“[Ireland] …refuses to accept its real size and weight in the world, and [its] writers and poets and musicians populate our imagination.” ~Christopher Hitchens

Things I learned…

From the beginning, the English viewed indigenous people on both sides of the Atlantic (America and Ireland) as strange and barbarous.

For centuries, England saw Ireland as both a security barrier and a springboard for westward colonization.

Ireland was the only region under 16th century Tudor influence to maintain a predominantly Catholic population. Though undoubtedly conquered both militarily and politically, it was never conquered spiritually.

The Reformation failed to take solid root on Irish soil. Many in England blamed the failure on Irish inferiority. The Irish, they claimed, could not intellectually grasp the complex Protestant theology—they just weren’t smart enough. Irish men and women in general were looked down upon as a primitive people that needed to be controlled and civilized. This is a perception that some believe still underscores English/Irish relations.

Of course there is a a great deal more to the story of Ireland than what I have written here, but it all boils down to this: You can end almost any statement of pertinent Irish history with the words, “…on religious grounds” and you will be correct almost every time.

“Other people have a nationality. The Irish and the Jews have a psychosis.” ~Brendan Behan