Joe Biden and Ireland

[Creoda]

Americans are like this and Americans are like that. Please tell me what makes you such an expert on Americans?

American cultural Imperialism, and experience talking/listening to them for years.

The Norman thing is conspicuous by the fact that I've never heard any other Anglosphere people go on about being descended from Normans, only Americans.

[Grace O'Malley]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans

'How the Irish became Protestant in America'
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journ...0C765CCAEAAB38

It would be interesting to read that article by Michael Carroll but it is behind a paywall. Will see if it is available online for free.

[Ruggery]

American cultural Imperialism, and experience talking/listening to them for years.

The Norman thing is conspicuous by the fact that I've never heard any other Anglosphere people go on about behind descended from Normans, only Americans.

Norman French? Or Norman Viking?

[Grace O'Malley]

Found a page of that article and this paragraph suggests that these are pre-famine so I wonder how Irish they really are?

For Akenson himself, as well as for Andrew Greeley,2 the answer was clear: today’s Irish Protestants were largely the descendents of those Irish—mainly Protestant, but including Catholics who converted—who settled in America before the Famine. Certainly, the regional distribution of today’s Irish-American Protestants lends support to this view. Thus, in the South, which was an area heavily settled by the pre-Famine Irish and little affected by a post-Famine Irish immigration that was largely Catholic, fully 73 percent of all respondents who identify themselves as “Irish” are Protestant (see Table 1, column 1). By contrast, outside the South (and so in areas more affected by post-Famine Irish immigration) Irish Catholics outnumber Irish Protestants by a slim margin (column 2).

[Mortimer]

Someone said the Irish like Joe Biden but not Mike Pence, eventhough Pence is more Irish ethnically then Biden. I think that could be because Biden is a bit of a Irish Nationalist or Republican, Pence not. Biden made pro Irish remarks.

[Creoda]

It shows the Irish are not one block like people are suggesting in this thread and shows that Joe Biden is not just using his Irish Catholic background for political purposes.

It shows that the Plastic Paddy moniker is very much appropriate for Americans. As has been said here many times over, identity is political on the left. Him going on about being Irish Catholic all the time is code for 'I'm not a normal white guy', 'I'm not one of the bad guys' (being Irish Catholic means he has less responsibility for slavery for example).

[Mortimer]

It shows that the Plastic Paddy moniker is very much appropriate for Americans. As has been said here many times over, identity is political on the left. Him going on about being Irish Catholic all the time is code for 'I'm not a normal white guy', 'I'm not one of the bad guys' (being Irish Catholic means he has less responsibility for slavery for example).

I think he is a normal white guy, and white people are good people and not responsible for slavery. That being clarified maybe he is just very attached to his irish heritage, and also seems to have interest in irish political issues, beyond american political issues. Pence didnt had any interest in doing something for Ireland or Northern Ireland.

[Mortimer]

My mum thought Biden has some albanian ancestry, because he loves albanians so much. I said he doesnt have albanian ancestry, but he does love the albanians and hates the serbs.

[Daco Celtic]

American cultural Imperialism, and experience talking/listening to them for years.

The Norman thing is conspicuous by the fact that I've never heard any other Anglosphere people go on about behind descended from Normans, only Americans.

The Norman claims sound more like something a few Americans would say in a forum, that's hardly a mainstream view. I'm impressed if Americans know much about Normans or if they are familiar with the Battle of Hastings, which probably doesn't say much for us.

[Grace O'Malley]

Article on the subject.

For both Protestants and Catholics, being Irish is something to be proud of. This is one reason why so many Americans claim to be Irish, even if only part of their ancestry is Irish. According to the General Social Survey, roughly one-in-eight Americans say that their primary ancestry is Irish. This Irish diaspora in America is large. According to the General Social Survey, 12 percent of Americans or over 36 million people claim to have an Irish ancestry. This is six times more than the current population of the Emerald Isle (there are 4.6 million people in the Republic of Ireland and another 1.8 million in Northern Ireland). This large number of Irish in America is far more than would be expected to occur from the four million Irish immigrants. Sociologists Michael Hout and Joshua Goldstein found that one reason is preference. Put simply: Americans like to think of themselves as being Irish, even if what it means to be Irish is not the same for everyone.

https://religionnews.com/2014/03/17/...gion-politics/

I'm still not sure that some of these people claiming to be Irish are actually Irish? I would like to read up more on the topic.