Malignant Shame and Stereotypes in Irish Culture

Will McAneny International Affairs and Human Services

Abstract: Central Comparison #1: the Irish Race and Abused Irish Stereotypes in Popular Culture: “The Irish The Influence of The Irish experienced over 800 years of British Children Ape” the Catholic Church: colonialism—a period marked by several instances English cartoonists of the Victorian era often drew Because of the poor living conditions of the Irish, Comparison of Irish and American Abuse Prevalence of oppression and abuse of British power. While 60 upon the pseudoscience of eugenics in order to the Church was able to attain a degree of control racist oppression of the Irish, both on the island of 50 portray the Irish as apelike and subhuman, further over its constituents mirrored almost nowhere

Ireland and among the Irish diaspora, is presently a 40 subjugating an already second-class population. else. Strongly influenced by the French

30 fairly rare occurrence, the aftereffects of the racism Irish Additionally, the Irish diaspora in America philosophy of Jansenism, the Irish Roman they endured for centuries linger in Irish culture 20 American experienced a great degree of racism that shaped a Catholic Church came to espouse an inflexible, even today. Because of their long history of 10 development of malignant shame even among the Hobbesian dogma. Therefore, the Irish both at

0 oppression as the rare Western country that was Percentage with Harmful Percentage of Women Who Percentage of Men Who Irish diaspora. Despite their white skin, the home and in America turned from an oppressive Drinking Habits Have Experienced Sexual Have Experienced Sexual colonized rather than the colonizer, many Irish Abuse Abuse “foreign-ness” of the Irish prevented them from and racist society that treated them as an people may have developed both an internalized Other Facts: being seen as truly “white” by the Anglo-Saxon inferiors to a church that emphasized the and institutionalized state of self-loathing and a - 66 percent of American drug abusers were Protestants who dominated American culture. dominance of original sin and an innate series of harmful stereotypes, which have abused as children Therefore, instead of absorbing them into the disposition towards failure despite one’s best psychologically harmed the Irish in a vicious cycle - 30 percent of those abused as children will abuse general American narrative, nativists spearheaded efforts, which understandably furthered, not of “malignant shame.” their own children a campaign of racism against Irish immigrants. corrected, the development of malignant shame. - The average Irish citizen drinks on average 20% Deriving the stereotypes of “Pat” and “Bridget” Malignant Shame: more than the average European (National from similarly racist images by English artists, Malignant shame is a term coined by Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, American cartoonists such as Frederick B. Opper psychiatrist Dr. Garrett O’Connor originally to National Survey on Drug Use and Health) frequently portrayed the Irish as simian, The Irish Today: describe the perpetual feelings of shame subhuman creatures. In the award-winning sitcom “30 Rock”, Alec experienced mainly by victims of parental or Baldwin, who portrays a prominent Irish relationship abuse. In contrast to toxic shame, Central Comparison #2: The British and Abusive Catholic businessman, says “That's not how it which is the feeling one experiences as the result of Parents works, Tracy. Even though there is the whole repeated abuse, malignant shame is the action, the Instances of British Abuse: confession thing, that's no free pass, because th coping mechanism one adopts in order to tolerate - Statutes of Kilkenny: 14 century set of laws that there is a crushing guilt that comes with being a that abuse. Consequently, those experiencing forbade the intermingling of English colonists Catholic. Whether things are good or bad or malignant shame have no means of expressing with native Irish and prohibited the adoption or you're simply... eating tacos in the park, there is their feelings, and thus of internalizing their anger practice of Irish customs in areas settled by the always the crushing guilt” (The Fighting Irish). and shame—actions that ultimately result in a English While Baldwin is merely poking fun at the vicious cycle of self-loathing and feelings of - Penal Laws: set of laws passed between the late common stereotype of the Irish Catholic hounded th th perpetual inferiority. 17 and 18 centuries that stripped Catholic by an irrational sense of shame, his words carry a liberties and illegalized traditional Irish customs greater weight than might appear at first glance: such as Catholic education he reveals that the perpetual guilt—what some - An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger): Popularized as might call malignant shame—that has historically “the Potato Famine—British had historically been associated with the Irish might still trouble taken all Irish crops except for the low-quality them to this day, long after the abuses against potato, and refused to change their practices them have ended. when the potato blight struck, resulting in the deaths of 1 million Irish between 1845 and 1852

Conclusions: By comparing the Irish to an abused child and the British and American ascendancies to that child’s abuser, we can apply traditional psychological techniques to explain both how these stereotypes were formed and why their continued existence is harmful. However, the Irish are by no means the only race struggling to deal with the harmful aftereffects of colonialism, and are consequently not the only race to which we can apply the theory of malignant shame. We must apply the normative aspect of O’Connor’s theory to all races that experienced oppression at the hands of a colonial power, using psychological techniques to heal the wounds caused by colonialism. Nelson Mandela once said, “As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” In order to reverse the cycle of malignant shame and what O’Connor calls “post-colonial stress disorder”, decolonized peoples must create a “vicious cycle” of their own: recognizing their own equality and self- worth in order to prove to others who suffer from malignant shame that they may do the same.