Ireland: More Than Green Beer

THIS WEEKEND, many Harvard students will commemorate Saint Patrick's Day. How?

By reading Yeats, perhaps? No. By discussing possible solutions for Ireland's grave economic problems? Probably not. Maybe even by watching John Wayne in "The Quiet Man"? I doubt it.

Most students will celebrate Saint Patrick's Day by telling stupid Irish jokes and drinking green beer until they vomit.

This activity is, of course, not limited to Harvard students. People all over the country observe Saint Patrick's Day not by celebrating the rich and colorful Irish culture, but rather by perpetuating the ugly stereotype of the Irish as the happy alcoholic inhabitants of a backward land who talk funny.

As a person of Irish descent, I find this slur offensive. And I think we all should. That's what AWARE Week was all about, wasn't it?

The continuation of any racial or ethnic stereotype contributes to prejudice and insensitivity. Moreover, this specific stereotype belittles the tragic problem of alcoholism, which plagues hundreds of thousands of people and their families.

Still, the image of the jolly Irish drunk is one with which America is quite comfortable.

THE FACT that this insulting, unfair image of people who share my heritage has been prolonged for so many years is maddening enough. The fact that people ignore the endless contributions and serious problems of the Irish nation in favor of this stereotype adds further insult to injury.

Ireland is one of the most educated nations in the world. Its literacy rate is an astounding 99 percent, which puts the United States to shame. Ireland also outranks the U.S. in health care. They have more hospital beds per capita. Its infant mortality rate is the lowest in the world--six deaths per 1000 births. Compare that figure to the United States' rate of 10 deaths per 1000 births.

And last November, a Harvard-educated lawyer, Mary Robinson, was elected president of Ireland.

Which country is the more 'backward?'

Moreover, if one listed the contributions the Irish have made to the arts in only the past century, they would acquire a virtual dictionary of cultural literacy.

Ireland is not a backward nation of drunken Leprechauns

Imagine a library without the works of James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, Sean O'Casey, John Synge, Liam O'Flaherty, George Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan, Frank O'Connor, William Butler Yeats and Christy Brown.

The world of cinema owes a large debt to the Irish as well. Imagine some of the greatest films of our time without Peter O'Toole, Maureen O'Hara, Richard Harris or Anjelica Huston. Some of the film industry's most promising rising stars are Irish: 1990 Academy Award winner Brenda Fricker, director Jim Sheridan, and wunderkind Kenneth Branagh, touted as 'the next Olivier.'

Popular music would not be the same without the influence of Van Morrison, the social consciousness of U2, or the refreshing, if controversial, frankness of Sinead O'Connor.

The Irish have been in the forefront of the great humanitarian efforts of the past and present. Bob Geldof organized the phenomenal Band Aid/Live Aid music benefits. The founder of Amnesty International is Irish.

But education, health care and a rich culture constitute only one side of the Irish story. Ireland is a country which achieved its independence only in this past century, through a bloody civil war. Many Irish believe that the country is not yet completely free of imperialism; violence and oppression are part of daily living for many.

Ireland's economy is stagnating. Its unemployment rate in the late 1980s was a dismal 17 percent. Many of Ireland's best and brightest have left their homeland with their superb education for 'the West,' only to be denied a home in the United States due to immigration quotas. These young people are forced to resort to living as illegal aliens, taking jobs in nursing, child care, and forms of menial labor.

Recent legislation on immigration reform will hopefully alleviate this problem. Maybe the new European Community will help encourage economic development in Ireland. But how long will it take to compensate for centuries of imperialist oppression and international neglect? These problems are probably far from the minds of this weekend's revelers, but they are an integral part of being Irish.

I AM NOT trying to be the Grinch who stole Saint Patrick's Day. I encourage the commemoration of this holiday with merriment.

I merely hope that the first thoughts conjured up by the mention of Saint Patrick's Day are not of Guinness Stout or Bailey's Irish cream.