connecting*the*dots

Two days ago, Bill O’Reilly ran a 10 minute segment dedicated entirely to blasting Media Matters for America for "making stuff up about me… everyday of my life." And in order to validate his position, he stoops to pulling a bait and switch on David Klein to passively defend his position.

No class. None.

Well, apparently on the very same day, O’Reilly moved over to the radio mic and delivered his perspective on slavery, making the case that the Irish flight in the 19th century was the equivalent to the capturing, shipping and selling of African slaves.

Now, I’m a proud 25% Irish and happen to know this particular aspect of the history of our struggle. Beyond a shadow of doubt, O’Reilly is way off base.

The Potato Famine of 1846 - 1850 was horrible on numerous levels. In a nutshell, when the potato crops (which were the Irish peasants only form of food, barter and payment) became diseased and non-edible, absentee British landlords who owned most of the Irish land took advantage of the situation by running the tenant population out of house and home, driving many into starvation or to cargo ships heading to the New World, all in order to establish eminent domain in a foreign land.

2 million Irish men, women and children died — about 25% of the total population.

For the Irish who decided to undertake the many month-long trek to America on huge cargo ships, they fought disease, rape, murder and famine in the bowels of the vessels for the chance to make a new life in the new world. Upon landing in New York City, they were treated terribly by the established ethnic groups, beginning their uphill battle for a place in society, though already numerous steps ahead of generations of African slaves.

There’s a terribly beautiful and moving monument to this injustice and struggle located in Battery Park, Manhattan called the Irish Hunger Memorial. And if you want to read a stirring blow by blow account of the Irish potato famine, pick up a book called, “Paddy’s Lament, Ireland 1846 - 1847: Prelude to Hatred.”

While the book will open your eyes, it cannot excuse O’Reilly for his historically inaccurate portrayal of African slavery in this country.

As terrible as the circumstances surrounding the potato famine were, the Irish fled to America; bringing our names, our history and our culture along for the perilous ride.

Irish immigrants supported new arrivals of family with earned money, helping pay for their escape from the clutches of mother nature and British rule.

Africans, on the other hand, were dragged out of their villages by colluding terrorist states such as the Portuguese and the Dutch (two other parts of my ethnic DNA) and sold into slavery as a possession — like cattle — in The New World (Order). They lost their religion, their customs and their namesakes.

There is no comparison.

So I guess congratulations is in order, Bill. You poked your historically inaccurate paws into the bee-hive of Media Matters and then smeared their honey all over your face… all in the same day.

And you wonder why you get stung?

Chump.