Liza Featherstone wrote:
> Sorry you can't read! I wasn't comparing the actual politics or content of
> the Irish nationalist struggle to the right-wing Hindus and Zionists, just
> the similar remove of the comfortable American suburbanites helping to
> fund it, and the fact that they didn't have to live with the consequences.
I'm Irish-American (grandparents). The only time I've heard of any of this was from British people ranting about it on some website or other. My grandmother was very nationalistic, but I never heard anything about this. I grew up in Chicago, maybe this is some Boston thing - I'm not denying that it's true, but it's not like I haven't known tons of Irish-Americans, comfortable and not so comfortable, urban and not.
The whole thing is greatly exaggerated on websites, news sites and bulletin boards - always by British (and sometimes Irish) people. Often people expect me to answer for it or at least have some special insight into it, because it's apparently so 'widespread'. It fits nicely with stereotypes of Americans as all rich, stupid and culturally deprived 7th-generation-whatever.
http://www.clipfile.org/clips/000379.php
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ira/reports/america.html