Irish History X
The beautiful Emerald Isle is sadly battleground-zero for Musk’s far right horde.
The affecting 1999 film starring Ed Norton, American History X, feels prophetic now in how it foreshadows the proliferation of subcultures dedicated to ethno-nationalism, together with a chilling portrayal of hatred and othering.
Social media was only in a nascient stage then, with FriendsReunited providing a very different experience to “X”, Elon Musk’s platform for promotion of hatred and disinformation, where angry and disaffected people can put a frog as a profile picture and joke about genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Last Saturday, an Indian-ethnicity Masters student in Cork, Ireland, was approached from behind by a man who attempted to choke him with a length of rope.
The replies to this tweet from “Lil Doza”, which described the unprovoked attack, are such a sad indictment of what Musk’s platform has become.
I have travelled through Ireland, both solo and with other people, a number of times*. I have never experienced anything other than warmth, and certainly no discrimination against me for my Home Counties accent, British nationality or Persian ethnicity.
Almost all of those commenting on X, almost all of these #IrelandisFull, #IrelandBelongsToTheIrish #Irelandfirst #IrelandfortheIrish #IrelandIsRising #IrishLivesMatter etc… accounts are North Americans who have no genuine cultural link to Ireland but love the sound of Great Highland bagpipes on “St Patty’s Day”
They’re talking about “our lands” as if they exist in some kind of post-apocalyptic Mad Max-esque wasteland, with a war to preserve one’s skin melanin level going on, and where Phil Lynott or Paul McGrath aren’t Irish.
This isn’t real. It’s a putrid shellac which covers actual reality, created by the platform’s Neo-Nazi owner.
On a not entirely unrelated note, the racism against Indians by ethno-nationalists and Tommy Robinsonites can’t be the best banter for some of those based in India who thought these people were their “allies”… Perhaps a few might change their mind.
(* This was my first Wild Atlantic Way log, I’ve driven the other way too):
