(no subject)
I went to the grocery store at like 11 last night and it's the absolute best time to go shopping because that's when there are the absolute fewest other people in the store. None of that EXCUSE ME YOU'RE STANDING BETWEEN ME AND THE POP TARTS crap, no having to pretend to like people I don't know (which is basically what politeness is), and no chance of happening across someone I know but have NO interest in talking to.
I seriously seriously hate public places and I'm only just now coming to realize it. Maureen and I actually got into a fight about this at the mall because I said something about this whole KISS ME I'M IRISH I'M A DRINKER NOT A FIGHTER thing being commercialized and trendy, which it is. Embracing your ethnic/cultural identity is one thing but there are a lot of people who are all YAY IRISH YAY who wouldn't know Michael Collins from Michael Jackson, and that's a problem. I try to boycott St. Patrick's Day as much as possible because a. I'm not Irish so who cares b. I'm not Catholic so again who cares and c. It's a stupid fucking holiday. If the idea of it was still about some super awesome Irish guy who did some super awesome shit that'd be fine but it's not. Not in the US anyway. Around here it's about saying HEY LOOKIT ME I'M FUCKIN' IRISH or I'M NOT IRISH BUT EVERYONE'S IRISH ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Which is a meaningless sentiment. And kind of prejudicial if you think about it. The implication is that you need to be Irish to enjoy St. Patrick's Day and the way to "be Irish" is to get silly drunk. And for some reason we find this OK but what if on Martin Luther King Day we all sat around eating watermelon and fried chicken?
Not that it really matters because no matter what I say every March I'm going to think these same thoughts and nothing is going to change. I'm not saying people should stop being proud of being Irish (although pride would imply some sort of accomplishment and sorry, but being born Irish is not that impressive to me), but stop oversimplifying it to the point of GET SHITFACED AND PUKE GREEN. Maybe it's the pedagogue in me but I kind of think that we should use St. Patrick's Day to learn about Irish history because that shit is highly interesting. We kind of have the same problem with MLK day in that we just kind of say "Oh well racism used to be problem but then this guy came along and everything is ok now." Little kids should be learning actual stuff about the civil rights movement but more to the point they should be learning about how we're still a long way away from the Dream coming true. And hey, don't get me wrong we've come a long way. I still get goosebumps when I remember that we have a black president, but intolerance is still very fucking real.
I've wandered a bit from my original point but regardless I still hate public places. I also hate St. Patrick's Day but not Irish people so I think we're still OK.
I seriously seriously hate public places and I'm only just now coming to realize it. Maureen and I actually got into a fight about this at the mall because I said something about this whole KISS ME I'M IRISH I'M A DRINKER NOT A FIGHTER thing being commercialized and trendy, which it is. Embracing your ethnic/cultural identity is one thing but there are a lot of people who are all YAY IRISH YAY who wouldn't know Michael Collins from Michael Jackson, and that's a problem. I try to boycott St. Patrick's Day as much as possible because a. I'm not Irish so who cares b. I'm not Catholic so again who cares and c. It's a stupid fucking holiday. If the idea of it was still about some super awesome Irish guy who did some super awesome shit that'd be fine but it's not. Not in the US anyway. Around here it's about saying HEY LOOKIT ME I'M FUCKIN' IRISH or I'M NOT IRISH BUT EVERYONE'S IRISH ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY! Which is a meaningless sentiment. And kind of prejudicial if you think about it. The implication is that you need to be Irish to enjoy St. Patrick's Day and the way to "be Irish" is to get silly drunk. And for some reason we find this OK but what if on Martin Luther King Day we all sat around eating watermelon and fried chicken?
Not that it really matters because no matter what I say every March I'm going to think these same thoughts and nothing is going to change. I'm not saying people should stop being proud of being Irish (although pride would imply some sort of accomplishment and sorry, but being born Irish is not that impressive to me), but stop oversimplifying it to the point of GET SHITFACED AND PUKE GREEN. Maybe it's the pedagogue in me but I kind of think that we should use St. Patrick's Day to learn about Irish history because that shit is highly interesting. We kind of have the same problem with MLK day in that we just kind of say "Oh well racism used to be problem but then this guy came along and everything is ok now." Little kids should be learning actual stuff about the civil rights movement but more to the point they should be learning about how we're still a long way away from the Dream coming true. And hey, don't get me wrong we've come a long way. I still get goosebumps when I remember that we have a black president, but intolerance is still very fucking real.
I've wandered a bit from my original point but regardless I still hate public places. I also hate St. Patrick's Day but not Irish people so I think we're still OK.