Opinion of sssuperflash

[RFayette]

Improved significantly...FF for me

[SATW]

Great guy, Massive FF.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Mild FF, was a HP initially, but he's gotten a lot better.

[TDAS04]

FF on balance.

[Mr. Smith]

Vastly superior to his detractors, FF

[Mechaman]

Meh light FF, even in spite of recent remarks he has made (which strawman a bunch of points (ie, I don't believe all Yankees were anti-Irish racists, in fact I've made that point repeatedly in some recent posts that he obviously never looked at (like who voted for Al Smith in Massachusetts?  YOu really think that I think that Catholics made up 50% of the population there?  I mean come on man), and I have not denied any of the anti-black racism from the draft rioters (in fact I have in the past gone on at length about how Democrats encouraged anti-black racism among the Irish by convincing them that the abolitionists wanted to bring them all up north to compete with them) blah blah blah).  I just think that he, like others, just can't bring themselves to understand the complications of history and try very hard to only understand it through modern lenses.

In regards to his other points, specifically about how the Irish were a bunch of Wall Street loving robber baron voters, dude please read up on a history of labor unions (especially groups like the Molly Maguires), the Land League movement, Henry George's 1886 NYC Mayoral run, etc. etc. etc.  Point isn't that yeah they would be modern day Democrats or that they were perfect liberals, just that you are looking at some of this just plain wrong (or maybe being just a bit too defensive for some reason).  As well, a lot of the Democratic swing towards the GOP in 1896 was by German Catholics who were alarmed by Bryan's silverite appeals and his Prohibition stances.  Irish Catholics, though they also did drift towards the GOP (especially the wealthier ones), actually stayed somewhat on the reservation (I will comment later if need be but I got somewhere to be at 5 o'clock).

I apologize if you happened to see my first post.  I admit it was a bit more reactionary than this one is until I realized that unfortunately some things I have been noting on here have been wrongly misinterpreted.  Lookit kid, I don't think you are evil if you have English ancestry and if you worship at a Congregationalist church.  Points I would have made earlier if I weren't so pre-occupied and if the original thread wasn't locked by an overly conscientious mod.

[Flake]

Not the biggest fan

[Mechaman]

I wasn't going to comment on this thread, but since Mechaman raised some points that I found interesting, I'll respond to them.

- I did not see your first post. I will say that same of my satire was of the British guy with the Green avatar (Sibboleth?) rather than you.

- First off, I'm not of English descent or Congregationalist, or even Protestant at all. That isn't hugely important to the thread, but hopefully it helps you understand the angle I'm coming from. I don't necessarily love the WASPs either, but I would call them FFs on balance. I don't usually like to call whole ethnicities bad or good, but I feel that this particular one gets a little bit of a bad shake (for understandable reasons, most of the time).

- I never really thought you said Yankees were ALL racist, but I felt like you didn't really give them a fair shake. This goes back to a point which you made about history not being so easy to characterize. Here's an example. New Hampshire probably was the state with the fewest Irish immigrants in New England in the antebellum era. However, it tended to be rather Democratic and even elected Franklin Pierce, the first Democratic President from New England (and the only one except JFK, of course).

- Many of the Copperheads, especially in states like Ohio, were WASPs or German, not Irish Catholic. On the other hand, many of the best Union soldiers were Irish Catholics from New York or Massachusetts. This is why I feel some of the Civil War rhetoric about the Confederates being like the Irish rebels doesn't make much sense.

- I didn't say the Irish were robber baron lovers. I know about the history of the Irish people in America. They were often only at a position to do low wage jobs, and often their only hope was the political machines and the unions. That is understandable, and happens with immigrants today, albeit to a lesser extent. However,  when I studied things further, it seemed as though certain elections bucked this trend, including 1896, but as you explained, not completely.

- However, let's not forget that the Republicans helped poor people too, especially with the Homestead Act. I would NOT say that they were socialist, but they did seem to hold issues like 'wage slavery" in contempt, rather than modern Republicans who would say "well, the free market will settle itself." For this, I admire them, as well as the fact that people like Roosevelt (who you don't like that much, seemingly) and Taft (who I personally admire slightly more, though he wasn't the better President) were willing to expand governments power to fight monopolies. To be fair, these policies were mostly supported by the Midwestern Republicans, but still, the point stands.

- Also, did you realize that many of the WASPs that we are talking about weren't really living in a world similar to today? Most of them were fishermen, or perhaps farmers who were losing relevance with the rise of the Midwest. I mean, do you really blame them for being a bit suspicious of the Irish immigrants? Yes, they often held racist sentiments towards them, but when you put two cultures that have historically not liked each other right next to each other, there will be problems. The movie Gangs of New York shows this, I'm sure you've seen it.

- I actually think you make great posts most of the time. I admire your base of knowledge, and although I don't necessarily agree with everything you say, you seem to be a progressive, intelligent individual, who has contributed to this forum more than most others. I just want to debate, you see.

Alright, you just implied (in the thread not here) we were all a bunch of black hating racist scumbags who voted for monopolists.  Just FYI.

Admittedly a lot of my passionate posts and threads are largely due to that perception (and that the idea that said WASPs were angels and did not have their own societal faults (like the massive poverty during the Gilded Age).  Racism against non-whites is an unfortunate fact of Irish American history, but there is a lot more to it than that.  Unfortunately I interpreted your post in the other thread as an attack on us all and responded in kind.

Although your points about how racism against Irish people back then would be "understandable", I wonder if you would feel so comfortable making that statement about southern whites and blacks?  Or about Texans and Mexicans?  Thing is, racism is largely "understandable" by the offending party, regardless of who it is.  Does it make it ever justified?  No.

[TNF]

Has not 'improved', unless you just can't read or something.

[Türkisblau]

Still trash

Has not 'improved', unless you just can't read or something.

Coming from you two, that's a compliment, honestly.

Are you really going to go down the whole fighting with other users path again? After your last apology thing I thought this would stop.

[Türkisblau]

But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. (Matthew 5:39)

[Bacon King]

friendly moderator reminder:

1. if you think someone is making a personal attack please use the "report to moderator" link rather than publicly psychoanalyzing why they did it

2. if you call someone a "failure as a poster" then they probably aren't going to accept any apology you try to give them

3. in general, please lighten up a little bit and stop allowing the actions of some nerd typing on a keyboard hundreds of miles away from you to affect you on such a personal level

thx
-BK

[Murica!]

Hates me for whatever reason, but I just couldn't careless about him.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Polls, I've had a handful of positive interactions with SWE and even defended him against you and he still thinks I'm awful. I think he's probably quite a nice fellow irl, but you are right on some level with your complaint so don't let him get to you. Turning this nonsense into a feud is not worth it. You will turn into Libertas/solar storm. No one wants to see the public fight and you will be blamed.

The community knows these posters. All here awhile. Opinions of them are not going to be sharply affected by you attacking them. Especially when they generate such strong opinions about themselves to begin with.

[Joe Republic]

My reputation on the forum is what I'm concerned about.

Why?

[Ban my account ffs!]

I voted HP but that doesn't mean he hasn't made good posts or that he should quit posting altogether.