‼️ The Irish Difference: The Story of Ireland's 400-Year Journey to Independence by Fergal Tobin ‼️
64/∞
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5)
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📚 Length: 320 pages
🔊Audiobook: 8 hrs and 45 min
Why you should read this book?
💡 To develop your understanding of distinct Irish culture.
💡 To learn about 'the tyranny od distance.'
💡 To see what implication had the Great Famine on today’s Ireland.
My very first encounters with Irish happened in Wales. 🏴 Back then I thought that everybody living in the UK 🇬🇧 is English 🏴, but then there was this girl who worked with me at the bar… I cannot recollect her name. When there was Brexit, she deleted me off her Facebook, because I said in a FB post that all British are cunts for betraying and leaving the EU. Life. 🤷♂️ She said she is Irish, I believe she said somewhere from Belfast. Anyway, all I remember from talking to her is that she said there are no jobs in Northern Ireland and the only way to make was to leave and go to the UK. The first hand Irish dream I would call it. Then I haven’t heard about Ireland for years. In Germany at the university, I met two girls who were studying German there. That was shock for me, British are usually not bothered to learn second or third language, unless they are children of immigrants and their excuse is that they are 'bad' when it comes to languages. As you can see my initial judgment of Irish was very 'British centric' and I was presuming that all the inhabitants of the British islands are the same or at least very similar. My surprise was that the Irish were alright with studying foreign languages. I was also told by one of these Irish girls that the weather in Ireland is very different to the one on the Continent. In Ireland it rains a couple of times a day even when it is summer and even when it is sunny and you are leaving your home. So you always better take your goddam umbrella with you and your raincoat. After that I visited Ireland once. But I went only to Dublin and it was… meh… 😬 Shit weather, loads of homeless and expensive. I did not get to know the country properly, until I moved there for my masters couple of years later and then I got a slightly different picture of what Ireland actually is. Now, that was the reason why I read this book, because I wanted to fill some gaps in that picture.
...
This book is written from the Irish perspective and is focused on the differences between the Irish and their nearest neighbours: the UK. When you first arrive to Ireland, you are probably going to be wondering, why are there two Irelands. The republic and the Northern Ireland ruled still by the crown. 🇬🇧👑 While the difference might seem unimportant from the perspective of foreign observer, in the context of Ireland, being a protestant or catholic plays a major significance.
Protestants vs Catholics (Orange 🟧 vs Green 🟩)
On the continent were wars over religion, but these wars started as early as 15th century. They were usually connect to the efforts to reform the Catholic church. The catholic church was growing opulent and more and more corrupt over centuries. The people who disliked it, realised that the catholic church cannot be reformed and started different strands of christian churches. They include Hussites, Lutherans, Calvinists etc. It took a while to achieve total religious freedom on the continent. But in Ireland being a protestant or being a catholic is less about the freedom of faith, but more about the affiliation to the British crown. Britons were mainly protestants, while Irish were catholics.
Catholic education played a significant role in educating Irish elite.
There is a funny song called The Orange and the Green by Irish Rovers.
“Oh, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen.
My father, he was Orange and me mother, she was green.“
…
The Tyranny of Distance
Romans called Ireland Hibernia. The sleeping or we can even say 'hibernating’ land. There was not much worth colonising and the Romans got satisfied with exploiting the territories in today’s England and Wales. Mainly because there were rich mineral resources. Ireland had nothing and therefore it was left to its own on the verge of the Roman empire. While Romans introduced what would be today’s Welsh and English to many wonders of public administration (such as collection of taxes), Ireland was sparred to such novelties. In my own personal opinion, this plays the role until today. The Republic of Ireland has very low taxes and the government is keen to grant many tax returns to its citizens. But in the UK, the tax collection is a bit of a less of a 'fan.' When you pay late, you get harassed immediately by the government. While in some other countries (incl. Ireland), it is a custom to do a bit of 'thug of war' with the government and see who gets the biggest slice of a pie and who gets to pay the latest. The Republic is very lenient when it comes to inviting international companies such as Google, LinkedIN, Amazon and Apple with the incentive of paying very little to no tax. On the other hand the Republic has no army, no fighter-jets, a handful of battleships. On the other hand, Ireland is so far away from all European epicentres, that I doubt that someone would want to nuke it and colonise it for their own convenience. 🤷♂️
This was historically the biggest advantage of Ireland. England could invade and totally submit Ireland to the Crown, 👑 but they have never done that because the invasion would be too costly and the gains would be, let’s put it simply, negligible.
As you first arrive to Ireland and you start to talk to the natives, you will notice some kind of weird trauma. Tobin calls it elegantly 'the tyranny of distance,' the Irish will simply say that Ireland is quite far away from everything.
While in the past it was certainly true, I would not dare to say it is true today. The tyranny of distance was bridged by Ryanair. The fact you can get a 20 EUR getaway from Ireland to the continent and back makes Ireland way more accessible today. In the past, it was a whole different story of course.
The Great Famine
According to Tobin, the Great Famine still plays significant milestone in Irish history. He calls is 'British induced' and since I have done some research on the Great Famine outside of this book, I would agree. The only stance I would correct him on is that he says that the Great Famine was the last sustenance crisis in Europe. That is not true. There was another Great Famine in Ukraine in 1930' when good old chap Stalin simply sold their supplies of wheat and Ukrainians went hungry. The Ukrainian famine was man made, but it was not the last famine in Europe since the Great Irish Famine.
Anyway, the Great famine seems to act like a vehicle of change in Irish history and is the most significant milestone on the way to Irish independence.
The Driver of the Nationalism
What I find interesting is that Irish language did not matter in Irish nationalism. What mattered was the religion. This is the completely opposite take on nationalism than I am familiar with. In the post Austro-Hungarian states, all that mattered was the language. Language was the main part of the identity, not religion. The language was driving the nationalism with its national songs, plays, poets, novels and so on.
I enjoyed especially the first half of the book. Somehow I am fascinated by the early history on British islands including Vikings, Norsemen and, early chieftains. The second part of the book speaks about the drivers behind the Irish nationalism after the Great Famine, significance of Gaelic Sports Association (GAA) and even dissects James Joyces’s Ulysses, which I haven’t dared to read, because I think it is a bit 'dada.'
Overall, it is a pretty good book. It is not organised exactly in chronological historical order, but if you want to learn more about Ireland, this book defo helps. 😉
👉 Buy this book! 👈 through my link and help me build this website! 😊
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ (5 out of 5)
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Coming Up Next:
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
Peace 🧘♂️✌️🌱
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