Yay! Let's bastardize an entire culture!

[SimuLord]

My grandfather would turn in his grave if I drank green beer and made a big deal out of St. Patrick's Day. He HATED the Irish and always talked about how great it is to be pure-blooded French on Bastille Day.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

I fully read your post, and well...you're certainly not wrong and I do see your point, I do, but the problem is that this is just what everyone has come to accept it as, and won't give it a second thought. Kinda like Christmas.

 

[Agayek]

What mainly pisses me off is the total disrespect for another culture, and it's certainly not just today. The Irish in particular are on top of the list of people who it's apparently alright to openly mock and marginalize, which is painful on a personal level, seeing as I'm a Canadian, another group in the top-list, with immediate Irish heritage. And it's even accepted in media! If I were to come out with a brand of breakfast sausages called "Big Willie's", with a circa 1917 caricature of a German as the mascot, I'd be sued out of business before you could say "Ludendorff".

To be fair, we (Americans) mock, marginalize and disparage everyone. Don't take it personally.

 

[Legend of J]

The main thing i find anoying about st. patricks day is its an entire fingre up to the irish ive never seen so much racial hate on one day to us irish. Everyone thinks there irish its maybe i should act like a d**** and run around in trakies mugging old people then ill be the exact same as the british people i know who do it. I really do feel that st.patricks day is overhyped the guy who wrote this topic has a bit of a point.

 

[VonBrewskie]

Just ignoring the entire history of Saint Patrick's Day, because most people who "celebrate" this holiday are exactly that: Ignorant, be honest, Saint Patrick's Day has become an even greater abomination every year.

I understand that the very origin of the day was a "day off" from Lent, but there's another point: How many of the people who love today so much were actually participating in Lent? How many even go to Church? How many even believe in any type of faith?

This whole practice sickens me. If I were to dress-up in an Uncle Sam outfit, get drunk on piss-quality red beer with white foam and a blue cup, go parading down Main Street singing "The Stars and Stripes Forever", and basically act like a hooligan, all in the name of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I'd get thrown in the loony bin after getting out of jail.

What mainly pisses me off is the total disrespect for another culture, and it's certainly not just today. The Irish in particular are on top of the list of people who it's apparently alright to openly mock and marginalize, which is painful on a personal level, seeing as I'm a Canadian, another group in the top-list, with immediate Irish heritage. And it's even accepted in media! If I were to come out with a brand of breakfast sausages called "Big Willie's", with a circa 1917 caricature of a German as the mascot, I'd be sued out of business before you could say "Ludendorff".

It's spreading, too. I noticed this past Lunar New Year that there were a few Chinese-centric instances of exploitative practices going on in my local community.



This is a rant, but one I fully stand behind. Maybe if we want to show the world that we people who play Video Games aren't as baseless and immoral as they mock and marginalize us as, we could start a movement of "Absolute Legitimate Equality", and denounce these filthy practices.



Seeing as I'm posting this to a forum, I fully expect a response, and am fully anticipating backlash, so do your worst. Oh, and if on the off-chance you're not here to bash me, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ocpv5EtokY

Start by demanding something be done about that (yes, this was in part "inspired" by that video).

I appreciate your argument, and your passion for the respectful representation of Irish culture. A lot of my Irish relatives share your chagrin with the way St. Paddy's day seems to have been marginalized. As an American-Irish, I would like to pose a counter-argument. I think St. Paddy's day is a great opportunity to share the history of my ancestors with people that are going out to celebrate, even if they don't necessarily know why. I find that folks in the spirit are very receptive to me when I ask them if they would like to know why St. Paddy's day exists. Especially if they come from a culture that has never heard of St. Patrick's Day. (I live near San Francisco. It seems that the largest body of people that don't know about St. Patrick's day in my neck of the woods are recent immigrants to California from the Asian countries. I have yet to meet a drunk Asian homie or homette on St. Patrick's Day that isn't keen to hear what it's all about.)

 

[w@rew0lf]

I think Thanksgiving might also be fairly intact. But then I noticed that most people don't give a shit about Thanksgiving until they're actually at the table. I give more than a shit than most because my birthday happens to occur during the week we get off.

I know the basic about the origins of thanksgiving and I lack the ability to care to learn more about it so whenever I think about it I just give it a comical undertone like this. "Hai gaise! We're the white peoples! And since y'all are about to start massively dying off due to the lack of immunity to our diseases, we decided that before y'all start droppin' like flies. LET'S HAVE SOME TURKAY!

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Just ignoring the entire history of Saint Patrick's Day, because most people who "celebrate" this holiday are exactly that: Ignorant, be honest, Saint Patrick's Day has become an even greater abomination every year.

You give people an excuse to get drunk (ie any holiday) and you can forget tradition. The simple fact of the matter is that people generally just don't care about the traditions of "Culture X" but they will gladly celebrate their holidays.

Its nothing new either, take a look at Christmas. Thats been constantly changed since the Victorian era and earlier.

Also, the general Xenophobia/mocking of certain nations will continue as long as there are different nations: whilst it is unfair and I don't (entirely) approve of it, there is nothing you can do about it.

Just be thankful that the Irish get mocked rather than used as slave labour or exterminated in the millions.

You don't know a lot about Irish history at all do you? although I wouldn't say millions by direct action but there have been millions altogether over the years.

OT: I am Irish I live in Ireland so I celebrate my patron Saint. Besides we don't need a day off Lent as it doesn't include Sundays. Seriously count the Sundays from Lent's start to Easter and you will count 6. Then count the days and you will get 46 days.

 

[Keepitclean]

It seems that you are thinking too hard about it. Maybe the mythology is more important than the facts on this particular occaision.

 

[zombiebeard]

Oh I thought this thread was going to be about Japan

Same here, high-five!

Edit: Whoops forgot to actually be productive.

St. Patrick's day.
A lot of idiots saying they're Irish
Wish they'd just go away, drink somewhere else you jerk
I work in a hotel plus bar
Yes I'm bitter.

 

[Polyintrinsic]

It's uptight people like the OP and everyone agreeing with him that create these cultural divides in society anyway. If you and all the uptight people would just stop crying about it then it wouldn't be a problem now would it? It's like your creating this problem just so you can cry about it later to anyone who cares. Seriously, it's only a big deal to you because you are making it a big deal... Relax. Now go buy some Irish Spring and clean your face up your make-up is running.

 

[AlexanderAstartes]

Meh, the majority of these holidays are pagan in orgin anyway, not Christian.

Tradition means little when it's usurped from other faiths anyway.

 

[Vondrakenhof]

I hate paddy's day. It's yet another excuse for our alcohol-centric culture to try and give themselves alcohol poisoning. And on top of that it celebrates religious intolerance. Paddy drove the snakes (aka anyone who wouldn't renounce their old religion) out.

 

[Sonofadiddly]

I completely ignore the holiday because I don't drink and drunk people annoy me. Is that better? But yeah, it is another culture exploited for the excuse to drink. The Hispanic culture gets it too, with Cinco de Mayo. Although I don't think I've ever actually heard anyone make fun of the Irish. Everyone I know is aware of the fact that the Irish are seriously awesome. But we do make fun of Canadians. And Eskimos.

 

[Sonofadiddly]

Boo fucking hoo OP. I'm sick of the conceded shit here. "Look at me! I'm better then the rest of the country because I point out the obvious!"
HEY! While were at it, let's ***** about Christmas, Easter, and Halloween!
And you know what? I'm Irish too! But do I whine and ***** about fucking JOKES!? NO. Because every country gets it! HELL! America makes fun of itself! And even if America DIDN'T insult itself. Every FUCKING day I see at least one America bashing post! So you know what? If your too touchy to take a joke, why not go live in a cave where nothing can ever insult you again. Maybe while your there, you could create a "perfect" society where everyone is the same and can't be made fun of! Where everyone gets equally paid and is ruled by the government. OH WAIT. IT'S CALLED FUCKING COMMUNISM!
Your right, culture doesn't stay the same. But if it did, we would be one of 2 things:
A: Cavemen
B: Non existent, the forbidden apple never would have been eaten.
So, fuck you OP. I'm sick of this shit. And this goes to anyone who wants to make another rant thread about ANYTHING remotely like this.

I'm so sick of people saying that Communists can't take a joke. Communists are as funny as any other political group!!

Seriously, how did Communism wind up in that rant? I was with you up until that point.

 

[YouCallMeNighthawk]

you sound like you need to take a chill pill. St.Patricks day is just an excuse to drink .... which i LOVE so yeah i hold this day with great joyfullness

 

[Denamic]

Seriously, who gives a shit?
"Culture" is overrated anyway.
Many times, "culture" promotes sexual discrimination, racism and other fine gems like that.
Culture itself has no inherent value, and 'preserving' it by keeping it exclusive only serves to breed xenophobia.

Just celebrate whatever you want.

 

[Mcupobob]

This whole practice sickens me. If I were to dress-up in an Uncle Sam outfit, get drunk on piss-quality red beer with white foam and a blue cup, go parading down Main Street singing "The Stars and Stripes Forever", and basically act like a hooligan, all in the name of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I'd get thrown in the loony bin after getting out of jail.

Thats how most of Americans celberate any holiday, In fact I bet after you get all dress up and go out in the streets, there prolly would be 10 others doing the same. Just relaxe all holidays have pretty much lost any meaning thats just how todays culture is.

 

[Doktor Merkwurdigliebe]

I wonder if people who celebrate this day actually know who St.Patrick was. I'm not English, but I study here, and in my oppinion the only reason why this celebration exists is to

get drunk on piss-quality red beer with white foam and a blue cup, go parading down Main Street singing "The Stars and Stripes Forever", and basically act like a hooligan

.

By the way, if my culture was shown in the mainstream as a loony redhaired midget dressed in green, I would be pissed off too.