uhoh, a crazy read from the dubliner magazine

10 great myths about the irish isn’t it great to be irish? unique among the nations of the world, this green and pleasant land is full of mystics and charming raconteurs. we have scenery to die for and culture on every corner. we are nobody’s enemy and everyone’s friend. we have given the world guinness, westlife, graham norton and st patrick’s day. and now we’re the capital of europe! ah yes, the friendly, fun-loving, drink-mad irish. always the party animals, always last to bed… be-gorrah and be-gosh aren’t we great craic altogether? but if this is what it means to be irish, why are foreigners starting to dismiss us as insular, provincial and unsophisticated? is the rest of the world starting to see through us? and is it time for us to acknowledge that this package – this arty-party irish identity – is nothing but a paper-thin fabrication built on a pack of lies?

the happy drunken irish myth the united ireland myth the emerald isle myth the sexual morality myth the ireland of the welcomes myth the catholic ireland myth the drugs myth the literary ireland myth the true europeans myth the neutrality myth

all the myths are explained in full here. while there is a lot of truth in the article, it does tend to be a pretty negative view of everything.