All Comments on 'My Irish Holiday'

kinda of a different story. no penises or even receptive breasts--until the final lines.

might be nice to be told who the Tans were (what about the Blacks)

the final lines were outstanding. i would be proud to be irish if such behaviour was "par for the course"

ah yes, 1919, a different world

For those unacquainted with the Royal Irish Constabulary's Black and Tans, they were British army veterans dressed up in black and tan uniforms. They were a paramilitary brute squad sent to inflict terror on the "terrorists", especially in the wake of the Easter rebellion of 1916.

It was a political mutual masterstroke of idiocy on both sides. The Irish were all set to get what they bombed, bargained, and bled for from Parliament until the Easter rebellion sank any any hope of a political settlement. Then the Brits scorched whatever Irish goodwill existed toward them by sending the Black and Tans to reconquer what was a politically "lost" dominion. Home Rule was a political football as to what amount of local sovereignty England would allow Ireland, and tabled until WWI ended as far as Britain was concerned. What lessons can we draw from this?

Well, if you're the rebel province with independence on the agenda, raising armed rebellion during a war makes accusations of disloyalty particiularly perilous for rebels. If you have any hopes of a political settlement, raising armed rebellion tends to shoot that in the ass.

The IRA would contend that England's attempts to form a gentleman's agreement until after the war was just a sop thrown to them by the same lying, exploitive Brits that wanted to wait until they could use the whole British Army to stomp them back into the mud.

The Brits learned from the American Revolution and Ireland's rebellion that trying to keep a country intent on breaking away was a waste of time and manpower, especally when exhausted after a global conflict.

The War of 1812 fizzled to a stop not because America won

but because Britain was broke and exhausted from the Napoleonic Wars and POLITICALLY unwilling to send the their battle-hardened battalions on a sideshow across the Atlantic.

The same went for Ireland. Outside of Ulster, most of Ireland was of little economic value to the UK, impossible to secure, and increasingly hostile. They tried sending their meanest (the Black and Tans) with carte blanche to kill, torture, and wreck "rebels" and their property.

Counterinsurgency only works when you can separate the rebels from bystanders and friendlies. Being too sloppy with the Lewis guns and humiliating tactics tends to make

everyone hostile.

So endeth the history lesson.

To the anon. commenter on the 'Black and Tans', you sorta have it right. The thing about them that was so WRONG is that were recruited from the Irish themselves. The name came from the clothes they wore - black shirts and tan trousers.

FYI: you might get away ordering a black and tan at a bar in the states. Don't try it in Ireland.