Conference tallis::celt

THE ROLE OF THE IRISH AT THE COUNTRY CLUB

How far can an Irishman carry a heavy suitcase? The answer is a
commendable 3� miles. We historical scholars arrive at this
figure from evidence of the Irish migration that followed the
potato famine.  Those who went to England colonized a place
called Kilburn, which is 3� miles from the London boat-train
terminus. Those that went to America colonized Boston, whose far
boundary in those days was 3� miles from the harbour.

	Having set up their pot stills and their sheebeens, the
new arrivals formed a basketball team that they named after a
Welsh tribe in the mistaken belief that the Celts were associated
with Ireland. They formed the Boston Red Sox and, in their
perverse way, made the players wear white socks.

	In 1773 a group of anarchist Boggies threw bags of tea
into Boston harbour, setting an unfortunate precedent that is
celebrated today in the kitchens of America's public dining 
establishments. It may be a traditional ritual, but it is no way
to make a decent cup of tea.

	The mayhem and chaos appalled a resident English Cleric,
the Rev. John Harvard, and he devoted his fortune to a seat of
learning in the hope of instilling some civilized virtues into
the populace.

	The motives of some other Englishmen were less idealistic
when they met in secret session. They had realized the awful
truth about the Boggies. They do not seek conquests of arms or
political dogma; they inherit the earth by outbreeding everyone
else.

	If only the West could infiltrate a mating pair of
Dubliners into the Soviet Union the menace of communism would
soon recede. The threat to Boston was spelled out by the
chairman:

	"It's getting so you can't walk around Boston without
tripping over a drunken Kerryman. Our businesses are here so we
can't move, but if we are to preserve our way of life we must
have somewhere to go on weekends.  Somewhere private. Somewhere
to play our cricket and tennis and maybe a spot of golf. What I
have in mind is a sort of club in the country with a high fence
to keep the Irish out."

	The meeting endorsed this proposal with acclimation. They
purchased a tract of land in Brookline. Of course they had to
employ Irish labourers to do the heavy work, but they employed an
English construction superintendent who contracted laryngitis
from constantly shouting "Green side up!" while the workers were
sodding the golf course.
	
	Between them, Harvard and The Country Club gave Boston a
touch of Class. In order to distance themselves from the riffraff
of the growing city, the academics and the members of the Country
Club took to pronouncing their private enclaves as Borston, a
small difference but a large distinction.
					- Peter Dobereiner
						Englishman

MAGAZINE'S STORY GETS MY IRISH UP
	-Michael Madden-
	

	I come to you with an Irish name, parents native of
	Ireland, and an Irish _sense_ for the world and a true
love for Ireland. The reverse of all the above emotions is just
as true when I must consider the England of history. I have been
told much and read more. It is in the blood.
	
	I had been in New York for the last four days and heard
only a bob and a bit about the controversy in Boston. I had heard
about an article that was in "bad taste," an angry letter from
the mayor and other Irishmen and Irishwomen, apologies from the
establishment, the [Boston] Globe and the New York Times Co. I
did not know what to make of it.
	
	For I had not seen and read the article. I thought it
could not be in _that_ poor taste for such a brouhaha.  Not in
1988. Not in Boston, not after all these years, exactly 140 after
the first legions of Irish fled the English-formented famine in
Ireland, wave after wave of Irish settling in Boston rather than
accepting death.  isn't it long past all this?
	
	And for golf, too. Not over my long and imbedded litany
of English wrongs, not over Ulster, not over Margaret Thatcher,
not over British still patrolling on the isle after 700 years,
not over killings in the night, centuries and centuries and
centuries of them, and not over the usurpation of rights down
through the ages.. But for golf, even if the golf is at the
Country Club in Brookline, the Anglophile's course...I chuckled.

	**Golf?**
	A Golf Digest article?
	I chuckled again.
	
	I had to see and read for myself. I am a writer and I
know words sometimes go astray. That they can be taken
differently from how they are given. I had to see if maybe there
was a word here or a word there, that maybe the overall intent of
the writer was not what can be inferred by his particular words.
That maybe it was exact reading of lazy writing.
	
	Except I couldn't find the article at the [Boston] Globe
[office]. There was a "tee party" in the afternoon off Castle
Island in Southie [South Boston - very Irish -mmcc].  Irish
groups dumping copies of the offending golf article into Boston
harbour, but none could be found.....  [some text omitted..he
eventually found one.....]

	Now that I have found it and read it...it is one copy too
many on the face of the earth.
	
	I no longer am chuckling. It is a sophomoric article,
ostensibly about the Country Club and the Irish, containing all
the usual racial stereotypes of the Irish.  If a similar article
contained the usual stereotypes of Jews or Blacks, Poles or
Puerto Ricans, women or gays, hell would be paid and still more
would be justifiably due.
	
	It is neither a word here or a phrase there that is
offensive. Humour is the surface intent but prejudice is the
deeper goal. The whole _tone_ of the article is demeaning to the
Irish. It is the silly ramblings of a foolish Englishman, and
I've always had problems determining whether foolish and
Englishman should by synonyms.
	
	In my youth and in my Irish home, Irish ballads would be
played over and over. From "Four Green Fields" to "Galway Bay,"
those songs referred to the English not by their true names as
"English" or "oppressors," but by the quaint word of "Strangers."
In any Irish song, "strangers" always means "English."
	
	I now know why more than ever.
	
	Specifically, blame should be laid directly with two
people... The fool who wrote it and thought it was funny and the
editor who read it and saw no wrong. The New York Times Co.,
which owns the Golf Digest, and the Globe, which distributed some
of the copies of the special US Open supplement, are inviting
targets mainly because of their power and prestige. But attacking
them is like Dave Winfield taking a whack at a big, fat softball
... it is too easy.
	
	The United States, despite being a democracy, is far from
a classless society. But the irony cannot be missed, that the
article was written for a golf tournament held at the WASPish
golf links, The Country Club, and in a city, Boston, that is more
WASPish than any in America. Ruling class WASPs, of course, are
often Anglophiles and spiritual (and, usually, blood) descendants
of the English who first settled here. And the WASPs, like the
English fool who wrote the article, share a sharp fondness for
the status quo of 1850, let alone 1988.
	
	I have long ago concluded that there may be no human
being not prejudiced toward some group (such as my feelings
toward the English of history) and it is pointless to pretend
otherwise. It is cynical but it does not mean unjust and
generalized opinions toward groups should be tolerated. Their
speakers should be shown as fools, like this Peter Dobereiner.
	
	There are fools of all stripes - English, Irish, Black,
Jewish, male and female - but individual fools with group
stereotypes should not be tolerated. Laugh at them, but do not
enrich them.
	
	But if they do have a forum...
	Then something is wrong.
		
	It may be said that an incident like this raises the
consciousness of many but consciousness-raising is for study groups
and sociologists. The real world says the Irish, aside from
politics and government, are not truly power sharers in WASPish
Boston, even after 140 years in the most Irish city in America.
Power raising would be more acceptable than consciousness-raising.
	
	This brouhaha over the US Open may be a lesson to other
groups fighting for their share of power in a US that is still
not open to power sharing for many. It takes a long time ... like
forever and never.

			Michael Madden is a Globe Columnist

    	...to add a few more details...  Golf Digest printed an apology
    in the Sports section of the same issue of the Globe.  The article
    in .1 appeared in an advertising supplement which was apparently
    sent out in advance of the regular paper.  The Globe claimed that
    because of the thousands of distributers, it wouldn't be possible
    to prevent the distribution of all the supplements.
    
    	That said, I had heard about it in advance and was looking for
    it on Sunday.  I've not been a fan of Michael Maddens columns, but
    I have to agree with him - it was worse than I expected...

    			Dobereiner regretful
    			But 'not for what I wrote'
    
    			by Paul Harber
    			Globe Staff
    
        BROOKLINE - Although he is at the center of a storm, he sat
    alone in the middle of the US Open press room yesterday morning.
    His name is Peter Dobereiner, but in many parts of Boston his name
    is mud.
    
        The veteran golf writer for the London Observer is the author
    of the not-so-humorously-taken story in a US Open preview published
    by Golf Digest.
    
        The story, which was distributed as an advertising supplement
    in the New England area in some copies of Sunday's Globe, was met
    with a rash of criticism by Mayor Flynn - who demanded an apology
    from Golf Digest, The New York Times Co. (parent company of Golf
    Digest) and the Globe - by Cardinal Bernard Law and by 40 members
    of the Boston Irish community who threw the supplements into Boston
    Harbor Sunday to symbolize their own Boston "tee party."
    
        Dobereiner, who has an impeccable international reputation as
    a humorist and golf historian, was suprised by the reaction to his
    piece, in which he attempted to satirize the founding of The Country
    Club.
    
        "I am sorry it all happened," said Dobereiner, who yesterday
    morning made his first appearance at The Country Club since the
    flap began.  "I am sorry it was so thoroughly misinterpreted.  It
    was intended to make fun of the snooty, stuffy founders of the club.
    That was the whole point of the article."
    
        Yesterday afternoon, Dobereiner met with a representative of
    Flynn's office  and afterward issued a statement reiterating that
    sentiment, but he said the apology was "not for what I wrote, but
    how it was misinterpreted."
    
        Francis Costello of the mayor's staff said the meeting was "civil
    and friendly and I heard the apology that he had written.  I think
    the issue, in fairness to Mr. Dobereiner, goes beyond Mr. Dobereiner
    alone."  Costello felt all the parties involved - Golf Digest, the
    New York Times Co., and the Globe - were at fault.
    
        The Globe printed an apology on Page 3 Sunday, and Golf Digest
    apologized in an advertisement in the Globe sports section, calling
    the story "tasteless" and "unnecessary," and citing an editing "lapse"
    that allowed its publication.
    
        Last week, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, president of The New York
    Times Co., sent Flynn a written apology.  While 250,000 copies of
    the Sunday Globe were supposed to contain the supplement, many 
    inserts were pulled by Globe truck drivers following a plea to their
    union from the Irish-American Labor Council.
    
        When asked if Mayor Flynn may see the controversy as a way to
    regain support in the predominently Irish community of South Boston,
    where he has come under fire in recent months, Costello said "I
    would not dignify that question with a comment."
    
        Dobereiner said that when he submitted the story to Golf Digest,
    he got a "nice job" compliment.  Now, he said, "I expect to be fired.
    I don't see how they can keep me on board after the apology they
    ran."
    
        He said that one major advertiser threatened to pull out of
    Golf Digest if he continued to write his monthly column.  He also
    expects to be fired from the writing staff at the London-based Golf
    World as well.  "It's a sister publication and I can't see how they
    can keep me." he said.
    
        Dobereiner has received awards from tourist bureaus in Ireland
    for his writing.  "I don't think there is a more loyal supporter
    of Irish golf and the Irish than myself," he said.
    
        "I don't think any true Irishman would take issue at what I
    wrote.  And that's why I'm sorry it was misinterpreted, but I'm
    not apologizing for the article, because it wasn't intended to be
    racist.  If I apologize, I would be dishonoring 30 years of a wonderful
    relationship with my Irish friends."
    
        Belfast-born golf writer Tom Ramsey, who is covering the US
    Open for an Australian newspaper, laughs at what is happening in
    Boston.
    
        "I find nothing offensive at all," said Ramsey.  "I would say
    only psuedo-Irish would find it offensive.  Every Irishman from
    Royal Point Rush to Ballybunion would be chuckling after reading
    Pete Dobereiner's article and more so on the reaction to it in Boston.
    
        "It is almost as though the Boston Irish made a joke of
    themselves."
    
    
    Boston Globe P. 71, June 14, 1988

    ....I read Paul Harbers article after I entered .3, but thought
    it would be appropriate to balance the other articles...
    
    

    Leaprechauns liked the response.
    
    Re the Dobereiner piece.
    
    This piece of itself is harmless. What it represents is not, now,
    or was it ever.
    The piece is symptomatic of the sick misunderstanding that has 
    always governed the British attitude to Ireland. It is symptomatic
    of ignorance, cultured, and sophisticated ignorance.
    
    Many people and this includes many Irish people living in Ireland
    have never seen this ignorance and often say that it is overstated.
    They see the genteel facade, the outward trappings of civilised
    decorum. Does ignorance have to base, and uncouth to be recognisable???
    
    I know that irish people living abroad have a keener sense of this
    insult. I gave this article to a colleague and his comment was
    "the americans have no sense of humour", and " the Irish-americans
    are the pot calling the kettle black".
    
    I sometimes despair that education is confused with knowledge or
    the capacity to assimilate knowledge. 
    
    Read waht the English tabloids had to say when Ireland beat them
    in the European soccer championship last Sunday. DIsgrace, Humiliation,
    Rubbish, Shame, screamed the headlines.  This was just not true,
    what galled them was not the manner of defeat (for it was a most
    honourable and noble effort by their team) but rather WHO defeated
    them. 
    
    We Irish are not SEEN as equals. We are to be scorned and ridiculed
    and abused.  You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Many Irish people
    have a theory on the remedy for an old dog.
    
    Snake takes a definte and jaundiced view. I hope that the U.S. law
    can penalise this racism.
    

    
    
    	I this note reserved for Mike(s)  ???	:-)
    
    
    
    
    
    	miKe Burns
    

       
       
       	You bet your bippy it is!  (I'll leave Mr. Donald Michael (Mort?)
       	Tozap to explain what a bippy is!)
       
       						me_haul

    Wish Mr. Dobereiner good luck in his new job.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Writing weather reports in Iceland.
    
    
    
    
    
    And who said American's don't have a sense of humor.
    
    
    
    Ever read the Boston Herald?  It'll lift anybody's spirits.
    
    
    Bryan

    
    
    I have a question for Mr Dobereiner.
    
       What is the differance between an English journalist and
    
    
       a bucket of sh*t
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    Answer:
    
    
    
          THE  BUCKET !
    
    
    
    
    COME  OUT  YOU  BLACK  AND  TANS
    

In the "regretful, but not for what I wrote..." article, and elsewhere,
    there have been suggestions that people are oversensitive; that
    the "Irish Americans will react at any opportunity..."; that people
    do not recognise satire or appreciate humour. 
    
    Well, being Irish, born and reared, and having lived outside of
    Ireland in various communities, and met diverse sets of opinions,
    viewpoints, foibles and prejudices, I have had opportunity to form
    opinions on whether a given narrative or piece of prose is humourous,
    satirical, cynical or sarcastic in intent. I have seen many genuine
    humourists and joke tellers. I have seen too many supposed humourists
    use their joke telling as a vehicle to deliver veiled discriminatory
    jabs at those that are deemed to be worth attacking....
    
    It is evident to me that Peter D may have embarked with the intent
    of satire. However, the then fell victim to what must be the worst
    sin that a professional writer can commit. He allowed his personal
    biases to divert his prose into a slandering of the Irish. He then
    used his position to distribute that slander (or libel to the purists
    among us) to a quarter of a million people.
    
    There is a lesson here for all of us.
    
    By the way, oneliner notes referring to the holder of an opinion
    contrary to ours as a jerk, bozo or whatever tends to not solve
    the problem. If that person cannot read it, you feel better but
    nothing changes. If that person CAN read it, you will alienate them,
    and deny the opportunity for constructive debate. Bottom line, if
    you feel strongly that something needs to be done, for example in
    this case, articulate your position clearly in letters to the Globe,
    Golf Digest, NY Times etc, as appropriate.

    Apologies for my little diversion, but it is something I have been
    meaning to say for some time.
    
    
    
Regards,
    Mike
    

    I doubt if any of the previous comments in this topic are from
    Englishmen, so I'll put one in - and I'm probably as Irish as many
    of the Boston Irish who have been offended by the article so I have
    as much right.
    
    The article is appalling. It is racist,facetious and a disgrace.
    All th etalk by Peter D. about "It was meant to be a satire on the
    Boston Golf Club" is just ridiculous. If it was then he failed
    miserably in his intent, cause I didn't realise that, for one, didn't
    know what his intent was. It shouldn't have been published by anyone.
    
    The comments about British journalists, based on this evidence,
    are correct. But fortunately that's not generally true.
    
    Snake's view of why the gutter press wrote what they wrote about
    England's defeat by Ireland are only partly right. It represents
    a feeling that Irish football is inferior. It has to be, because
    we invented the game and won the World Cup in 1966 and the Eurpean Cup
    for donkeys years. A stratum of English (and here we need to
    differentiate between BRITS [whatever they are] and the English)
    society thinks we are God-like figures in this area, and so every
    "Wog" "Dago" "Mick" is necessarily inferior. This compounds the
    underlying racism, which is often (though not excclusively) directed
    at the Irish.
    
    If Ireland beat England at Rugby there is no similar outcry, because
    the target audience is different - here the racism is overlayed
    with that patina of sophistication and education Snake talked about.
    
    How we cope with the West Indians beating us at cricket, I just
    don't know.

    AS AN EX PAT. IN SCOTLAND I HAVE TO BACK UP WHAT THE SNAKE SAYS.
    IF YOU CARE TO LOOK AT PUNCH MAGAZINE CIRCA 1900 YOU WILL FIND THE
    EXACT SAME IGNORANCE ON DISPLAY. HOWEVER THEY MAY BE SOMEWHAT EXCUSED
    IN THIS DAY AND AGE CONSIDERING THE VERY LOW LEVEL OF EDUCATION
    AND LITERACY IN ENGLAND. THIS IS ALSO COMPOUNDED BY A GOOD DOSE
    OF JINGOISM I.E. "KILL THE ARGIES", "IRISH BASTARDS" TYPE HEADLINES
    IN THE MORE POPULAR PRESS

    The article is most offensive and furthermore the author's device
    of claiming satire is a neat little trick  to shift the blame on
    to the victims of the attack i.e. "why do you bloody Irish have to
    be so thin-skinned?"
    
    -Dermot

    Sorry to jump in so late.  
    
> Snake takes a definte and jaundiced view. I hope that the U.S. law
> can penalise this racism.

    
    Speaking as a US citizen, I sincerely hope not.  A country in which
    this sort of thing is illegal, is not far from being a country where
    "suspected" terrorists can be held without habeas corpus.  
    
    					kathy

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