Racism and Common Sense

I've just been thinking about Prince Harry's gaffe, which certainly provides distraction for the Tabloid press, and draws attention away from more serious stories. I remember Prince Philip's famous "slitty eyes" remark made in China; so there is clearly an inherited gene there. Prince Harry's remark was an obvious blunder, but there is a danger in society today to be hypersensitive to any kind of remark which might be interpreted in a racist manner.

It is a kind of post-modern Freudianism, which looks for "latent racism" in attitudes, sees "internalised racism" in institutions and individuals (because of their background), and transposes the Marxist notion of "false consciousness" to the modern politically correct agenda.

It can be seen recently in the row over "Big Brother", where it is noted that:

Politician Tommy Sheridan has instigated a sectarian row in his home city of Glasgow after singing 'Fields Of Athenry' during a live broadcast of Big Brother. Channel 4 producers cut coverage during the broadcast, but enough of the song was heard to draw criticism from the Unionist community in Scotland. Rev. Stuart MacQuarrie, a chaplain at Glasgow University, told The Herald that 'Fields Of Athenry' is "anti-British" and therefore "racist" due to the song's reference about rebelling against the Crown. "This is an Irish rebel song," he said, "and so the song should not be sung on television, or indeed anywhere."

In fact, "The Fields of Athenry" is an Irish folk ballad set during the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) about a fictional man from near Athenry in County Galway who has been sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food for his starving family. In its way it is making a protest, but so is Victor Hugo's Les Miserable, in which Jean Valjean is sentenced to the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread for his starving family. The protest is against a society in which such injustice existed, and I see no reason why these stories should not be told, and songs sung. It is in the remembering that we see how injustice works, and don't fall into those traps (or new versions of them) again.

The Fields of Athenry" was written in the 1970s by Pete St. John, and topped the Irish folk charts. It is a lovely plaintive song, which reminded me in many ways of the sad parting of Ovid from his family, when he is sent into political exile, and wrote the Tristia about his plight, and remembered all that was dear to him that he was about to lose as he set off away from home.

Here are the lyrics, and if anyone can find anything remotely racist about them, I think they have serious personal problems with their own obsessions. If you really wanted something that was rebelling against the Crown, then the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen" is both direct, and deliberately offensive.

This song is a folk ballad, and is no more racist than "Les Miserables". The Reverend Stuart MacQuarrie called it "vile, viscous and racist", so read on and judge for yourself.

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young girl calling
Micheal they are taking you away
For you stole Trevelyn's corn
So the young might see the morn.
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.

Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

By a lonely prison wall
I heard a young man calling
Nothing matter Mary when your free,
Against the Famine and the Crown
I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.

Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

By a lonely harbor wall
She watched the last star falling
As that prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray
For her love in Botany Bay
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.

Links:
http://www.digitalspy.com/bigbrother/a140717/tommys-racist-song-sparks-criticism.html
http://www.rutherglenreformer.co.uk/rutherglen-news/rutherglen-local-news/2008/12/31/rev-hits-out-at-old-firm-songs-of-hate-hypocrites-63227-22577878/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fields_of_Athenry