Why has Ireland always been a tremendous failure on the world stage?

[Graywolf]

Now, this I think can be considered as a gift to humanity by Irish.

[gixajo]

Now, this I think can be considered as a gift to humanity by Irish.
G]

Guinness or Kilkenny?

That is the question.

[Graywolf]

For now Guiness bud, havent taste Kilkenny yet.

[Ryujin]

Now, this I think can be considered as a gift to humanity by Irish.

Cheers bro. Kahrolsun İstibdat Yaşasın Hürriyet!

[Graywolf]

Thanks mate, we can drink together when I come to Izmir,
Köhne bizans'ın yıldız burcunda ikamet eden baykuş gidene kadar bize rahat yok!

[Jana]

with the notable exception of Poland, which, curiously, had the highest incidence of genes associated with individualism.

Hungary is most individualistic nation in eastern Europe by far (and among top in Europe in general), not Poland, and that very much shows in mentality. Poles aren't known to be especially individualist.


Also you keep mentioning Danish scientific excellence, I repeat that none heard for much of that worldwide so it doesn't seem to be something outstanding except on local level.

[KirillMazur]

I disagree. For its size and relatively complex history, Ireland is a super successful country. All over the world, there is a stable interest in everything Celtic, which is mainly represented by Ireland (and Scotland).
Everyone in the world knows about Guinness beer, Jameson whiskey, the U2 band, Enya, leprechauns, clovers, fairies, druids, about the confrontation between the Irish and Italians in the USA, a bunch of successful people of Irish descent, The Great Famine, etc.
Plus a fairly comfortable tax policy compared to many Western European countries, so international companies are willing to move there.

[Komintasavalta]

[TeutonicBoyars]

Okay, lots of posts so I need to set some things straight here.

First and briefly, @Universal: Fractal's/sean's(?) ethnicity, like I said, is not really a concern to me, but it certainly was a concern to him as no one would attempt to vindicate and cope with its social position in such an aggressive way. His entire career on this forum was to somehow put Indians on par with Anglos that he would post religiously and obsessively about it - that shows some degree of insecurity about his own ethnicity in my eyes, which is why I felt the need to point it out. At this point, I remain highly suspect that sean is just an evolution of Fractal, and in fact I will continue to believe it until definitely proven otherwise, but that's not exactly possible, so oh well, sorry Fractal/sean! It's not really my fault if sean is indeed a separate entity, as having the common sense to not act like Fractal is not exactly difficult to do, but he still does it anyway. Numerous socks go unbanned on this forum all the time for a multitude of reasons.

@Stearoslina, the map I was talking about was actually a map with allele frequencies that are associated with individualism, not some anthropological model based on individual perception. I think I saved it on my old hard drive somewhere, I'll try to find it later. In regards to your other assertions, that's kind of a phenomenon that happens with all cultures/countries where they are only interested in their own nation's history or the incredibly prolific shifts that impact their ever day lives - as it is that spotlight is mostly reserved for the big players in Europe/the world. I have no problem saying that neither, Denmark/All of Scandinavia, Ireland, etc are not big players, but the point is that even among these smaller nations Ireland stands out as incredibly miniscule.

@everyone else advocating for Ireland's cultural presence and how it somehow makes them prestigious, this is exactly what I DIDN'T want the thread to devolve to because popular culture/opinion is only based on shifting tastes and interests. Vikings were popular during 19th century/early 20th century nationalism, disappeared for pretty much the remaining century, and only recently have begun becoming popular again. African American culture is undoubtedly more well known that Irish culture, especially outside the Anglosphere. If you go to nightclubs in Berlin/Paris you will see a whole bunch of natives dressed in a ghetto way, listening to rap and having their girlfriend's twerk on their shaft. Regardless, I don't think anyone here would regard this culture worthy of praise (me included), and it's the same with Ireland. All this time I've been talking about cultures that were able to assert their own influence in an "organic" way either by conquest, colonization, outstanding individuals/achievements, not because Patty Giuseppe O'Gomez set up an Irish Dance club to celebrate his great, great grandmother's homeland along with his numerous other cultural cousins who exist because of a massive diaspora that couldn't make it in their original homeland and on their own devices.

I really appreciate the posts of Creoda, Davystayn and Graham and I hope this thread can continue to receive responses in that direction - maybe it was not one thing that lead to Ireland's failure as with other nations but a culmination of several factors over the years.

[Loki]

Joe Biden is Irish, allegedly. So are the Clintons.