Living in Chicago in predominately Irish-American neighborhoods, I could easily write my dissertation on this subject.

I have to tell you, when I've spoken to folks who are actually from Ireland and the subject of some of these overly demonstrative Irish-Americans comes up, "Plastic Paddy" is the NICEST term that I've ever heard one of them use.

I am of Irish descent as well as the Scottish and Polish but I'm not one of the crowd running around screaming Erin Gu Bragh on March 17. I understand that the Southie neighborhood of Boston is about equal to some of the Irish-American neighborhoods hereabouts. I'm all for taking pride in the accomplishments of my ancestors and draw inspiration from my family's past but that's a very personal thing to me and though I've gone over to the kilted side and have come to enjoy Highland Games and Fests and have developed a wider interest in Celtic Music from all of its sources, I still try to keep a sense of proportion and deal with the reality of things and not some Celtic Fantasy that sounds colorful but is based on bad history.

I did mention the Irish County tartans to someone at the Celtic Fest last week and I did say as an aside that they come from the Scottish mills so who's making money on this idea, eh?

I used to have after-work beers with a fella who was a representative of an Irish tourist association. What a business! They can have as much disdain for those Plastic Paddy's as they want but if they lost their tourist business, they'd be crying. We tend to forget the percentage of the net that tourism gives to a city or a country...in New York City it is regarded as the second most profitable business in the city...Wall Street is number one.

From my perspective, I find that I'm often dealing with some trans-generational defense mechanisms that evolved from the time when the Irish came to this country and were regarded as the lowest of the low. I'm sure that there are common characteristics that occur in all sub-cultures of displaced people...whether displaced by war, politics or economic factors. One of these characteristics that the diaspora seem to have (and I've seen this in several ethnic groups) is an antique and unrealistic idea of what the current conditions are in the "homeland".

Sorry if these things elicit feeling of such disdain from the Native Irish...but who's worse? Sounds like both groups could stand to sit down and share a "reality sandwich" and a cup of tea.

Best

AA