March 13, 2007
LET'S SAVE THE OUTRAGE THIS TIME, ALRIGHT?
The New York Sun has an article today filled with some of the most disingenous belly-aching I've heard in some time. Right from the headline, one can sense that the head on this argument is more Coors Light than Guinness.
Ban of Liquor on St. Patrick's Riles Railroad Commuters
What commuters would these be exactly? On a Saturday? Could it be the throngs of Irish-for-a-day drunkards who make almost all public transportation in and around NYC a vomit-filled nightmare? Clinging to the increasingly absurd notion that the Irish are still some sort of discriminated-against ethnic group, as if this was the "ol' sod" during the Troubles, is patently ridiculous:
"It definitely looks like stereotyping, and that's what the MTA should be faulted for," state Senator Martin Golden, a Republican of Brooklyn who is Irish, said. "Some people do get out of control, but to focus on that day, and on certain segments of the population like that, is totally wrongheaded."
Mr. Golden said the MTA should lift what he dubbed a discriminatory liquor ban that assumes Irish revelers are more out of control than other groups when celebrating their holidays.
"And I'll fight any man who claims otherwise!" was not added by Mr. Golden.
A VP of a fraternal Irish police organization involved with the parade––of all people!––complained that a booze ban on March 17th was discriminatory because enforcement wasn't equally strengthened during the Gay Pride or certain Hispanic Day parades. Alright buddy, and everyone always says that it's "A Day When Everyone's Queer!" during the Gay Pride celebration; when legions of knuckleheads under the age age of 25 flock from far and wide, donning rainbow pants and drunkenly singing old Madonna favorites. You think you 're being unfairly discriminated against? Try holding a parade when every business and residence on 5th Avenue boards up their windows and doors with plywood and lock up their daughters, lest they be ravished by some scary Dominicans hoods. I think this is one occasion when we can put down the bottle for just an hour or two and stop whining. As for the stereotypes, try to get past them when weaving between cops and firemen relieving themselves just off 2nd Ave next Saturday, while stepping over the hundreds of empty bottles and cans littering the streets of the East Side, and as a you see some teenager with vomit down the front of his shirt holding onto a building as he waits in line to be denied entry to yet another bar.
(Photos courtesy of a Google search that turns up thousands of links associating St. Patrick's Day with drunken behavior.)
Tagged: drunk, mta, nyc, st. patrick's day, subway, vomitPosted by Lexiphane at March 13, 2007 8:16 AM
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