perfidy

Buckethead writes,

"If American historians hate and villify the Irish Americans, they are the only ones doing it. I haven't noticed any anti-Irish bigotry in the wider world."

Yeah. No shit. I never accused the wider world of anti-Irish bigotry. I wrote precisely: "That's just one more way for American historians to criticize Irish-Americans, easily the most hated and villified ethnic group in American ethnic historiography over the last 40 years." This is an old ethnic animosity maintained exclusively within the Ivory Tower.

As to the rich man's war/poor man's fight issue, your argument is that that's the way those things are done. Sure, it's the way of the world. But if we all collectively shrug our shoulders and say, "oh well that's how it is," we'll never see any changes. No, we can't put old rich men in trenches. But how about their children? They don't serve. What if they had to? What if the working class, that has historically constituted much of the American military, threw down their rifles and said, "fight your own damn war."

Of course this is an historical issue as opposed to a present issue. With the professionalization of the American military class issues are becoming less acute. The military itself is becoming an opportunity for upward mobility once service is complete. They aren't paid very much while serving, but there are opportunities for education and the acquisition of skills. So the rich man's war and poor man's fight might be evolving into a non-issue.