ever was a Catholic country with a rebellious attitude, that part of it is dead. Installation of the new religion has been completed here—diversity, multiculturalism, equality, feminism, those are the new gods …
The largest event in Dublin is the Gay Pride Parade … Abortion is practically celebrated as a new sacrament …
ORDER IT NOWThe term “wife” is slowly being replaced by “partner.” Women are far less charming and far more bossy around here. I ran my mouth after a couple of beers at a company Christmas party and found that men here are completely neutered: they find my Balkan jokes demeaning to women …
That last remark of my Croatian friend’s stirred something I keep noticing in the deep background of news stories about Ireland: the feminization of the place.
It goes way back: I remember noticing that bossiness and lack of charm in the 1960s.
I hasten to add of course that it is not universal. In subsequent decades I have encountered many demure and charming Irish females—for example, Lydia Brimelow—and have even dated a couple.
The female sex in all generality does, however, contain a ferocious subset; and I do suspect, with my Croatian friend, that the subset of ferocious females is larger in Ireland than the world average.
I further suspect that this female ferocity was a major driving force in Ireland’s transformation from a deeply conservative cultural backwater to its recent status as what I have called the Heart of Wokeness.
And now, this referendum result. That 44 percent turnout is rather low, so perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into it. It does, though, suggest the possibility that the Irish have taken as much Wokeness as they can stomach.
I doubt there will be a return to the poor, proud, pre-1973 Ireland—the Ireland in which, to quote an old quip, citizens were expected to occupy their spare time sitting around a peat fire discussing the Council of Trent in Gaelic.
The Irish may, though, be waking up to the loss of their national identity.
If they are, a key factor in the awakening has surely been mass immigration. The past few years have seen numerous demonstrations by native Irish people against their replacement. Radio Derb has passed comment on this; so has VDARE.com’s Irish correspondent Pádraic O’Bannon.
Of all the destruction brought upon Western society by radical progressivism—the mutilation of children, the downgrading of merit, the enstupidation of our schools, the canceling and witch-hunting—of all these horrors, uncontrolled mass immigration may at last have made its way to the front of citizens’ attention.
For many years it crept forward quietly, insidiously—the proverbial boiling of a frog. Now it is in plain sight, visible to all, and resented by most.
In Ireland it likely helped to deliver those No votes in the March 8 referendum.
In the U.S.A., it may decide this year’s presidential election.
John Derbyshire [email him] writes an incredible amount on all sorts of subjects for all kinds of outlets. (This no longer includes National Review, whose editors had some kind of tantrum and fired him.) He is the author of We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism and several other books. He has had two books published by VDARE.com com: FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT (also available in Kindle) and FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT II: ESSAYS 2013.
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Speaking of Irish women,
“So as the genocide continues, you want to talk about everything but Gaza.”
Clare Daly (February 6, 2024)
I suspect that Ireland’s new progressive ruling class will simply impose its will on the majority, one way or another, referenda or no referenda. The solution is the destruction of that class.
Ireland used to work much like Scandinavia, as a Genetic Reservoir for repopulating more southernly climes with influxes of whites.
Dublin is rapidly embrownening.
The women can only stand so much that removes their traditional privileges and roles. If they wake up, always a dubious possibility, they’ll wake up like a cold wind out of the north and blow away all the inhuman policies foisted upon us by liberal capitalism.
I’m sure you know this already, but both the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and the Minister for Children, etc, are both proud homosexuals.
I landed in Dublin one day some thirty years ago, just after the decriminalization of homosexuality in Ireland. That day happened to be the day of what must have been one of the first Gay Pride parades. I was in a pub with some friends when the door swung open. In marched a little fella wearing only black leather trousers and a dog collar. Immediately following was a big fella, also clad only in black leather trousers and holding a lead that was clipped to the little guy’s dog collar. The bartender looked up from washing glasses and said, “Get the f**k out of here!” They minced around on their little heels and marched out, to the jeers of my fellow tipplers.
These days, the barkeep would be up on charges.
The president of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, is a homosexual Indian.
The Irish like the rest of the West abandoned Christ for thirty pieces of silver offered by the people defined by their opposition to Christ who control the international financial system and ultimately seek to destroy even the last vestiges of Christianity and Christian culture.
EMJ knows (((who’s))) behind the slaughter of Ireland.
Harvard Professor (Ben Edelman) Sues Small Chinese Restaurant Over 4$
Video Link
Thanks for the laugh! 🤣
Irish are apparently Palestinian/Hamas sympathizers! Here’s an idea: Move the Palestinians into Ireland and let Ireland become their “state”.
Can’t get any clownier
In Dublin–or The Hague?
What a (((dick))).
Reading here, Ireland in the 1970s reminds me of China now. In both pre sexual revolution places, their young women became incredibly promiscuous. They were brought up as if sex didn’t exist, and once liberated went on heat. Chinese girls have a habit of sneaking Western men into salubrious places for sex as happened to the Mayor of Auckland. John Derbyshire’s own experience in China although several decades ago reflects this. Irish girls became famous for getting pregnant. That was blamed on them not getting sex education! That hasn’t happened yet in China because of plentiful abortion and other issues. Feminism is coming into China. A young woman complained of sexual harassment by a senior official. She has suitably disappeared.
It actually gets better. There was a black American in the pub who promptly came out with, “ Well, at least no one is staring at ME any more.”
Why is it that Israelis love genocide except when it happens to them?
“Heads J-Mac… we’ve spotted meamjojo at 10 o’clock”
My old Aunt from up in Ottawa Canada just e mailed me. The St Patricks day Parade is canceled again for the 5 year after over 100 years of running due to lack of funding. But the gay and the tranny and the indigenous parade gets funded up there.
Why does it require funding? The Irish are ridiculously passive….
Nothing to disagree with here. The Irish under Michael Collins fought a short but intense guerilla war against the Judeo-British Imperium just over a century ago. His famous retort to an Imperial officer who complained to him about showing up late for the change of colors at Dublin Castle was that the Irish had been waiting 700 years. Collins was killed in an ambush from an opposing faction of Irish not long after. The Irish government that was installed in 1922 was still tied to the (((City of London))) for its finances and even had a representative of the Crown in the government of the Irish Free State, which despite the name was actually a Dominion of the British Empire (like Canada). It did not become the Irish Republic until 1937 and wasn’t mostly independent until a decade later. Now it’s run on fake money which is created ex nihilo by the ECB instead of City of London. Though officially neutral in WW II, British planes were allowed to overfly the republic to attack German vessels and protect convoys.
Though somewhat independent until 2000 the fools in Ireland gave away the hard-won shreds of sovereignty to the monstrous EUSSR over two decades ago. Now there are even whispers of joining NATO, which will ensure its return to total slavery to the Empire of Lies. The so-called ‘Nationalists’ in Ireland are as fake-and-gay as those in Scotland (whose SNP is now headed by a Paki Musloid) and Wales, whose nationalists are considering an African import as their leader.
Though Jones is correct about who has been behind this destruction, he’s a firm believer in magic dirt. Like the EUSSR clown-nomenklatura running Ireland at present, Jones believes that moving a Haitian cannibal to County Cork will make him as Irish as someone whose ancestors there go back thousands of yearss – ready to drop the long-pork for corned beef and cabbage. It’s kind of amusing how the folks who continually broadcast such obvious bullshit never make the argument that they can move anytime to China or Africa and they’ll be just as African as Obama’s putative father was, or as Chinese as Chairman Xi.
Well Derb, it’s only a matter of time before leprechauns and fairies rise up and do what they do best.
May those three lovely Irish lasses, Candy, Mandy and Brandy dance upon your floor and fill your pint with joy.
Slointe!
The names of the two leather clad individuals were Patrick Fitzerald and Gerald Fitzpatrick.
I support the restaurant owner but sitting through that video was like passing a kidney stone.
I miss these men and you should too.
Exhibit A for bossy, charmless, humorless, bullying, priggish Irish scold. And a troublemaker, to boot.
You are too IQ deficient to understand what the definition of the word genocide is.
The main issue that is really pissing the people of Ireland off is the immigration policies of that gay half dot wanker. They may not want the Irish constitution’s definition of marriage to be removed, but they are aren’t going to start rounding up gay couples any time soon. Already there has been push back from the Irish people on buildings being turned into hostels for Third Worlders and others.
Had I the wit to come out with that at the time, I’d have had all my drinks bought for me.
Francisco Franco was the greatest man of the 20th Century.
National Merit Scholar. The real news is that all the young people see what’s going on. The scales have fallen from the eyes of millions.
The Catholic Church pretty much discredited itself in Ireland when its decades of protection and shielding of pedophile and sexually-perverted clergy became known.
If true, NMS must have very low standards. Or an example of how book learning fails to match with real world.
The Catholic Church didn’t ‘eff up Ireland so much as Ireland ‘effed up the Catholic Church.
Of course a third world ponce like Varadkar wants to destroy the healthy Celtic nuclear family. Only surprised that people are finally seeing thru it.
It would be funny if he really does look like that…
You probably believe the Holocaust narrative as well. The shrunken heads, lampshades,… the whole nine yards.
Silly little boy comment
Peaked in High School says what? Where you a cheerleader too?
Mr. Shire, I thought you said “Are the Irish Repellant Again?” so nevermind.
The IRA is the military arm of Sinn Fein. Don’t let the media give you the backwards version.
I have face-blindness. Is this someone I’m supposed to recognize?
When the parliamentary representation of Ireland’s conventional parties is reduced by 70% and north of 15% of the legislature is drawn from patriotic parties, we can begin to take notice. France has at least achieved that. Ireland’s not on first base yet.
https://vdare.com/radio-derb/have-the-irish-had-enough-woke-out-of-nato-and-letitia-james-vs-fdny-etc
https://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/RadioDerb/2024-03-15.html
Good man John. Interesting comments
Yup, the immigration thing is really waking people up. Mohammed is allowed four wives, and they all have lots of children. If we vote for durable relationships, he can bring his other wives and children over.
We are lucky that we can see what has happened to our neighbours in Britain with the darkie influx. It’s definitely very unpopular.
The Govt know we hate it, but while they utter soothing words, they are actually increasing the influx. They want to cram as many in as possible before they are forced to stop.
Hundreds of protests, dozens of burnt buildings and still they continue.
How do we force the government to stop the madness?
One way is to exert psychologiocal pressure on individual politicians and state agents. Let them know that they are strongly disliked. Man is a social animal, and if the politicians are scared to walk down the street, that affects their mental health, and eventually they have a nervous breakdown and resign. It’s true that another treacherous Irishman will step into that job, so it doesn’t solve the problem, but it is a setback for them.
Our handsome homosexual Indian chief, Mr Varadkar, resigned t’other day, and IMO the guy is clearly suffering mentally from the dislike directed at him every time he goes out.
He is entitled to armed police protection for the rest of his life, but if we could get a campaign going to remove that protection, he would be scared to stay in Ireland. Be warned: he’s probably in line for some EU/UN top job, so don’t be surprised to see him surface in your area. Top embarassing question for him, if you ever get face to face: hey Leo, whatever happened to all those cute refugee children who went missing from Irish state care???
He’s being replaced as Top Dog by abortion and child tranny mutilation enthusiast, Sssimon Hariss. I don’t want to get too personal, but profile pictures of him show a really huge nose. Has never worked at anything, except politics.
Oliver StJohn Gogarty wrote a book in the 1930s: As I was walking down Sackville street. He makes some serious young girl type allegations against a certain Mr Harris, from a non-Irish ethnic minority and was sued for it. Is he any relation?
Anything about Gaza in this one, minion?
De Gaulle was an idiot. France would be far better off had he been offed rather than Admiral Darlan.
Historically, the Irish fervent adherence to Rome was political. It was only when Henry VIII went Protestant, the Irish suddenly got very loyal to Rome.
However, for about four hundred years, the entire rationale for England ruling Ireland was the reverse—the Celtic Church was too heterodox for Rome, and so the papal bull Laudibiliter (granted by the still-only English pope Adrian) granted the English the right to rule Ireland to bring them more in line with Rome. And even then it was only a Lordship, not Kingship. When Henry 8 went protestant the English gave up being legitimate and just declared Ireland a separate kingdom that their kings/queens ruled.
In response, the Irish got very loyal to Rome — a thumb to the nose and a way to keep English-led religious ideas out. And of course Ireland’s natural old ally against England was Spain, the foremost homodox Catholic country in the world, the richest country in the world at the time, and the major sea power to rivla England. So the Irish had two diplomatic reasons to come quite in line with the Pope—Catholic help against England in the form of Spain and Rome.
The Irish affinity for Arab terrorism is even more of a disgrace than the regrettably long list of Irish-American politicians who undermined us during the Cold War and pushed destructive immigration and cultural policies.
Being of mostly Irish ancestry myself, it galls me personally beyond the objective and overall obnoxiousness and stupidity involved.
Arabs until recently only attacked Jews. Your Jewishness is obvious.
Our friend Samantha who said Hilary was a monster. Even a stopped clock is right twice a a day.
Get back to where you once belonged.
You might like to take a look at this.
https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/st-patricks-breastplate.html
There was no Spanish or French diplomatic or military aid to Ireland between the Napoleonic Wars and WW1. In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries the Irish tended to seek and get aid from the predominantly Protestant German Empire headed by a Protestant Emperor.
And, regrettably, also seeking aid in the Cold War era from the Communist and Islamic worlds – at least the more radical nationalists did.
In any case, while it is true that after the Napoleonic Wars the prospect of help from Spain and France withered, both powers helped Ireland periodically up to that time, and the fear of them doing so was a major motivation for English anti-Catholicism. Once that prospect faded, London saw it as safer to enact Catholic Emancipation.
Sigh. No. As with so many yahoos online, your smug confident paranioa is directly proportional to your wrongness.
And as is usually the case with Jew-hating crackpots and idiots, you seem physically unable to grasp the idea that a non-Jew could be a friend of Israel despite the US being, what 98% non-Jewish and yet solidly pro-Israel… and despite how if you were assumed to be a Muslim or Arab based on your relentless animus you’d immediately see how stupid that idea is.
In any case, how do you define “recently”? Arabs have rioted against and massacred Jews for over a century in the area, and that’s just in modern history.
Do you imagine that when the newly-Islamized Arabs exploded out of the Arabian Peninsula to invade the Jewish homeland as well as a vast empire stretching from Morocco to India, from Anatolia to East Africa, that they were peaceful and welcomed with flower-strewing throngs?
The moneymen the Irish sold out to were the Germans, not the Jews. After centuries of suffering and endless failed revolts and sacrifice, Ireland only enjoyed independence for a few scant decades before rushing into the EU, handing over their hard-won sovereignty for a few deutsche marks of development aid and subsidies.