The Irish Famine

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Sunday, April 18. 2021

This is an oldie, still good. Was the importation of the potato from the New World a blessing or a curse for the Irish peasantry?

Posted by The Barrister in History at 13:40 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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I had never really paid attention to the difficulties in Ireland even though my family left Ireland in the 1690s. Once in high school I was openly insulted by a classmate due to my Irish name as I was not aware of the prejudice against the Irish in the United States. I finally learned and understood why the Irish hate the English after visiting Ireland a number of times and talking to it's people plus watching a number of films depicting Irish history. Over the last 10 or 12 years of our numerous visits to Ireland we have become dismayed at how the younger generation is more openly embracing mild socialism and turning away from the old ways that we found so welcoming.

#1 JC on 2021-04-18 17:22 (Reply)

I don't know all of the demographics that went into Irish population growth before the famine, but the Scots, and Irish, and British people were all having a lot of kids. The story of how the Irish were transported to America by the British has really never been told. I suspect that's because it would ruin the Irish victim story. And that's also why the story of the "Japanese Economic Miracle" has never been told. America rebuilt Japan at great expense. But that would ruin the internment camp story. And Jews all over the world have received many billions of dollars from Germany. I don't think that money was even owed, but nobody talks about that because it would ruin the concentration camp story. And black women in America basically live for free. They get welfare, apartments, child care, HIV medicine, food, and health insurance. But nobody talks about that, because it would ruin the oppression story. And Hispanics game the American welfare and social security system like experts. They extract billions of dollars, without paying a dime. In return, they conspire against the American people, and turn cities like Chicago into war-zones. But nobody talks about that, because it would ruin the migrant story. And then we have the veterans. Soldiers are the laziest bunch of people in the entire world. They drink beer, watch pornography, and march around in their dress-blue uniforms. They don't do any work, but nobody talks about that because it would ruin the hero story. Maybe we should start talking about things.

#2 Ron Liebermann on 2021-04-18 17:30 (Reply)

Who is this "we" you fucking wannabe nazi?

#2.1 Sal D. on 2021-04-18 17:36 (Reply)

Sal,

Jews have a bad habit of name-calling. If I feel that the Jews were complicit in the events of World War Two, that doesn't mean that I'm a National Socialist. It means that I did the hard work of examining the historical record. The Jews in Germany were communists. And that resulted in outcomes.

You mentioned that "unrestrained capitalism" is a problem for you. Therefore, I must assume that you prefer communism. That's a system where people no longer have freedom of expression. "Anti-Semitism" becomes a speech-crime which will get a man sent to prison. And then finally, capitalism disappears. The government decides everything.

Sal, if you really do believe in communism, there's a movie that you should watch: The world is a big place, and salvation is just around the corner. https://vimeo.com/83770011

#2.1.1 Ron Liebermann on 2021-04-18 20:56 (Reply)

I think you should go fuck yourself, you retarded wannabe nazi.

#2.1.1.1 Sal D. on 2021-04-18 23:51 (Reply)

My goodness, aren’t we grumpy today? Was it past your bedtime when you posted that?

#2.1.1.1.1 mudbug on 2021-04-19 11:16 (Reply)

I don't understand your view, Ron Liebermann. You seem so callous and dismissive of human suffering. There have been terrible atrocities and they aren't all "victim stories". If you were to read "Paddy's Lament" by Thomas Gallagher about the horrific conditions that led to mass starvation and forced migration to America, or if you were to read "The Pianist" by Wladyslaw Szpilman about the Holocaust in Poland, it would change your mind. I actually read "The Pianist" just yesterday. It's short, and I couldn't put it down. You can read it in one day and it's fascinating.

#2.2 LP on 2021-04-18 21:01 (Reply)

Sal, bless its heart, is a distempered little troll, doing as trolls do.
Poor pitiful thing, it's best to ignore it. For it, attention is like oxygen for humans. Deprive it of its source of fuel and it eventually slinks away to find it somewhere else.

#2.3 Humdeedee on 2021-04-19 08:00 (Reply)

a good essay on the problems of unrestrained capitalism.

#3 Sal D. on 2021-04-18 17:35 (Reply)

Maybe you can find a good essay on the how Hong Kong was devastated by the evils of unrestrained capitalism.

#3.1 mudbug on 2021-04-18 20:47 (Reply)

I know you're not one of the brightest lights here, but what does Hong Kong have to do with the Irish famine? Or the failure of the English government's response and active measures against famine relief intended to help the right kind of "free market"? This would have been abundantly clear if you'd bothered to watch the video, or attended that day in junior high when your history class went over this widely known fact.

You'd think that anyone over the age of 12 would question economic policies that exacerbated a humanitarian crises but no, people like you think that any restriction on capitalism leads to commie rule, an idea both immature and patently stupid.

#3.1.1 Sal D. on 2021-04-19 00:19 (Reply)

Count on you to have a junior-high-level understanding of the relationship of the Corn Laws to the Irish Famine.

The Corn Laws that lead to the high price of food stuffs in Ireland were far from an example of 'unrestrained capitalism.' They were specifically enacted at the end of the Napoleonic wars to block the importation of food grains as a part of the British policy of mercantilism, and were immediately unpopular across the whole of Britain because they drove up the price of food for the benefit of landowners and farmers. So the Irish Famine is a better example of what happens government tries to put its thumb on the scale for or against business rather than letting free markets and free trade (what people like you enjoy calling 'unrestrained capitalism') determine the level of prices and production.

#3.1.1.1 Christopher B on 2021-04-19 08:09 (Reply)

Bet you didn't know about any of that until ten minutes before you posted.

#3.1.1.1.1 Sal D. on 2021-04-19 10:35 (Reply)

Since I’m not willing to bring myself down to your level, I will explain what is obvious to anybody who can read AND think. You are apparently having trouble with one or both of these activities. But don’t be concerned, I don’t judge. I’m here to help.

You brought up up the subject of “unrestrained capitalism” in your post and implied that unrestrained capitalism was a bad thing. If you read closely, you will note that I did not mention anything to do with potatoes, the English government, or even the video. That was intentional. Read my post again more slowly this time and I think you’ll see that to be true. If you’re having trouble seeing this, please take your time. I’m very patient.

So now that we’ve gotten over that hurdle, we can get to my point: unrestrained capitalism is not necessarily a bad thing. In the case of Hong Kong, a city-state with no natural resources to speak of, that has had arguably the freest trade and markets of any country in the world, has also among the highest per capita GDP in the world. Maybe it’s because they don’t have potatoes there. On the other hand, maybe it’s because the British had left it pretty much alone during their rule. In any case, the fact remains, until the Brits gave Hong Kong back to the China (and even beyond), the most unrestrained capitalistic system has worked pretty well.

#3.1.1.2 mudbug on 2021-04-19 11:13 (Reply)

While the potato crop failed, others didn't, and the English nobles who controlled the country exported food during the famine. The Irish famine was created by politics, and was nearly every other famine for the last 200 years or so.

#4 bob sykes on 2021-04-19 08:19 (Reply)

"Was the importation of the potato from the New World a blessing or a curse for the Irish peasantry?"

Yes.

#5 JJM on 2021-04-19 21:51 (Reply)

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Sunday, April 18. 2021

The Irish Famine