Quote Originally Posted by gaelic cowboy View Post
What your actually describing is called Post-Colonialism and to remove it from a nation or a peoples character takes ages and ages. If you have had to conform to a certain trait for a long time it naturally takes a long time for people to grow out of it. An example is to watch any film about the Ireland before the say the 70's/80s the directors always get one thing wrong no woman or man would ever hold there head up like the young people of today.

Another example when asked how his day went on any particular day most Irish people will say "Ah not too bad now it could be worse" if pushed he might say it was "A fine day" or that it was "A grand day". No Irish person ever really wants to use words like superb, excellant, super, great or fantastic not that they couldnt but they generally wont.

Some people would say it comes from people needing a coping mechanism for the abject poverty and second class status they had in the past.

Patrick: "Oh jeez Sean you hurt your foot in an accident"
Sean: "Ah sure it could be worse I coulda have broke me leg so I could"


Patrick: "Oh jeez Sean you broke your leg in an accident"
Sean: "Ah sure it could be worse I coulda have lost me leg so I could"

Patrick: "Oh jeez Sean you lost your leg in an accident"
Sean: "Ah sure it could be worse I coulda died so I could"

Patrick: "Oh jeez me an Sean was in an accident and poor Seaneen was killed so he was"
Patrick: "Ah sure it could be worse I coulda being killed an all so I could"

Even the bailout gets treated the same "Ah sure it could be worse we could be Greece" or "Ah sure it could be worse we could owe more so we could" I even heard someone say rather after a skinfull how "Could be worse the Germans could set the Tans on us"

There is always something worse that could happen thats is the Irishmans coping mechanism.
So keep me honest here. The situation with Ireland strikes me as fundamentally different than the Civil War in America. I know that Cromwell was a ripe, giant bastard and what he did to the Irish is a sore spot that will probably be as much a part of the Irish self-identity for centuries and millennia to come. The other major aspect is the situation with Northern Ireland. As I understand it, NI is occupied mostly by the descendants of English settlers who came over during efforts by the English to systematically oust the Irish and redistribute land. In essense, Ireland is a partially "occupied" nation. That wouldn't sit well with me either. I know the discussions about potentially returning NI to Ireland is a long, drawn out, very complex and intricate discussion, but my understanding is that it's an ongoing process of talks to with no definite decisions at all in sight.