Oh Danny Boy, the pipebombs, the pipebombs are calling.
With this being Easter Sunday I'm sure most, if not all of you, my loyal readers have plans to spend the entirety of the day in church celebrating the resurrection of your lord Jesus Christ. With that in mind, I'll keep this brief....but oh so provocative.
Last night I'm at one of my places of employ and a gentleman walks in to conduct a bit of business. Now this guy is Irish all the way. He's got the red hair. He's sporting his Guinness hat (Brilliant!). I can almost hear the smooth stylings of House of Pain ringing through the streets. He was also wearing a t-shirt declaring him to be a member of the Irish Republican Army Demolition Team.
Now I'm sure this shirt is just a novelty item. The IRA is a little passe now, but even when the group was closer to its zenith rather than its nadir, I'm sure its members did not wear Members Only jackets, no matter how proud they were of themselves.
That said the IRA was, is and will always be.....a terrorist group. They made their name with bombings (church bombings no less), kidnappings and assassinations. Yet this guy wears his shirt out and about town amongst the "civilized" folk.
Does that bother anyone else? If it doesn't I want you to consider this. What would you think if you saw a Middle Eastern man walking the streets of your town wearing an al-Qaeda t-shirt? Or maybe a PLO hoodie? Or even one of those blue Wal-Mart vests? (Kidding...sorta) You'd probably take notice. If you're a good little American you'd probably even report said gentleman to the nearest law enforcement officer.
So do we give this Irish guy a hallpass because he eats corned beef and cabbage rather than falafel? (Sorry, I love food stereotypes.) The more I think about this the more I wish I had asked this guy what exactly was running through his pea-sized brain. It probably wouldn't have made a difference though as it would not surprise me if he were totally oblivious to what his shirt even meant. In this day and age of Enduring Freedom terrorism means Islam and Islam means terrorism. Maybe it's appropriate this came up on the weekend of the most Christian of Christian holidays. This Irish guy can bomb a Catholic Church and still have time to burn down a Mosque....all before busting out the Paas kit with his kids.
Anyway, I'd like to hear back from anyone who reads this. Am I taking this all too seriously? Should I have a sense of humor about the guys t-shirt? Is it ridiculous to get upset considering I did not ask the gentleman why he was wearing said shirt, thereby depriving myself of context?
It's possible....but I sincerely doubt it.
I say rise up!
JeffRey
Last night I'm at one of my places of employ and a gentleman walks in to conduct a bit of business. Now this guy is Irish all the way. He's got the red hair. He's sporting his Guinness hat (Brilliant!). I can almost hear the smooth stylings of House of Pain ringing through the streets. He was also wearing a t-shirt declaring him to be a member of the Irish Republican Army Demolition Team.
Now I'm sure this shirt is just a novelty item. The IRA is a little passe now, but even when the group was closer to its zenith rather than its nadir, I'm sure its members did not wear Members Only jackets, no matter how proud they were of themselves.
That said the IRA was, is and will always be.....a terrorist group. They made their name with bombings (church bombings no less), kidnappings and assassinations. Yet this guy wears his shirt out and about town amongst the "civilized" folk.
Does that bother anyone else? If it doesn't I want you to consider this. What would you think if you saw a Middle Eastern man walking the streets of your town wearing an al-Qaeda t-shirt? Or maybe a PLO hoodie? Or even one of those blue Wal-Mart vests? (Kidding...sorta) You'd probably take notice. If you're a good little American you'd probably even report said gentleman to the nearest law enforcement officer.
So do we give this Irish guy a hallpass because he eats corned beef and cabbage rather than falafel? (Sorry, I love food stereotypes.) The more I think about this the more I wish I had asked this guy what exactly was running through his pea-sized brain. It probably wouldn't have made a difference though as it would not surprise me if he were totally oblivious to what his shirt even meant. In this day and age of Enduring Freedom terrorism means Islam and Islam means terrorism. Maybe it's appropriate this came up on the weekend of the most Christian of Christian holidays. This Irish guy can bomb a Catholic Church and still have time to burn down a Mosque....all before busting out the Paas kit with his kids.
Anyway, I'd like to hear back from anyone who reads this. Am I taking this all too seriously? Should I have a sense of humor about the guys t-shirt? Is it ridiculous to get upset considering I did not ask the gentleman why he was wearing said shirt, thereby depriving myself of context?
It's possible....but I sincerely doubt it.
I say rise up!
JeffRey
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 5:27 AM
2 Comments:
You are so right! I am now officially a member of Sinn Fein....and alls I can say is I pity the next fool biatch waitress who dares bring me a sandwich even 1/10 of a degree cooler than 94.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
Trotter-
Keep in mind I'm typing this response with the frame of mind that the guy was wearing the T-shirt as novelty to provoke some kind of bohemian laughter.
First of all, you have to consider the venue. If I'm working the front desk at the Olde-Un and someone wears a bad-taste t-shirt promoting a way-past-its-prime Irish Republican Army, I'm probably going to chuckle and stick his rental copy of Cum Fart Cocktails 3 into its plain brown wrapper.
If I saw the guy at some kind of protest gathering or church or even a three-star restaurant with that shirt on, well, I'd still chuckle, but I'd wish him godspeed - because, shit, natural selection will make sure he gets good and chastized for wearing that shit in Our Country.
Let the people who take shit more seriously than I do put the man through the wringer. After all, I was making jokes about September 11th on September 11th. Mainly, though, wondering what kind of round-table board room pow-wow meeting the Al Queda guys would have to concoct their next scheme. (ABDUL: Geezis, did we have to open so big? How do we follow that up?)
Second, you really should have asked the guy what his intentions were. If he said, "To be funny," you could have told him you thought he was a scumbag and an asshole and it wasn't funny at all. If he said, "Shit, isn't it obvious? I'm in the IRA," you could have told him you were Welsh and he should check out the clientele at Eclectics up the street.
But that's just me. Depending on the party, I'd probably wear an Al Queda shirt for a laugh. Then be detained for an indeterminate amount of time by Homeland Security.
-Andrew
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