Riots are dangerous, undemocratic, and corrosive of trust and order. So when they become a significant form of political action, they warn that your system is falling apart. If you’re willing to listen.
Consider recent riots in Ireland. They seem surprising despite Ireland’s long troubled history because, outside Ulster, the Emerald Isle has over the last century been more dormant than explosive. But what isn’t surprising is the complacency of the political elite.
Likewise, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar burbled, “These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland. They did not do what they did because they wanted to protect Irish people. They did not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped. They did so because they’re filled with hate. They love violence, they love chaos and they love causing pain to others.”
Catholicism? God help us. Big families? An insular, rural lifestyle? Ireland for the Irish? Pro-life? Yuck to all that atavism.
The riot trigger was an immigrant stabbing kids. And for some reason the Irish, or what’s left of them, don’t agree with foreigners flooding in and causing disorder. Which might make them grotesque historical relics. But insofar as Ireland is a democracy, their views should have some impact on public policy lest the system implode, or explode, over the matter.
As usual, press coverage is part of the problem. The CBC, for instance, reportopined: “An analysis of more than 13 million social media posts over the past three years found that right-wing groups were increasingly using platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter, to stir up opposition to immigration.” And we all hate right-wing groups.
It’s part of a seamless attitude in the chattering classes, including Varadkar, such a fungible postmodern politician that if he and, say, Justin Trudeau switched jobs it might take months for anyone to notice. Right down to “This is not who we are. This is not who we want to be, and this is not who we will ever be.”
The CBC did allow that “Ireland received more than 141,000 immigrants in the 12 months through April… The influx of migrants drove an 11.7 per cent increase in Ireland’s population over the past 11 years.” But as in Canada, it is verboten to mention limits to a society’s absorptive capacity, or say anyone who really loves their country wants to attract newcomers who value its culture, not ones who will overwhelm that rubbish and turn the place into the galactic metropolis or “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Earlier this year Varadkar shrugged, “we’re facing a major refugee crisis not just here in Ireland but all across Europe.” Meaning even if he shared public concerns he’d claim to be helpless. But obviously he doesn’t.
So I have a question, for Varadkar, Trudeau, and these bien-pensant journalists. Is there any place whatsoever in polite discourse for questioning massive immigration and its corrosive effect on our traditions? And if instead you’ve hijacked our systems of self-government to pursue an agenda increasingly at odds with popular wishes, how do you imagine it all playing out? Because I think it could get ugly.
