Patriot Realm

The Troubles, a term used to describe a period of conflict in Northern Ireland, spanned from the late 1960s to 1998. This conflict was characterised by violent confrontations between different communities and a struggle for political and national identity. It is one of the most tumultuous and complex episodes in modern European history.

Until perhaps today.....  as Migrants flood Ireland, I wonder if the British will pale into insignificance in comparison? 

It led me to research and try and put together an essay to discover the deep rooted nationalistic love the Irish people have for their country. 

After all, Ireland has a long history of being betrayed and let down by migration. Forced, when they were faced with the loss of their homes and trekked to places like America, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. 

While it is fair to remind ourselves of the African American slaves who lamented " No one knows the troubles I've seen " it is also fair to say that the Irish have seen their fair of troubles. 

In 2011, British Illusionist Derren Brown conducted an experiment that I have never forgotten.

In Remote Control, audience members for a game show are asked to wear anonymous masks and dictate the ongoing fate of an unsuspecting, secretly filmed member of the public.

The show takes a look at the horror that emerges when people are allowed to make anonymous decisions as part of a crowd.

It caused a degree of shock and horror at the time and was designed to show us how being anonymous in a crowd can, in his words, “turn perfectly nice people into internet bullies, or rioters, or hooligans”.

What the hell do I have to do to wake up from this nightmare? Gay Pride MONTH? Seriously? 1/12^th of a year dedicated to people who want to boldly go where no man should ever go? Sorry, Star Trek, but Captain Kirk would never have navigated to the Gay Galaxy.

Sometimes, you just have to say no. Enough. I am all out of sympathy, all out of hugs and all out of embraces for men who do not want to be a blokie bloke. 

A bloke is Aussie speak for a man.  To be a blokie bloke means a man who is a real man. And I for one have a great deal of respect and admiration for men who still proudly proclaim their blokeiness. You know the kind of thing: being hardworking, masculine and protective. And he sure as hell doesn't wear a tutu or drive an e-scooter to save the planet. 

Gay Pride Month is, in my very not humble opinion, a month too long.In  fact, I would abolish all bloody recognition days. 

But if we are stuck with them, is there any way that I can get a month for Bloke Month? You know, the idea of a whole month where men can – with their mates – drink beer, cuss, scratch their balls and ogle big-breasted women and fart in bed? 'OK, I am not a male. But I get the vibe. I was married to one and I know what a blokie bloke is. Yet, in spite of these things, they still manage to go to work, pay the bills and generally make life better for all those they know. 

One fateful day in March 2020, the incompetent men shut down the world with lockdowns. It was the opposite of the premise in Atlas Shrugged. Who is John Galt? Who cares? The incompetent people could stop the motor of the world too. Atlas shrugs either by disappearing competence or by an overwhelming mass of incompetence too great even for Atlas’s broad, strong shoulders.

Competency crises seem to be brewing left and right and are constantly on public display of late. Consider the self-interested testimony of Fani Willis. Jared Bernstein, the chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, caused an interview to go viral by struggling to explain monetary policy.

Several previously 100% effective Covid vaccines have been withdrawn from the market (Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca). Lastly, consider the inspiring image of our own Secretary of Defense triumphantly marching off his plane in the Philippines wearing his Covid mask and face shield. 

Trump is a master boomerang hurler. He throws them out and sometimes hits and sometimes misses. But he always knows his target. When he misses, the prey, whether it be a feral pig, a snake, or a wayward lizard, it will always know that it was nearly a victim and it feels fear of the next attack.

A boomerang is an ancient weapon created by Australian Aboriginal ( Indigenous ) People. It was a hunting weapon. If it hits its target, the prey and the boomerang could be used for the future. In the case of the prey for food, clothing and in the case of the weapon, to be recycled to use again.

If, on the other hand, the weapon missed its target, it would come back to wait until it could be hurled in the future to harvest its prey.

The missed target feels the presence of the mighty warrior that stalks it; the shadow that follows it and it tries to hide in caves and gullies. But it can never rest easily for fear that the boomerang slayer is close behind. Ready to launch the shot that will kill it or, worse stun it.

The stun is the worst shot. The prey is still alive and fully aware that it is about to be vanquished. No, death is preferable to stunning. At least death is a quick kill. But to stun you?? To stun is terror: to come back to consciousness and see the eyes of your hunter staring at you and ready – not to kill you, but to torture you.