Post #41188 by emspace on Mon, Jun 30, 2003 11:23 AM

Hmm, hard to say (love the jigging moai though)...is putting a Tiki bar into West Ireland the same as putting a McDonald's in an Amazonian village? Do we want to go here? I dunno, it's likely that the younger generation could be sick of the Guinness/Irish language/ruins/cathedrals/rolling green fields thing. They are probably craving all-night raves, E, street racing, perhaps even Mai Tais if they ever hear of them - but is this a good thing? You can get anything you want in Dublin already including smack aplenty - but the West is kind of the cradle of perservation of all things "Irish" (since that's where they were all exiled during the first phases of their dispossession).

I think it's good to remember the Irish only regained control of their own country (well, most of it) 80 years ago, and prior to that free expression of their traditional culture was a no-no. I don't see how they could be sick of it yet, but let's flop a bunch of Tiki bars, Starbuck's, Mickey D's, Wal-Marts etc. all over the place and see how it flies. And strip malls...lots and LOTS of strip malls.

Sorry, this is kind of a personal thing with me. It's true you can't keep a culture from becoming homogenized forever, but give 'em a chance to capitalize on what's truly [i[Irish[/i] before you turn the whole country into Dublin, which is more or less London writ small.

slainte,
emspace.