Reply #30: This reminds me of something I read recently: the English reaction to the Irish potato famine. [View All]

[mistertrickster]

In "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire" quoted from an editorial in "The London Times" 1846:

“For our part, we regard the potato blight as a blessing. When the Celts once cease to be potatophagi, they must become carnivorous. With the taste of meats will grow an appetite for them; with the appetite, the readiness to earn them. (So finally the Irish will gain qualities necessary for hard work) unless, indeed, the growth of these qualities be impeded . . . by the recklessness of Government benevolence.”

In other words, starvation is just what the lazy, poor Irish need.

Nice, real nice.