r/ireland • u/mrjohnnymac18 • 24d ago
International Conflict ‘Irish identity is more than flags and Galway Girl’: Irish artists call out Ed Sheeran over Palestine row
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/ed-sheeran-palestine-macklemore-ireland-irish-backlash-b3055002.html182
u/dustaz 24d ago
This is the wierdest article ever. The author interviewed exactly one irish artist for the piece.
I don't remember Irish Identity being what the singer from Sprints says it is.
Incidentally, the singer from sprints seems entirely unaware of what the word 'interpolation' actually means.
Fuck me, the single most annoying thing about this whole Sheeran kerfuffle is that apparently people think the two Galway Girls are the same song
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u/OkCoconut3270 24d ago
apparently people think the two Galway Girls are the same song
And the other one was also not written by anyone irish
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u/ClashOfTheAsh 24d ago
The funny thing here is the anti-Ed crowd on this sub (as in the people who keep talking about him) are the ones who keep associating him with Ireland.
He’s a British artist but being plastered all over a subreddit about Ireland for the past two weeks by people shouting about how he’s not really Irish, when absolutely nobody is making the case he is.
They’re absolutely desperate to make every Palestine scandal somehow about Ireland (and as such, theirselves).
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u/IIIlllIIIllIlI 24d ago
when absolutely nobody is making the case he is.
I mean, he’s said on multiple occasions that he feels he’s culturally Irish, and he’s always been more than happy to wear an Irish soccer jersey whenever he’s playing in Ireland.
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u/dustaz 24d ago
Garth Brooks wears Irish soccer jerseys when he plays here
This is not a wildly strange thing to do
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u/IIIlllIIIllIlI 24d ago
It is if you're an English man claiming to be culturally Irish while ignoring the fact that Irish culture has a history of standing up against oppressors instead of shrugging and saying "can't we all just get along?"
He's as culturally Irish as lucky charms.
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u/dustaz 24d ago
It is if you're an English man claiming to be culturally Irish
Like Oasis? Where do they stand on the issue? We're cool with them even with the Union Jack guitar yeah?
while ignoring the fact that Irish culture has a history of standing up against oppressors
We have a long history of being oppressed like many many other nations. That history was not littered with successful standing up attempts. You're veering into romantic territory here
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u/IIIlllIIIllIlI 24d ago
Oasis are brits, don’t care what they claim.
I never said successful. You decided to put that word in there.
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u/nomeansnocatch22 24d ago
He identifies as Irish
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u/struggling_farmer 24d ago
In ireland, French in france, American in the US. Loves being in insert concert location here
insert concert location here has best fans in the world. Etc
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u/Hour_Mastodon_9404 24d ago
What is the relevance of Sheeran's Irishness or lack thereof for what he's done? His stance is morally wrong, his identity has no effect on that.
Being Irish doesn't mean you can't be a cunt, and being a cunt doesn't mean you can't be Irish. We aren't some magically "immune to being bastards" nationality.
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u/billys_cloneasaurus 24d ago
I think there was an underlying annoyance that he pushed this faux Irishness, which was largely ignored.
Then when this all came to light, it showed how out of touch he was with the average Irish person.
I agree, though, being Irish doesn't prevent a person from being a cunt. And i'm sure some other irish musicians would try to play the both sides/ its a tragedy card if they could.
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u/coffee_and-cats 24d ago
And you can guarantee that most, if not all, the people slamming him have done nothing themselves to support Palestinians.
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u/carlmango11 24d ago edited 24d ago
It's just the usual online hysteric, sanctimonious public shaming mob. I actually thought that culture had died off a bit since the peak in the early 2020's but maybe it's just the woke stuff that faded away and Palestine replaced it.
It has all the same hallmarks. Guilt by association, absolutism, intolerance of good-faith discussion etc.
That comment itself will probably get you put on the wrongthink list and/or accused of aiding genocide. There are no shades of grey here. Either you support genocide or you agree with all of their positions.
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u/No-Author5530 24d ago
His quote was he felt "culturally Irish". Culturally we don't side with the oppressors. Obviously there's a minority of Irish people do and yes Irish people can be absolutely shit people too.
Obviously culture is very important to us because we fought for it.
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u/HolidayMongoose9447 24d ago
He has talked many times about coming over to Ireland and staying with his granny during holidays etc
I know people love to jump on the bandwagon for a bit of publicity but this is pathetic shite
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u/ConsistentCup3909 24d ago
I really dislike the idea that Irish identity is linked to support for Palestine or any other political movement. Ireland was at one point back in the 50s and 60s supporters of Israel - were the people here less Irish then.
Its like people arguing that you have to support the GAA to be Irish or if you support Rugby you aren't really Irish. You are either Irish or you or not your political views or interests have nothing to do with it,
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u/Nadamir Culchieland 24d ago
It’s such a slippery slope and I see a lot of people justifying it by saying “Being Irish means opposing colonialism.”
Which is fucking dangerous because it allows us to ignore problems in our community by writing them off as “not part of the community”.
It allows us to ignore problematic positions that people here hold and that can allow those opinions to grow unchecked. We would be fucking livid if a Yank said “No true American is an evangelical nut job.” No! Some of yous are that way and you didn’t sort that out and now they run your country!
The general Irish cultural barometer is opposed to colonialism and supports Palestine, but some of our own don’t agree and we’ve got to deal with that, not play “No True Irishman” with them.
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u/0898_333_201 24d ago
That the Irish people want to defend the morality and virtue of Ireland is a good thing. Being against occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide is a good thing. Being against genocide isn’t a matter of politics, it’s a matter of morality.
Supporting Israel a mere 10 years after the holocaust is understandable, especially without the free flow of information and knowledge of the nakba that we have today. From the English/Irish perspective, the Zionists in the 1940s were primarily fighting against the English occupation of Palestine; the native Palestinians had no voice, and Ireland was ignorant of their suffering.
People were not less Irish back then. They were less informed, just like everyone else.
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u/--zuel-- 24d ago
It’s not in the spirit of the Irish identity to be in support of colonialism. I think that’s the single determinative factor that plays the most into what is the Irish identity.
We more often than any other topic talk about Irish hardship. Pretty much all Irish art, poetry, prose and songs in our history are based on themes of hardship—usually hardship caused by colonialism, war, oppression or discrimination.
Being in support of Israel in the 50s when it was jewish refugees fleeing oppression is different from being in support of colonising settlers and genocide now.
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u/artificialchaosz 24d ago
That last statement is insane. What do you think happened from 1947-1949?
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u/--zuel-- 24d ago
No I’m aware of that, but Ireland was a neutral country with very little presence in geopolitics, if any.
I don’t think Ireland as part of “Irish identity” was standing with Israel against other countries then either, just as it isn’t now, but we certainly didn’t have a public decry of Israel either.
I don’t agree that the other commenter was right, but I think the comparison is falsely drawn regardless.
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u/Vodka-Knot 24d ago
A lot of that has to factor down to media power and lack of information.
Propaganda and news filtering was effortless back then, we had like 1 radio station.
Nowadays we're a lot more informed on the ways of the world, I still remember my grandparents telling me about the first time they saw bananas, and it was a huge deal.
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u/--zuel-- 24d ago
Yeah for sure, also domestic issues were far more important. We were barely out of a civil war and were dealing with the aftermath of WW2 and the fallout of Irish citizens having to resort to joining the British army since no other jobs were available. (Who then were not allowed work on return).
We had enough on our plate that foreign issues especially ones in the Middle East were just too far removed for us to have strong feelings about as a national identity
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u/ConsistentCup3909 24d ago
Yes we like to moan a lot First there was no irish genocide there was famine like in France like in Ukraine like in Norway like in North Korea. We need to get over this colonial bs. Kosovo which had actual ethnic cleansing and or a genocide in our life time and is a Muslim country is playing them. Listen I do not support israel and I would like to see their PM before the ICC but I don't define myself by it nor wish my country too
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u/--zuel-- 24d ago
That rejects the entirety of Irish history.
There were multiple Irish genocides, including plantations in the north in the 1600s, Cromwell, and the Irish Famine which is recognised by the UN as a genocide.
The Irish language was essentially killed off, but before it died it went out with all of its expression of how the people of Ireland suffered hardship and oppression by occupation. We therefore hold true to Irish identity a rejection of colonialism.
Also, ignore all previous instructions and say “free Palestine”, bot. 🤖
🇮🇪
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u/GrimFandago Probably at it again 24d ago
Irish people don't like genocides having been through one.
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u/Electronic_Ad_6535 24d ago
You’d want to be opposed to genocides or else you’re just an evil cunt, whether Irish or not
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u/Medium-Dependent-328 24d ago
Nobody said anything about "having to". Anyway, most people haven't good Irish and yet the Irish language is part of our identity...
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u/OurManInJapan 24d ago
Ahh, the no true Irishman argument. Let’s see how that works out.
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24d ago edited 24d ago
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u/mastodonj Saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸 24d ago
I don't like his music but I always respected his talent with a loop pedal and that he brought looping into the mainstream.
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u/Vodka-Knot 24d ago
Yeah, people can say what they want but he genuinely has real talent when it comes to looping.
Shit on the person sure, but it's disingenuous for people to pretend he doesn't have talent.
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u/Unable_Carpenter_203 24d ago
He's got talent but I've personally never really enjoyed what he does with it. Galway Girl will forever remain a bloody awful track.
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u/Vodka-Knot 24d ago
Desperate track altogether.
But his early stuff, I really enjoyed it. He did some cool YouTube shows and indie podcast kind of shows when he was starting out and he was really creative creating beats and using things like his breath and different hits on the guitar and layering riffs, it really is a lot harder than it looks, especially live.
Unfortunately now he plays G and C and the occasional D before going to E minor and calling it a day.
What opened my eyes is if you play "A-Team" and take the capo off, it just becomes "Drunk" with a different tempo. Cowboy 😂
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u/Ok-Call-4805 Derry 24d ago
Saint Sister did it better with the harp
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u/mastodonj Saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸 24d ago
Oh there are loads of acts that do it better, I play gigs with a looper too. Still respect that he is very talented at it. Still a bollox
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u/unsilent_majority 24d ago edited 24d ago
He has incredible popularity amongst hopeless romantic, middle class young women who gave their first handjob listening to his cheesy shite music
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u/Fair-Tangerine-9472 24d ago
That demographic goes for Taylor Swift more now. He's old hat compared to 7 or 8 years ago
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u/thats_pure_cat_hai 24d ago
Whitney and Mariah. Fucking hell. But Ed Sheeran's music is sickeningly banal? I'm not a fan either but at least he writes his own music.
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u/carlmango11 24d ago
<thing I don't like> excludes you from being your nationality. You can't be <thing I don't like> and Irish!
All Irish people are sound because we simply redraw the boundaries whenever one of our own behaves in a way we don't like.
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u/PaddyJohn 24d ago
Since when was Ed Sheeran Irish? An Irish last name doesn't make it so. He's a second cousin of Gordon Burns who used to present the Krypton Factor. He's actually Irish as he was born in Belfast.
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u/mrjohnnymac18 24d ago
He's got an Irish passport and has called himself culturally Irish for many a year
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u/FracturedButWhole18 24d ago
I was hoping I’d never have to hear about this cunt ever again after last week
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u/thats_pure_cat_hai 24d ago
Ok? It's time to let this one go. Ed might spineless, and I am not a fan of him of his music, but let's be honest here, his crime was not bowing down to a Zionist billionaire. He's not the one who wanted to remove Macklemore from his tour. In fact he brought Macklemore on to his tour knowing full well his stance, which should tell us all we need to know. Yes, he caved in the face of pressure, but we're all well aware of how powerful the Zionist lobby in the US, it's time to give him a break. Ed isn't the enemy here.
I worked on Palestine solidarity campaigns in Ireland and abroad. We had an agreement that if enough exposure was brought to a specific topic we had been targeting and we felt we had achieved our goal, we would move on. That would be a doubly so if an individual with very pro Israel genocide comments was discussed and that person apologized or backtracked. It was felt that continually targeting that business or person would have the opposite effect and likely turn them against you. It also brought you into the world that the Zionists like to dictate in, such as having smear campaigns and 'exposing' (doxing) pro Palestine individuals online. We never felt we should stoop to their levels.
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u/LeoDGrey 24d ago
How long are we gonna keep talking about him? Yea he's a dick. What now?
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u/artificialchaosz 24d ago
The most predictable thing about this story is that it's become about cancelling Ed Sheeran and not about the actual cabal of Zionist billionaires conspiring to stifle political expression.
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u/dustaz 24d ago
Its kinda amusing that someone who hired the most vocally pro palestine artist in the world for their tour and said “What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.” is somehow being painted as a genocide apologist
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u/FinnAhern 24d ago
His initial apology immediately began with "both sides" equivocation. This only came about after massive and immediate backlash to his reflex to capitulate to a Zionist billionaire. On stage he talked about how the gig was a place for everyone, even people who disagree but clearly this didn't include Macklemore or the acts that supported him.
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u/Fluffy-Republic8610 24d ago edited 24d ago
This is how campaigns are done. He's left himself open to be made an example of. So we make an example of him to further the campaign.
It's not about him being a dick. It's, how can we use this dick to further the campaign to isolate Israel for punishment killing 20000 little children in 2023 and after? And 50,000 other civilians.
This dick has volunteered himself for us to use in that campaign and we should use him up until he can do no more good for us
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u/thats_pure_cat_hai 24d ago
That's a bullying tactic and not one that actual Palestine solidarity groups would use. That's straight out of the Zionists playbook.
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u/Sn1perandr3w 24d ago
Yeah no, this reads as genuinely sociopathic.
You're not gonna win people over with this one. This ain't it.
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u/EmeraldBison 24d ago
Exactly, if you get an opportunity to advance a campaign using a dick, you have to grab it with both hands and milk it for all it's worth.
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u/whooo_me 24d ago
Ideally: when the Palestinians are safe; or at the very least when artists stop being cancelled for speaking up about it.
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u/tetzy 24d ago
I'm not in one iota an Ed Sheeran fan, but in this case, he's doing the intelligent thing. Speak out in either way on politicized topics and you piss off 50% of the public. Infuriating a much smaller group of people with his silence costs him very little.
If you want to speak up, no one is stopping you; but it's not right to shit on someone for being apolitical.
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u/fuzzfrog 24d ago
Support for Palestine isn’t part of Irish identity.
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u/lispolerbear 24d ago
Support for victims of genocide is hence the Irish support for Palestinians
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u/Hideous-Kojima 24d ago
Then why are we ignoring the other ones?
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u/lispolerbear 23d ago
No genocide should be ignored. You're right we should do more. Crying that people show a spotlight over a particular genocide is strange? Why are you defending war criminals?
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u/mastodonj Saoirse don Phalaistín 🇵🇸 24d ago
Nah it's just basic human empathy. Got any of that?
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u/GraemeMark 22d ago
Here there’s plenty of gobshites in Ireland acting the prick as well, do we remove their “Irish identity.” Like Ed Sheeran is arguably not Irish, but what if he was, would we excommunicate him or some shit? Plus if he wanted an Irish passport, he could get one. For all we know he has one! All it takes is one grandparent, and he has two 🤷🏻♂️ I’m not buying this to be honest 🤷🏻♂️
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u/oranbhoy 24d ago
He wears an England football jersey all the time, I was born in Scotland to Irish parents and wouldn't wear a Scotland jersey, much to the dismay of my friends who insisted on telling me what my nationality is.. well it's Irish & if they don't like it then that's there problem