Y’all know I tend to dislike taking a black or white view of things. I just don’t like it. And even more so when it is about a complex issue. Like Charles J Haughey.
I didn’t intend to blog about CJ. That sort of political blogging isn’t my cup of tea at all, but browsing the Irish blog’verse it strikes me that at the moment there are a whole load of love him or loathe him posts. To some he was the great man who helped Ireland emerge from poverty into the success of the Celtic Tiger. To others he was nothing but a crook.
D’you know the old perceptions of women as either whores or madonnas, it is a bit like at the moment. Black and white viewpoints left right and centre.
Why can’t we say that he was a great man who was also a crook. One doesn’t exclude the other you know.
Which is why I liked Omanis view on the fact that Heaney has written a poem for today’s state funeral.
Heaney addresses a wounded lion, an animal mercurial and vicious. Irish public opinion is not comfortable with Charlie Haughey. So it is the right time for a great poet to shine a light, not just backwards but forwards.
Did good, did bad. He still makes my flesh creep.
On another note, didja see the RTE post-match chatarama last night? It was hysterical. Funnier than Apres Match. Bunch of lads sitting around discussing (with much justification) how shite England played and how they thought they were all that even though it was obvious to everyone else in the world they were distinctly average. I couldn't turn the telly off! It was BRILLIANT.
Yeesh, if it's not the funeral, it's the dang football. 'Fraid I have no comment on either. But I did want to say I had a good laugh at your previous post – bored with the weather??? I'd say you got it right – the Irish do love to complain, it's like a national hobby. I find it kinda quaint.
To a smaller extent, I think, we have the same thing here with Mitterrand. I think people find it easier to defend their point of view if they stick to the view of one single point.
Now. I really wish you'd start talking football. That hair-pulling Crouch goal for instance, the French shite performance, the strict refereeing, there's a lot to be said… C'mon now.
I say bits of it NM, I liked Eamo's "pleasure postponed" comment. He is far from an English supporter.
Terri, complaining is a way of life. But most of what we whine about isn't important, it just makes it easier to start a conversation :)
You know Anne I didn't spot the hair-pulling at all during the match. Hopefully there will be replays and discussion on the telly tonight.
Thank you v much for your comments about my post. Your lifting of MacNeice's line made it stand out even more magnificently. I suppose I should put it on record that I gave the wrong impression: Heaney hasn't written anything on the occasion of Haughey's death. I thought I heard it said on RTE radio that he had. But all we got was an old Heaney poem read by Brendan Kennelly.
With best wishes
I did notice your post saying that, and I suppose I should have edited this, but didn't manage to remember to do so. Still, at least your comment makes it clear now :)