Conrad Bladey's response to Declan Bates and others

Dear Readers of the Potato Famine Commemoration Web Pages:

The Famine was a complex catastrophe: No single explanation has yet been found which can account for all of its complex dimensions.

It is important to note that the view of this complex phenomenon was no clearer from any perspective when it happened in the middle of the 19th century.

The Famine also occurred not in the 20th century but in a different age--that of the 1800s. It is the same period of time described by Dickens in his famous novels. Just as the technology of the age was vastly different from our own, so too were its values and humanitarian institutions. In short the ability of any entity to adequately cope with the catastrophe was much more limited than our abilities today.

We can also not project our values and moral standards backwards in time or ever hope to use them to help us achieve explanations for that which occurred in the 19th century.

We do, however, have much in common with the time period. Governments and organizations to this day have failed to adequately address the phenomenon of Famine before hundreds if not thousands have died or have been tortured by its occurrence. We also see the popular perpetuation of the mythology of hatred and blame without regard to the contradictory facts of history as we know them. It is for this reason that we draw attention to the history and mechanics of the Famine of 1845.

For example the widespread belief that the British government did not take significant steps to help the Irish people is directly contradicted by the fact that the British Government and other British humanitarian groups spent considerable sums to help, whereas an unconcerned government and people would have spent nothing. Likewise claims of Genocide also obscure the fact that had Genocide been intended, the government of Britain could have brought it about without resorting to the slow process and embarrassing tactic of starvation.

Over many months now, I have worked to gather historical and other resources for these pages--quite a job. I have heard many passionate arguments from all sides of the issues raised by this great human tragedy. I have included a wide range of sources of input, from potato art to science to folklore and songs. We have opened the pages to all organizations with events to publicize, without regard to politics or point of view. I am encouraged by the discussion and outreach the pages have generated. That people have been fed and have been educated is a very worthy accomplishment, and I thank all those who have carried the message of these pages to others in all of the many ways which have been documented here.

Through the many contributions to these pages I have come to appreciate the Famine from many perspectives--and it is this panoramic view that I hope these pages leave with their readers.

There are responsibilities, however, which go with the development of a comprehensive outlook. One of the most important responsibilities is that of leaving no stone unturned in our quest for explanation, even the heavy ones overgrown with moss for lack of investigation. Another is the responsibility for avoiding the witch hunt, the quest for assignment of blame for an event which among other significant entities involves the weather, a fungus, and a poor defenseless (literally) plant.

If one is to leave no stone unturned, one cannot employ a single particular rock as one's own foundation. If you stand on that one rock, it cannot, of course, be turned over in the search for the hidden truth underneath! All aspects of all cultures involved need to be investigated. None can be held to be perfect or above scrutiny. Thousands of years of the history of imperfect humanity have demonstrated this point.

It is for this reason that I suggest that the Irish culture be carefully examined for its particular role in the tragedy.

In response to Mr. Bates I offer up the following points and questions. It is not my intent to use these pages as a pulpit for my points of view. I hope that I can even--by playing the devil's advocate at times--encourage study, debate, and the quest for explanation:

1. Let us start by remembering that the Irish are no more the sons and daughters of kings than any other group. Far enough back in the lineage of each and every one of us stands a proud member of a peasant culture of rich tradition.

   Throughout our lineage and ancestry there have been the high points of cultural achievement as well as the frustrations of oppression and the disgraceful role of oppressor.

2. We must also agree that cultures are human constructs and that each culture is its own unique entity. As human constructs, none of them are perfect. As individual entities, they have specific structures and properties (tendencies) which limit as well as confuse, frustrate, and facilitate human aspirations. In one situation a culture will help a people succeed. In another the same culture will account for failure. When two different cultures interact sometimes there is efficient coexistence, yet when other combinations occur there is inefficient conflict. However, cultures do not exist independently of the humans which they serve. The people are absolutely responsible for the culture that they have constructed over time and for its maintenance and adaptation. It is my firm belief that the cultures projected by the Irish and the British peoples into the catastrophe known as the Famine contributed to the development of the tragedy as well as to the inability of the pieces of the puzzle required for the salvation of the people to fit together efficiently. Just as one needs to study carefully the dimensions of the pieces of a puzzle in order to fit them together, we must see how properties of the Irish culture and properties of the British culture failed to accommodate their efficient coexistence. I find that, while properties of the British culture have been well documented and studied, similar properties of Irish culture have been neglected by scholars and public discussion.

3. Why were potatoes accepted by the Irish--why was their taste pleasant? Could the Irish culture have set up a taboo against the potato and therefore not consumed it? If so, why not? There are many cultures which ban the consumption of foodstuffs quite effectively -- for example cows in India. Without the potato the Irish population could not have grown as it did--dependence would have not occurred. Would another form of dependence have occurred?

4. If the British government limited the Irish to the barest of subsistence, why then did the Irish population increase? Surely the British could have taken the potato as well, [if they had wanted to starve the Irish]. People living at a subsistence level do not have the resources for population growth. A growing population in Ireland is seen by most economists and historians to be directly related to two factors:
   1. Relative internal peace in Ireland in the 60 years prior to the famine

   2. Investment in the grain crops by Britain to feed its continental armies, such investment leading to employment of greater numbers, and employment leading to population growth. (People were in fact kept alive by the landlords to maintain their income.)

5. Penal Laws: These relatively uninforced laws were the direct result of actions taken by Irish political entities against Britain. Should the government of Britain have taken no action in retaliation for uprisings, massacres, and involvement of foreign governments by the Irish? Possibly within the Christian ethic, but I would suggest that few governments would have rewarded the Irish rebels with better living conditions. We cannot hold the British government to unusual standards of perfection. Again the structure of Irish political culture must be understood in order to discover why risks were taken which lead to these sanctions, which in turn contributed to suffering during the Famine.

6. Just as there is a dimension of British exploitation running through the tragedy of the famine, there is also the equally important dimension of Irish antagonism of the British. The dimension of British exploitation is far from the only dimension of the entire situation. Why were Irish revolts so ineffective? Why did the Irish not dominate the British over the course of history? What would have happened had the potato not failed or had the British saved more of the Irish? Would a more effective British response have obliterated long-standing cultural differences?

Find a way to utilize my words to encourage the quest for understanding and the pursuit of explanation and cultural reconciliation on both sides of the debate.

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