Quotes of the Day (Cohen)

“I can’t think of a country that’s benefited from European Union membership more than Ireland. It has catapulted itself in a few decades from beer-soaked backwater to the Celtic Tiger whose growth rates, foreign investment and rags-to-riches story were the envy of every languishing small nation with a thirst for a makeover.”
“Yes, it’s more complicated running a 27-member E.U. than a cozy 12-member club. Yes, Polish plumbers might show up in Western Europe and take a job or two.”— New York Times/International Herald Tribune op-ed columnist Roger Cohen, “The Muck of the Irish,” June 19, 2008
(I heard about this column in this week’s issue of The Irish Voice, but could not believe that in this day and age—and on the Web site of a newspaper that prides itself on its liberal advocacy for almost any beleaguered group you could name—a piece such as this could appear featuring not one, but two ethnic stereotypes. I decided I had to see it for myself, and in the same spirit I urge you to follow the above link to judge for yourself. At first, I thought it was shameful of Cohen to write this and of his newspaper to print it. Now, I believe it’s shameful for all of us not to denounce the two of them and make our displeasure known in as forceful a way as possible.)