Is There An Irish Personality?

Event

2008-11-28

01:01:40

This is a lecture by William McGurk titled “Is There An Irish Personality?” where he discusses Irish myths, historic origins, Irish independence, church, famine, farming, consequences of Irish culture, and priests. The lecture also discusses CS Lewis, politics, alcohol, suffering, families, Murphy’s law and celebrations of life, among other topics as they relate to the personality or the Irish.

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Held by Benevolent Irish Society

Silence for two and a half minutes.
The speaker begins by giving examples that show Irish mythical traits are paradoxical. The speaker supports his idea with quotes from G.K. Chesterton and John Banville. The speaker suggests that over time and with assimilation some Irish traits have become less obvious except in isolated places.
The speaker explains that to understand the Irish personality and why it developed one needs to understand crucial events of Irish history. A brief review of historical events in Ireland will be the first part of his presentation.
The Norman invasion of Ireland 800 years ago essentially ended Ireland’s independence. By the 1700’s land in Ireland was 95% owned by English or Scots. Only about half a million Irish remained in Ireland as a result of Cromwell’s attempts to control them. In 1690, William of Orange, who was anti-Roman Catholic, won the Battle of the Boyne.
Under the Penal Laws from 1695 to 1829, the majority of Irish Catholics were stripped of their wealth, positions, and homes. Catholic mass and “hedge” schools were held in secret. By 1829 the Irish were a beaten down people, but living in “clachans” and using the “rundale” farming system allowed them to be very connected and interreliant. This changed with The Famine of 1845.
By the end of The Famine one million people had died and two million people had emigrated. The English response to The Famine was to cultivate English values in the Irish people which eliminated the clachans and rundales. Thus self preservation rather than interconnectedness became a dominant characteristic among the Irish.
After The Famine the Catholic Church became a powerful influence on the Irish people. Since the Church viewed The Famine as a punishment they focused on the sexuality and morality of the Irish people. The Irish were a beaten people left with the painful memories of The Famine and feelings of guilt with the breaking apart of the clachans.
Irish Nationalism grew as fragmentation of the Irish people increased. People of Irish extraction comprise over a quarter of the population in North America. In the U S Irish Catholics are considered successful economically and educationally. Irish immigrants were able to maintain their values and culture since they did not have to give up their language.
The Irish became isolated from their emotions due to their experiences. This resulted in disenfranchisement, dislocation and social disassociation with the vestiges of culture found in the non verbal connectedness of stories, songs and dance. This is contrary to the idea that open discussion and public investigations allow emancipation, healing and restoration of pride of ancestry.
With the end of his introduction, the speaker begins to discuss the Irish personality.
The Catholic Church’s influence on the Irish personality grew as the Church became more of a focus in national unity. The Irish Catholic Church was more rigid, authoritarian and moralistic than elsewhere. Priests exercised more than ordinary influence. Jansenism dominated the Irish Catholic Church and was promoted in parochial schools resulting in feelings of sin and guilt in the Irish people.
As they had with the British government, the Irish retreat into dreams and fantasy under the pressure of the Irish Church. This is expressed in Yeats’ poem, “Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven”. The Irish’s struggle with the Church's focus on sin results in complex emotional problems such as schizophrenia. The sin of thought can also occur leading to obsessive compulsive behaviour.
In his professional practice, the speaker notes that priests come to him with obsessive compulsive thoughts that are related to guilt and which are sexualized. The speaker explains that focusing on not having those thoughts makes the situation even worse resulting in a sin of thought rather than a sin of action.
The Irish feel they must conform to the Church’s value of repressing sex. Because of the Church’s attitude toward sex the Irish tend to avoid tenderness, affection, and intimacy, resulting in family members feeling isolated. As well, emotions are kept under control by intense internal guilt and fear of external ridicule. The Irish are very conscious of what others think of them.
The speaker notes that the Irish’s verbal ability allows them to be creative, to dream and to appreciate poetry, helping them to survive the many, many years of suppression. To illustrate the speaker quotes George Bernard Shaw. As the Irish interact with other cultures some of their characteristics lessened, but where Irish culture remains isolated their characteristics remain intact.
The Irish find love through imagination, poetry and pain as noted by C.S. Lewis. The Irish’s use of irony, humour and non sequitur makes it difficult to understand what they are really saying. The speaker notes that the Irish are fighters only with outsiders and that silence is the form of hostility within a family. The Irish are both belligerent and sentimental.
The speaker explains that the Irish fight with words tending to ridicule and using sarcasm, wit and humour. Humour allows the Irish to express disallowed feelings. The speaker gives two anecdotes of Irish communication illustrating what is said versus what is meant. The Irish’s ability to exaggerate and use humour is reflected in descriptors such as gift of the gab and blarney.
The speaker explains how humour softens the pain and that joking is a way of saying one thing but meaning another. Joking also avoids the responsibility of feelings or closeness to another person. Thus teasing and ridicule are especially common in relationships to convey feelings.
The speaker explains that due to long years of being powerless the Irish are very political. They are preoccupied with and sensitively aware of power in both family and government. The Irish have a heightened sense of respectability as a result of the Penal Laws. These characteristics developed in Ireland and were brought to North America resulting in the Irish being very involved in politics.
With a strong desire to be liked, the Irish tend to be very concerned with appearances. They find it hard to be themselves because they think so much about what the neighbours would think. To the Irish it is very important not to shame the family.
The speaker states that alcohol eases pain and reduces anxiety, modifies experiences, increases a sense of power and reduces inhibitions. The Irish male’s alcoholic cycle mirrors the religious cycle of sin and repentance. In therapy, wives of alcoholics seek understanding and support rather than resolution. They leave with the feeling that “I am doing my best” or “I am not a bad person”.
The speaker explains that the Irish believe suffering is deserved and suffering in silence is a virtue. Irish don’t tend to talk about themselves thinking it is sinful or prideful. The speaker also notes that humour and imagination deserts most cultures in the face of tragedy but in Ireland that is when it is used.
Death is a release from suffering and so is the most celebrated experience of the Irish life cycle. Wakes are a prominent social gathering where people tell jokes, drink and reminisce about the deceased. The Irish’s focus on death is unlike other cultures who may focus on marriage or birth reflecting different cultural values and different ways of viewing the world.
Irish women dominate family life. They are considered morally superior to the men and are expected to “handle” them. The Irish woman creates hope by ignoring problems and praying. Irish women are independent and so often emigrated alone even when young. The speaker notes that Irish women are raised to be responsible, respectable and independent unlike some other cultures.
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The speaker explains that Irish females who were the primary immigrants between 1850 and 1925 often became domestic servants. The speaker relates an anecdote of an Irish maid. The Irish women used the knowledge they gained in their work to develop their families. The speaker notes that the daughters of the female immigrants in service became secretaries, nurses and teachers.
Tape drop
The recording begins again with the speaker quoting from a diary or a story in which a man is describing the dynamics between himself and a woman.
Reinforced by the Irish Church, sex is only for procreation and so the greatest sin was being pregnant out of wedlock. Irish mothers control their sons using guilt in an effort to achieve the son they idealize. Irish father-daughter relationships are tense and distant. Loyalty but not affection exists in extended families. Because the Irish believe that pain should be endured, over time tensions build and grudges develop breaking down relationships.
The speaker notes that the Irish are self deprecating, don’t want to appear vain and can laugh at themselves. It is primary to the Irish to be respectable and to keep up appearances. Their emotional isolation results in unspoken resentment with grudges held for years.
The speaker believes it is amazing that the Irish identity survived knowing their history. The speaker reiterates that he considers the Irish a paradoxical people citing a number of characteristics including that they are highly social but struggle with loneliness and view tragedy as exciting gossip. The Irish remember where they came from and are a loyal friend and a feared enemy.