Concerned About Vulgarity

I’VE been catching up on my back issues of the Irish Voice and I noticed an item in the October 8-14 issue on “Page 2,” headlined “Bono’s Decency Confirmed.”

I agree with Debbie McGoldrick that the Parent’s Council, on the English language, can at times be a bit ridiculous and paranoid about items in the news that they object to.

However, Ms. McGoldrick’s tone seemed almost joyous that the Federal Communications Commission told the Parent’s Council to, in her words, “get lost” in regards to Bono’s “really f***ing brilliant” comment at the Golden Globe Awards.

I wonder if Ms. McGoldrick has children of her own, and how she would respond if her children happened to hear Bono’s vulgarity. Would she say, “Oh, it’s all right, that’s just Mr. Bono expressing his pleasure and exuberance creatively!”

Secondly, I wondered what would have happened if Bono had found a way to insert that most disgusting of words beginning with “c” into his speech. Would he still be viewed as just expressing himself?

My questions are, where are the limitations? What should children not be exposed to? And why are we surprised when our children acquire terrible speech habits?

My point is – and I’m not a parent or a member of the Parent’s Council – maybe we should be concerned about vulgarity more than we are. Nobody denies the contributions Bono has made to society, but does that give him a license to be vulgar in front of the whole world?

I’ve been a teacher for 34 years and I think I’ve heard it all coming from the mouths of young people. Granted, we’re all human and we all let off a few choice words when we’re angry. But I know kids who have actually had trouble breaking the vulgarity in their speech patterns once they realized how foolish they sounded.

Bono is on a much higher level as a role model than most of us. Because he wants that stage I think he should be held to a higher standard of responsibility. Maybe this is what the Parent’s Council is getting at, and what Ms. McGoldrick failed to understand.

Jim Hawkins

Baldwin, New York

Silence Is Golden

GOD Bless Martin McGuinness for refusing to name alleged members of the IRA in his testimony at the Bloody Sunday inquiry. He gave them all the information they needed to know, and they do not need to know the names of alleged IRA members present on that sad day. 

Not only would sharing this information violate a code of honor, but it would give the Brits another reason to persecute Republicans.

Linda McComas

North Wales, Pennsylvania 

Thanks from Pioneers

I WISH to thank Debbie McGoldrick and the Irish Voice for the wonderful write-up on the Pioneers in the October 29-November 4 issue.

The Pioneers are 55 years in the New York area, and this is the first time any of our Irish papers gave us any publicity. For this we are very grateful.

Ed Blake 

Middle Village, New York

Good Will Hunting

WAYNE Licwov’s comments about segregation and the Old South the Irish Voice issue of October 29-November 4 caused me to reflect on the progress, or lack of it, in the U.S. since the 1950s. 

Recognizing the subject to be inflammatory, I wonder what would have happened if nature had been allowed to take its course instead of the racial division being addressed by federal intervention. Acknowledging my naivete I didn’t know there was a race problem in the country when going to school in Missouri in the 1950s. I knew that blacks (called Negroes then) lived on the other side of the tracks, couldn’t eat in the restaurant and went to their own schools. 

At that time we coexisted amicably without sign of resentment by either race. In retrospect was that right? Of course not. 

But let’s jump to today. We all eat at the same restaurants, go to the same schools and live in the same neighborhoods. Did it solve anything? 

Not from my point of view. Now a deep underlying hatred smolders throughout the land. You can’t say good morning without it having some raciest connotation. 

When somebody says “the south will rise again,” is that really a joke or is it thinly veiled resentment of the Yankee blue bellies indicating that all is not forgotten or forgiven?

From my observations, you cannot legislate good will among people. That has to come from them, and whether the Good Friday Agreement is implemented or not is of little consequence, and if so will do little to resolve the hatred. 

If you want to send a message to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, you ask him to withdraw his troops from Ireland and let the Irish settle their own hash. After all, there is no oil in Northern Ireland and they have given no indication they intend to bomb Rockefeller Center. 

Jerry Hoosier 

Cypress, California

Time to All Disband

I AM writing as an Irish American and a Catholic. I think what’s happening in Northern Ireland is a disgrace. 

First of all, every armed group, including the IRA, LVF, UFF and all the rest, should disband – not only the IRA, but all of them. And why is it that every time David Trimble gets upset or threatens to quit, the British government disbands the governing body in the North and blames the IRA?

We have Loyalists killing Catholics in Belfast and its outskirts, yet no one asks them to disband. I am sick and tired of hearing Trimble and the Loyalists and, sometimes, British Prime Minister Tony Blair (who I do respect) blaming the IRA.

Republicans have already made gestures towards getting rid of their weapons, but that doesn’t seem to please most in the British government. And what’s been given in return? Some gestures like taking down a couple of watchtowers and checkpoints, all done by Blair.

It’s time for all the armed groups to get their act together immediately and disband!

Jim Harrington

Arlington, Massachusetts

Fighting for Workers

I TAKE issue with the fact that letter writer Ed Price, in the October 15-21 issue, thought New York Central Labor Council President Brian McLaughlin was at what Price termed a “failed” immigration rally on October 4 in Flushing Meadow Park. He also said McLaughlin was part of the “ruling elite” that attended the rally.

Being in touch with the working people and others without a voice was the reason for the rally. Mr. McLaughlin has always tried to help those who couldn’t fight for themselves, no matter what ethnicity.

The fact that there is a need for such support was unfortunately brought to light again on Friday, October 10. There was a horrendous accident involving an immigrant worker who was not protected by the same rights Brian McLaughlin and Cardinal Egan spoke of.

Abdelaziz Badaoui was decapitated at the site of the old Steinway piano factory. His death is an illustration that such tragedies will be repeated over and over if we do not go beyond recovering pre-1965 standards and raise them so everyone can live and work safely.

Everyone agrees we should be protected from terrorists, drug dealers and such. Mr. McLaughlin’s presence at the rally on October 4 shows he is in touch with the fact that many more precautions, such as those unions offer, are needed to protect the rights (and sometimes lives) of workers. 

Brian McLaughlin will continue to fight for these protections. Quite the opposite of being ethnic or greedy.

Mary Conaty

Flushing, New York