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" Ever since I went here, I&amp;#039;ve had my doubts about the legitimacy of identity politics. I mean, if in a self-governed, democratic community of less than fifty members it was the differences between individuals, not anything they had in common, that counted most, how the hell can arbitrary groups of millions \u2014 Texans, say, or Yankees fans \u2014 claim any meaningful union? I ask this by way of explaining why I&amp;#039;m once again looking on America&amp;#039;s St. Patrick&amp;#039;s Day festivities with a skeptical eye. Of course there are people rightfully celebrating their shared heritage today, and not just the FBI. Gaelic societies and Irish traditional-dance troupes and the like really do keep alive memories and cultures that would otherwise dissolve in the national melting pot. But to most of us with roots in the Green Isle, the notion that today is about remembrance falls somewhere between preposterous and insulting. We don&amp;#039;t remember Ireland any more than we remember Appomatox. And it&amp;#039;s high time we stopped pretending otherwise. It&amp;#039;s not our blood that makes us enjoy cutting loose at the bar on a Tuesday night. We do it because a little irresponsibility is a lot of fun. And that&amp;#039;s the world &amp;#039;round. Still, the consequences of false memory are pretty low here in the States: It might cost us a hangover, but it never killed anyone.  That&amp;#039;s not true in Northern Ireland. You know by now that in the last ten days two British soldiers and a local policeman were murdered by &amp;quot;dissidents.&amp;quot; (Note to journalists: The right word is &amp;quot;pussies.&amp;quot;) The dead were 21, 23, and 48. Those questioned or arrested \u2014 nine so far, not all identified \u2014 include people aged 41, 37, 27, and 17. None of them could have been more than 6 when the Troubles began, and none would have been more 12 in 1972, when the worst was over. The 17-year-old was no more than 7 when the Good Friday Agreement formally ending the Troubles was signed. None of them, in short, could have been personally involved in the worst of the Irish Republican-versus-Unionist-versus-British violence. And certainly none has any claim to knowing the violence&amp;#039;s modern birth in the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), let alone its deep roots in the Plantation of Ulster four centuries ago. Genuine hurts and losses still abound in Ireland today. Memories live on. But what happened in Northern Ireland this month is not simply the fault of false memory. Remembrance itself is not a moral act. Ask a Serb, or a Bosnian, or a Croation. Ask a Kosovan. Ask Philip Gourevitch, who has studied the phenomenon more deeply than you&amp;#039;d ever want to yourself. Then raise a glass to forgetting, and to a peaceful Tuesday night. Sl\u00E1inte. RELATED STORIES: A LITTLE AUTHENTICITY: Five St. Patrick&amp;#039;s Day Cocktails the Legitimate Irish Drink SURPRISING HERITAGE: Bush, Chuck Norris, and the Beatles Are Irish? FROM DELISH.COM: 12 Real Irish Recipes for Your St. Paddy&amp;#039;s Feast "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5669/irish-holidays-031709/>