June 2, 2006
NOW HERE ARE IMMIGRANTS WE CAN ALL OPPOSE:
The Gauls at Home in Erin (JOHN TAGLIABUE, 6/02/06, NY Times)
DUBLIN — This snug Irish capital might seem an unlikely destination for young French men and women. The weather would jar anyone from the Côte d'Azur. And the food is basically what the Michelin restaurant guide might consider a form of boiled stew.Posted by Orrin Judd at June 2, 2006 5:32 PMYet thousands of people — many just out of university — are deserting France to live and work here, in a European city that sparkles with economic vibrancy despite a more general sense of stagnation in much of the Continent.
Like many others moving across Europe, they are migrating for jobs, which are far more plentiful in Ireland than in France, where the economy is flabbier, work for young people is scarcer and taxes are higher.
They're just oppressed people fleeing a failed Third World county and seeking a better life.
Posted by: Bryan at June 2, 2006 5:39 PMThey're French--it's a racial deal.
Posted by: oj at June 2, 2006 5:42 PMRacial??
This article highlights the fact that the EU has succeeded in eliminating borders within Europe.
Posted by: Mörkö at June 2, 2006 5:55 PMThey're just following in the footsteps of their ancestors. The Celts invaded Ireland from Brittany, ya know.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 2, 2006 6:15 PMMaybe it's just the return of the Wild Geese of Clan O'Neil.
Posted by: jdkelly at June 2, 2006 6:34 PMThose "Wild Geese" were going home to the Continent, yes. (Caesar's "Gauls" were Celts, ya know. And where would Americana music be without them?)
Posted by: ghostcat at June 2, 2006 6:52 PMghost, Things get pretty circular. The Normans who conquered Ireland for England were originally French. Then they became Irish and rebelled against England along with the Celtic O'Neils, or something like that. It's all so confused, like an Irishman at closing time. :)
Posted by: jdkelly at June 2, 2006 7:12 PMYou still don't have anything to unify you, but you will under Islam.
Posted by: Sandy P at June 2, 2006 7:26 PMWell, other than anti-Americanism.....
Posted by: Sandy P at June 2, 2006 7:29 PMjd -
Them Normans was probably Celts, too!
I'm thinking more about "bloodline" than culture, of course. On the other hand, aspects of the culture, most notably the music, seem to have endured wherever Celts settled in substantial numbers ... in such disparate places as Brittany, Prince Edward Island, Appalachia, and Louisiana bayou country.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 2, 2006 8:34 PMghost, Yes, but I doubt there is a Celtic bloodline. Bunch of Spaniards washed up on shore after the Armada sunk. Perhaps the origins of what my parents called "Black Irish". (some really good looking ladies)
The music is certainly fascinating. Brought here by the Scots Irish. Who knows where it came from, but certainly the origin of our "country music". The Clancy Brothers and their ilk have a lot in coomon with Bill Monroe and his ilk, no matter how much they fought on the old soil. They all made good soldiers, and still do.
Posted by: jdkelly at June 2, 2006 8:52 PMjd -
The original Irish Celts were probably "Gauls" invading from northern France. That's why I observed that the recent "Gallic" immigrants were just retracing their ancestors' footsteps. And there surely must be a Celtic bloodline, traceable by DNA. Its roots seem to have lived somewhere between Brittany and the Rhine.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 2, 2006 9:08 PMghost, Lot smarter than I am. Just a dumb Irisher. 7/8ths Catholic, 1/8ths,Protestant. The 1/8th converted. Don't know if it changed her DNA, but still like the music, :)
Posted by: jdkelly at June 2, 2006 10:38 PMjd -
Hey, I'm just a poor hick with a family history of violence, alcoholism and mental illness. 5/8 Celtic (1/4 Irish, plus 3/8 Brittanny French via Quebec), 1/4 Anglo-Saxon, and 1/8 American Indian (Abenaki). As I may have mentioned once before, my ancestors fought on all sides of the French and Indian War.
Posted by: ghostcat at June 3, 2006 12:54 AMGhostcat:
We may be related somewhere in the past. 1/2 Irish, 1/4 German, 1/4 French Canadian. No Indian blood as far as I know, except "on our hands" as Orrin says. Basically, I'm a mutt.
The French part of my family was a bunch of petty crooks and theives back in the mother country and was politely given the option of taking the whole family to the New World or dangling at the end of a noose.
Bryan -
At the very least, your French ancestors are the moral equivalent of mine!