My man in Istanbul writes about Ben Affleck's Boston Irish bankrobber flick:
I watched "The Town." I liked it.
A deep, self-destructive voice in me said I wanted to be there, in Boston. I probably wouldn't amount to much of anything, not even something like those characters, but heck, who gives a ****. I like the Irish. Maybe they're... Turks of the North, I don't know.
So they're "dysfunctional," eh? Good, I like dysfunctional. I grew up in it, it's my home.
The melancholy, the absence of a ridiculous perkiness and an annoying smirk on the face, the quiet fortitude of stoicism... all of them are good.
**** optimism.
"Life is innocent and just" said Nietzsche -- to invert the ridiculous, phony pessimism of Liberalism which can't get over thinking that "life is unfair" and that the bloody Gov'ment should do something about it... as if It ever could.
Pain is an extreme form of sensitivity. And Fear -- the anticipation of Pain -- is Nature's way of whispering in your ear "Look out, buddy; I'm here. I'm not to be disrespected. Ever."
Merry Christmas!
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20 comments:
Is your man in Istanbul also a Coen brothers fan?
As most readers here will know, the character of James Bond was based at least in part on the real life spy Sidney Riley. Riley was one of the most eminent Irishmen of the twentieth century - but he was born a Russian Jew.
When asked about his adopted nationality he explained - everyone loves the Irish, everyone hates the Jews.
Albertosaurus
I assume the writer is a conservative leaning. Don't they generally hate macho 'respect' cultures and socially condoned criminality? Hmmm.
Irish as "Turks of the North"? Never heard that one before, although I have heard "N-----s of Europe". Ireland and Turkey do seem to have similar birth rates and demographics, and their people have a reputation as being somewhat more religious than other Europeans. Also, they appear to have scratched each others' backs on occasion: the Turkish Sultan sent aid to Ireland during the Great Famine, and Ireland was the only country in Europe to vote against the Treaty of Lausanne.
Anyone who thinks that a slumful of Irish is likely to exhibit "the quiet fortitude of stoicism" should have talked to my grandfather, who grew up in such a slum.
I like the Irish. Maybe they're... Turks of the North, I don't know. So they're "dysfunctional," eh? Good, I like dysfunctional. I grew up in it, it's my home.
LOL. All dysfunctional peoples identify with Irish, it seems. As a Russian, I've always felt some affinity for Irish. All that tortured soul stuff, drunkenness, great literature... All the stereotypes feel like home :-)
They're a funny easy going group of people. What's nit to like?
"They're a funny easy going group of people. What's nit to like?"
As an Irish dude, I have to agree.
We're pretty awesome. Sup, guys? Are we the Jews of the North Sea now?
I liked "The Town" a lot. Ben Affleck totally redeemed himself.
Good "Irish" scene was when MacRay (Affleck) hears that the girl he likes was hassled by some guys in the projects--earlier identified as immigrants--and he decides to pay them a visit with Coughlin (Renner).
Doug MacRay: I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people.
(Pause)
James Coughlin: Whose car we takin'?
Outside of Charleston and Southie, are there any tough Irish-American neighborhoods left on the east coast?
As a chinese, I sometimes have doubts about whether The Chinese are good for America--I certainly know that America is good for The Chinese.
Chinese people are different, their biological brain structures makes them different, and I hope they don't change America in their way..
thank you very much
i'm a turk and i get along well with irish people. also, I like redheads and murphys irish stout.
"Outside of Charleston and Southie, are there any tough Irish-American neighborhoods left on the east coast?"
Mine Mf'er
Dan in DC
As an American, I sometimes have doubts about whether Americans are good for America......!
Whenever the population of Irish is near 20% or greater of a place blacks will held in check (law of East Coast ethnic demography).
"We're pretty awesome. Sup, guys? Are we the Jews of the North Sea now?"
More like the Italians. If anyone's the Jews of the British Isles, I'd say the Scots--cheap, business-y, pugnacious, and smart.
"are there any tough Irish-American neighborhoods left on the east coast?"
Not the East Coast, but South Buffalo, NY still has plenty of tough and ethnically loyal Irishmen that make it uncomfortable for outsiders that may be looking for trouble upon entry.
In all my years growing up in the South I never heard as many frank comments about race by whites as I did in my three years in Buffalo. Even from erudite, college educated, literate, self-identifying liberals.
I'm half Italian and half Jewish. I like Irish people, on average, better than both of my groups.
I believe Philly probably still has some strong blue-collar neighborhoods with many Irish, like Fishtown and Mayfair.
East coast Irish neighborhood that physically resisted ethnic cleansing. Look no further than:
Grays Ferry, Southwest Philadelphia. Hard on the Schuykill River, right next to oil refineries and a DuPont chemical plant.
Even Randall "Tex" Cobb got his ass kicked there. Pulitzer prize winning journalist Pete Dexter had a beef with some guys there, Dexter asked Cobb to come with him as back-up, they both received baseball bats and tire irons to the face.
By the way, just adding on to my previous comment. I wasn't implying that it was violence that ultimately keeps the blacks out of certain neighborhoods. All that is needed is to mark ones territory correctly.
A solid urban neigbhorhood needs a critical mass of a certain type of person to ...
a. keep the pd and fd well-staffed
b. maintain a complex of ballfields where actual ballgames (field ball games not just hoops) are happening at a given time.
c. have at least one implicity white street event a year (could be a parade, octoberfest or what have you).
d. support a few old fashioned bars where the honest working class may occasionaly drink beside more unsavory characters.
e. keep housing projects out.
f. Getting back to "a" : having a lock-up in the neighborhood where any scofflaws can be educated in the "do's and don'ts of the city" is a nice intangible.
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