Scotch-Irish-L Archives

Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1997-12 > 0881100101


From: John Carpenter <>
Subject: Re: Closed minds reinforce decay
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 14:01:41 -0800 (PST)


I'll won't argue with you on many of these items, but
when it comes to "Scotch-Irish" that's what most of
us have traditionally called ourselves and to
Scottish people it may not be polite, but there's no
intrinsic reason to consider it rude. There is every
historical reason for those of us who claim it to use
it. We are many of us part Scottish, but this list
is about the Scotch-Irish, who mostly went from
Scotland to Ulster and thence to America....either
the colonies or the United States. We don't mind
being called "Scotch-Irish" because we have always
use the term ourselves.
Please remember that even the Scots were Irish. And
perhaps your mind is a little shut in too. I don't
think this is a flame, but perhaps it might contain
some heat.

---Iain Kerr wrote:
>
> I have been a subscriber to this list for two plus
months. At first
> I believed it to be focused on the genealogy of
those families who
> emigrated to the USA by way of Ireland (with some
years interregnum in
> Ireland). I believe that many on the list were
interested in making links
> to their Scottish roots,
>
> Instead I have found an closed, insular group who
are happy to offend
> those who wish to help and remain determined to
promote religious and
> politically offensive attitudes. In a reply to the
list organiser, who
> chose to challenge my email support of another
subscriber who objected to
> the term "Scotch", which genuinely offends modern
Scots, I said:
>
> I wish to respond publicly to my repeated (and
moderately diplomatic)
> private and public protests about the use of the
term "Scotch-Irish" and
> support to others who have objected to the term
which no matter how it may
> be loved by groups in the USA, is offensive to many
modern Scots.
>
> I am afraid that you continue to maintain a
provincial and closeted
> attitude to the use of "Scotch" as an obsolete term
for the people of
> Scotland. So long as you wish to manage a list
whose self-centred and very
> trivial interests, far removed on genealogy, which
seem to be focused on
> very localised interests such as:
>
> a. the dietary habits of rural communities
targeted on the available
> (tree borne and non aggressive) mammals;
>
> b. religious affililiations which would be
considered bigoted and
> offensive in an era where we in the UK are
attempting to create a peace
> between "Orange" and "Green" tribal communities in
Ulster;
>
> c. an excessively defensive focus on the
Scottish-Irish emigrants in
> certain New England states of the USA;
>
> d. a strange unwillingness to listen to the views
expressed from the
> Scottish "homeland" of so many (90%+) of those whom
your list supports;
>
> e. a bizarre inability to read English as it is
written (where the
> dictionary seems to have been abandoned); and
>
> f. in some cases, a naive belief that the
etymology of a surname, no
> matter how badly it is misspelt, is better proof
than genealogical proofs -
> births , marriages and deaths.
>
> I have enjoyed answering some of the more
challenging questions in your
> list, but, with regret, I must depart to other fora
where I may learn more
> than I teach!
>
> My formal "unsubscribe" follows.
>
>
> Yours aye, Iain
>
> in Windsor, Berkshire
> WWW site:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/iain_kerr
> - originated at 02-Dec-1997, 21:37:51 GMT
>
>

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