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.

I have come to debunk one of history’s longest standing urban legends:

The faucets in Russia do NOT in fact spout vodka but just plain old water. You heard it here first.

Sorry, General Ripper:

Although it’s still possible that this change happened post-1991.

(Cross posted at Facebook and LiveJournal.)

dum dee dum, it’s my birthday. It’s the second time in my life that my age is divisible by 11. It will probably happen about 5 more times (hopefully). Let us reflect…

Who am I? No, really, WHO AM I? Well I’m a 70th generation descendant of the Suebi tribe. While that sounds cool it’s mostly speculation combined with a little bit of research and math.

This much I know for certain: I’m a tenth generation Swiss Mennonite immigrant and a fourth generation English migrant. Northumberland to be precise, I believe. I’m also a eighth generation Dutch immigrant. I have some Anglo-Norman roots and possibly some Scottish, too. But mostly there’s German, Dutch and English blood flowing through my veins giving me a fairly well-rounded Germanic heritage.

I want to be proud of my Germanic heritage, I really do. Unfortunately, unlike other groups like the Slavs or the Celts there’s a stigma attached to the idea of a united Germanic ethnicity. You see, there once was this historical figure who was also very proud of his Germanic heritage. His name was Adolf Hitler. Much the same way he ruined the name “Adolf” and the toothbrush moustache, he’s ruined Germanic pride. What a douchebag.

Historically national identity has been very closely tied with religious identity and this is no different in my case. My mom’s family were all Anglicans from England. My dad’s family ultimately hailed from the Old Swiss Confederacy, the birthplace of Anabaptism and the Dutch Republic, which encapsulated Friesland, the birthplace of the Mennonites. As for me personally, I’m still searching. And for me faith is a very private, intimate matter. You could say I’m a lapsed-deist monotheist. But there were two paths I have been exploring. They were two that appealed to me the most and incidentally they both have deep connections with the Germanic peoples.

After exploring Anglicanism I concluded it was a little too traditional for me and I was also uncomfortable with the intimate links it has with the British monarchy. So I next looked to Lutheranism. Martin Luther was, of course, born in the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism spread to the Nordic countries where it still functions as an established church in most of them.

The other, more enigmatic, form of Christianity that piqued my interest was Arianism. This school of thought, later to be deemed a heresy was founded by Arius, a Berber priest from Egypt. For awhile it seemed posed to become the dominant form of Christianity. Eventually, however, it was decisively crushed at the Council of Nicaea. However, in the meantime, many of the Germanic “barbarians” had already been converted to Arian Christianity. Odoacer, the first ruler of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire was such a person. Eventually however, the orthodox catholic doctrines won out. Oh well.

After writing this, I am still no closer to my answer of who I am.