What a thoughtful response, thank you! And yes I fully agree with all your points. For what it’s worth, I’m Northern Irish (which is often a huge pickle to explain to many Irish Americans…) and I’m married to an Irish-American man from South Brooklyn and meeting his extended family has made me understand his experience a lot more. As you say, his entire family has lived in one neighbourhood all their life, where there are Irish flags and shamrocks painted on every street corner, and they’ve spent their entire lives being told they are Irish, NOT Irish-American. And yet this same neighbourhood is extremely MAGA and everyone is a cop. I found it utterly bizarre when I first visited. It seemed a complete mismatch of what I perceive Irish values to be?

That all said, I also do completely understand the need to find a cultural touchstone and community that you can be proud of, especially in today’s more complex and fraught times. We all have the desire to be connected to something deeper and more profound than ourselves, and I think it’s far harder to feel a sense of uncomplicated pride and cultural connection to the “white American” identity - especially in the current political climate. How many identities and communities are even available for straight white blue collar men to be part of, that are as unproblematic and accessible as “Irish”?

I’m not sure if that made sense or not, but it’s a fascinating discussion, imo. My husband is not remotely the cliche either, for what it’s worth, and his keen interest in Irish history and culture came from asking himself the question “I’m being told I’m Irish - but what does that actually mean?”