Nothing Modest About It

If there is anyone in this world that you don't want to piss off, it's an Irishman. I'm not entirely sure how they came by it, but the Irish are full of a fire and glib that no one has yet succeeded in silencing. I wouldn't advise trying.

I used to live in the U.K., and my first encounter with an Irishwoman is seared into my memory forever. She couldn't have been more than five feet tall, but she was terrifying. It wasn't me, but someone had done something wrong and Ciara was full of an eloquent, hilarious anger the likes of which I had never before seen. I didn't know if I was allowed to laugh, but I definitely wanted to. Thankfully, I never ended up on the receiving end of that vitriol, and she and I ended up becoming really good friends. My relationship with Ciara helped me gain more understanding of these people and how they came to be the way they are.

Poster for a short film based on Swift's essay

The Irish have pride as deep as the land and a memory as long as their heritage. Right and wrong are certainties in that culture, and offences are remembered to their dying breaths. Through centuries of being deprived of identity, they developed their wit- the only defense that can't be stripped from them. They're brash, they're brave, and they're not afraid to be heard.

It's no surprise then, that arguable the world's greatest satirist, Johnathan Swift, sprang from Ireland. Swift is brutal in his analysis of government and society at large. His most famous piece A Modest Proposal, suggests that the solution to the famine in Ireland could be as simple as eating their children. It's a genius piece of writing and a scathing critique of Parliament's negligence.

Before the Enlightenment era and the advent of the public forum, the Irish and their unique perspective was confined to their island. But with the popularization of the press and a second swell of individualism, voices bubbled up from all kinds of forgotten places. Voices that become essential in shaping the future.
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