An interesting reading of Jimmy Rabbitte, manager of The Commitments, preaching on identity and politics and stuff:
[Edmund] Spenser was not alone in believing that, since the Gaels by their own account had reached Ireland (those in Connacht, at least) from Spain, then they were, like the haughty Spanish, polluted with Moorish blood. This gave a learned gloss to the folk syllogism that, since good things were fair, and the Irish were bad, it was right to call them ‘black’. And the slur gained extra potency from the willingness of English colonizers to learn from the Spanish reconquista of Moorish Andalucia, first, that force could legitimately be used to oppress and transplant people of a different faith, who were occupying land in Ireland that, according to many chroniclers, had once been held by ancient Britons, and, second, that Gaelic customs that were infecting the English in Ireland (long hair, easy divorce, and so on) should, like the Morisco traits that had tainted Christians in Andalucia, be outlawed.
The European gypsies were somewhat smarter in their claim to be persecuted Christians fleeing Moorish Egypt.
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Doyle has a lot to answer for.
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The Van stretches credibility beyond belief even before a nappy gets battered and deep fried.