Letters to the Editor: Say no to ancient hatred and cruelty

But I recently encountered one of the oldest and most sinister forms of prejudice, one that has shamed our species and fomented crimes against humanity on an epic scale.

I was surprised and baffled by the views expressed. 

Ireland has a relatively small Jewish community and you could travel the country without finding even a whisper of hostility to these good people who are a credit to our nation, with their time-honoured cultural and religious ethos.

Yet I listened to people I’d assumed to be level-headed, rational human beings recycling the odious old myths and innuendos, and trotting out one vile racial slur after another, directed against people who are guilty of no crime and are in fact model citizens of Ireland.

Czech-born historian and scholar of the Holocaust, Yehuda Bauer, wrote in 1984: “There are no anti-Semites in the world ... Nobody says, ‘I am anti-Semitic’. You cannot, after Hitler. The word has gone out of fashion.”

He was alluding to the fact that the searing images of death camps and, the systematic mass murder of millions of innocent men, women, and children because they happened to be Jewish, had made it far more difficult for anyone, anywhere in the world, to openly pose as a hater of the Jews.

Unfortunately, as the ranks of Holocaust survivors grow smaller by the year, anti-Semitism has been making a comeback… in conversation at parties and functions, or canteen chatter, and it’s even filtering into the political sphere.

The anti-Semites I heard rehashed the ancient accusation that the Jews killed Christ, a long-debunked slander and the height of absurdity given that Christ himself was a Jew, as were his apostles and disciples.

But their main gripe was the one beloved of anti-Semites: the conspiracy theory that Jews are striving to control the world through via media, the economy, the banks, governments, and various institutions.

Anti-Semitism has always been driven partially by envy. 

Where someone is successful in any sphere of life begrudgers will find a way to attack his or her status.

Envy often morphs to resentment, and then, as has happened so often throughout history, it can erupt into acts of extreme violence or persecution.

Witness the massacre at a synagogue in the USA a few months ago. Words can fuel hatred, and can end up severely hurting or killing people.

We should not take anti-Semitism lightly. It demeans anyone who gives vent to it, and the society that tolerates it. It needs to be challenged and exposed wherever it arises.

Let’s say a resounding no to this ancient hatred born of ignorance and human cruelty.

John Fitzgerald

Callan

Co Kilkenny

Transparency, not new management

Christy Galligan (Letters, August 9), tries hard to pull rank as a retired garda sergeant, when he wades into the current Garda foment re rosters and the like, calling for the disbanding of the current Garda leadership.

No doubt Christy himself would claim an ethically dedicated and perfect record during his “exemplary” time in the force, when all was hunky dory. 

He may have somehow forgotten the many significant and very serious controversies in which the force was deeply embroiled over recent decades. 

One can recall the Kerry Babies case, Nicky Kelly and the Sallins train robbery sequel, the Morris and Smithwick tribunals, Abbeylara, Maurice McCabe investigations, and falsified alcohol test numbers etc etc.

“Remove the obstacles that shackle the force from doing their jobs,” demands Mr Galligan.

One wonders does that just mean “let them at it” without due monitoring, diligent supervision or forensic assessment? He suggests that the current status quo has “all the hallmarks of a Government and senior Garda management utterly failing in their duties and responsibilities, not just to frontline gardaí, but to the nation as a whole.”

Tough and lofty words.

Many police forces around the world have exhibited serious blemishes and are prone to errant ways, which can be very damaging to the very public they purport to serve.

So the minimum required is fully transparent accountability and top-notch dependability to do the right thing, which hasn’t always been forthcoming as we know only too well.

That said, there are always so many wonderful gardaí serving the public with absolute honourable aplomb, and this has been proven time and again over many years. Calling for disbandment of senior management is hardly a worthy and appropriate endeavour to sort out an issue of restructuring rosters.

As far as one can decipher, the talks on roster changes have being going on for a couple of years without satisfactory resolution,
so one has to wonder why this is, and why would the talks be stagnant without result in the on and on?

Jim Cosgrove

Lismore

Co Waterford

Peace from devices

Reading Michael Moynihan’s piece, the answer to his headline question is quite simple: It is never acceptable to use your phone at the cinema, unless you are expecting an urgent call — a call that would probably have to be pretty high on the life-or-death scale of things.

It is certainly a faux pas to sit there texting or scrolling through Twitter (sorry, X) while your fellow patrons are trying to immerse themselves in a bit of escapism, foiled by the fluorescent floodlighting of others’ Oled or Amoled screens.

Why this surprised me is that I never see this happen here in Paris. The reason is simple: Cinemas here are more or less exclusively located underground — often in below-ground levels of shopping centres, making complete sense, of course.

The end result though is that these theatres are effectively concrete bunkers where no phone signal can either get in or get out. It is truly liberating for all involved!

Conor Mooney

Paris

Lydon admiration

Richard Purden’s sensitive article on John Lydon, another one-time hell-raiser and truth-teller in the mould of Sinéad O’Connor, was a joy to read.

Johnny Rotten, if one took the time to listen to his lyrics back in the day, had a fire in his good heart which called out the injustices and lies he saw around him as a younger man.

He personally witnessed the abuses of Jimmy Saville against teenage girls when attending at BBC studios, and when he reported this to the heads of the public broadcaster, he was thrown out of the building and forbidden from ever returning.

Later in life he continues to blossom into an older-age male version of Sinéad, so to speak, with never a complaint towards those who never saw beyond his snarl directed at those who were and are, deserving of criticism and exposure.

He tore up his own metaphorical picture of the real enemies among us, without fear.

His love for his late wife — of his Irish roots — of music and of honest dialogue through his writings is testament to the enduring admiration so many feel towards Mr Lydon.

Robert Sullivan

Bantry

Co Cork

My yearly reminder to exercise

I somewhat welcome the return of the Rose of Tralee to our televisions. 

For some reason, as soon as it appears on screen, pale moon rising or not, I feel the incentive to get out of my armchair and go for a good long walk.

Tom Gilsenan

Dublin 9

Golf fundraising event

We are delighted to announce the plans for our new “shed” have been granted planning to locate it on the grounds of Mayfield East Community at Kerrigan Tyrell Hall, Tinker’s Cross, Mayfield. 

On current expectations, our 12m-by-6m portable building will be installed by the end of October this year.

Great that that news is, it still leaves us with significant funding shortfall issues. 

We will not let it deter us and therefore we are hosting a Building Fund Golf Classic on September 14 to try and reduce that shortfall.

We are appreciative of your support to date and respectfully ask that you highlight the event as part of your coverage of community news in Cork City. The golf classic is to be held in East Cork Golf Club with €1,500 in prizes.

Noel Keohane

Chairperson, Mayfield Men’s Shed,

Cork