Shaking Off

I strongly disagree with the EU bailing out Ireland in this time of crisis.  It is because I am reminded of another crisis in European history, a much, much more serious one in which Ireland turned its back on its continental brethren.

On July 17, 1941, continuing from a conversation started the previous day, TD James Dillon (possibly the greatest Irishman of the 20th century) gave an impassioned speech to the Dáil Committee on Finance.  Appealing to the deeply Christian nature of the Irish nation he, among other things said the following:

I say to-day that the German Nazi Axis seeks to enforce on every small nation in Europe the same beastly tyranny that we successfully fought 700 years to prevent the British Empire imposing on this country. I say—and I say it on the authority of Our Holy Father the Pope—that Germany in every small country which she has conquered has sought, not only to establish political domination, but to impose on the conquered peoples an atheist church which derides Christianity and which forbids the people of those States to serve God according to their consciences. I say—and here again I claim the authority of the Holy Father for the statement—that the Nazi domination, in every small State in Europe where it has been established, imposes upon the Christian peoples of those countries the obligation to choose between the Reich and Christ, and that statement is quoted further from the Pastoral Letter from the German Bishops to their own people.
Naval and air bases are required in this country by the United States of America and Great Britain.

The immediate response from deputy Andrew Fogarty summed up the views of every other Irish politician on the threat posed by Nazi Germany: I say the Deputy should be removed out of the House. I will put him out—quick, the corner-boy. If he does not shut his —mouth we will shut it for him.

In reality, I do believe aid should be given to the Irish but I think it should be accompanied with a formal condemnation of their actions, past and present, of moral relativism.  Neutrality is a war crime unto itself.

Meant to post this awhile ago…

Much ado has been made about Chancellor Merkel’s comments in regards to multiculturalism in Germany, that it has “utterly failed.”  At least they tried.  Certain former leaders of Germany were decidedly against multicultarism.

But frankly, I’m not surprised.  Multiculturalism is doomed to fail because too many immigrants are stuck in their ways, unwilling to integrate themselves into their new home.  This is partly why the whole idea of emigration has always baffled me.  Here you have people who are so proud of their country that they decide to leave it.  Huh?  Sure, many countries are poorer but if you truly loved your country you would stay there and try to build it into something great.  Of course the receiving nations’s national pride often evolves into xenophobia which is never a good thing but is worse if your country is the kind of place people like to immigrate to.

Of course it goes without saying that this doesn’t apply to refugees.  Refugees are those that leave their homes due to persecution: they don’t have a choice.  I love refugees, but said love has little to do with the people themselves.  I love refugees because I jump at any and every chance to ridicule foreign states possessing subpar human rights records.

Now here comes the twist: none of this applies to Canada, and to a lesser extent, Australia.  Founded by British subjects and populated with an assortment of European immigrants, our two countries were forged in the fire of the two world wars.  Since then it has become increasingly evident that our national identities are fairly shallow.

The Canadian nation began to die after the fall of the Diefenbaker government and we’ve been constitutionally multicultural since 1982.  As for down under, after the demise of White Australia their proximity to Asia and it’s plethora of unpleasant regimes made mass immigration inevitable.  With each passing year the Anzac legend dies a little bit more. Canada is beyond hope but republicanism could still save Australia, provided they want to be saved.

And it is only here, in countries void of a strong central identity, that multiculturalism can truly flourish.