ISNOINews
Independent Scientology and Nation of Islam news
Scientology Youth for Human Rights Award Winner Nation of Islam Brother Rizza Islam falsely accuses St. Patrick's Day of being based on the genocidal massacre of Black people.
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It's my birthday and I'm supposed to be relaxing but i had to post this. We don't celebrate #StPatricksDay - It represents a genocidal massacre of our African family called the TWA people. They were very small between 3 & 5 feet. THAT'S where the slur "Leprechaun" comes from
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Snopes explains that this is simply untrue.
Snopes: Did St. Patrick Wipe Out an African ‘Pygmy’ Tribe, the First Inhabitants of Ireland? False
Did St. Patrick Wipe Out an African 'Pygmy' Tribe, the First Inhabitants of Ireland?
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Did St. Patrick Wipe Out an African ‘Pygmy’ Tribe, the First Inhabitants of Ireland?
A long-standing theory of ancient Irish history describes the genocide of the Twa pygmies, purportedly the original source of the "leprechaun" myth.
Dan MacGuill
Published 29 July 2019
Claim
St. Patrick led the genocide of a contingent of Twa 'pygmies' from Central Africa, who were the original inhabitants of Ireland.
Rating
False
[SNIP]
The theory is not backed by any historical evidence, and as a set of factual claims, it can be dismissed. One prominent historian told Snopes it was, simply, “complete nonsense.”
The origins of the “Twa” theory of Irish prehistory are not entirely clear. However, it appears to be informed by what is sometimes referred to as “Afrocentrism,” an approach to historical study that emphasizes the role and achievements of African people in the evolution of Western civilization. The theory also seems to be influenced by euhemerism, an unusual strand of pseudohistory that was particularly popular in the 19th century
.
[SNIP]
Conclusion
The “African pygmy” theory of Irish prehistory, and in particular the theory of St. Patrick’s genocide of the Twa people, represent a fascinating, if confused and at times incoherent, jumble of various long-discredited strands of pseudohistory and euhemerized versions of Irish, Bantu, Egyptian and other mythologies.
Kairn Klieman, an associate professor of history at the University of Houston and author of a history of the Batwa pygmies of Central Africa, dismissed the theory as a “mish-mash of ideas,” but said it was an interesting attempt to understand the ways in which various geographically separated cultures developed similar ideas about “little people,” in particular conferring on them magical and supernatural powers.
Writing by email, she told us the theory explores “real similarities that exist in terms of myths about small people associated with the earth (sprites, leprechauns, mythical pygmies, mythical batwa). These myths existed since Egyptian times and there is a long intellectual history of how they came, in Western minds, to be associated with primordial humans. When the Europeans met Batwa, they unloaded all of this myth onto them.”
However, Klieman added that: “The idea that ‘pygmies’ or small dark people inhabited the world in ancient days is a 19th century trope that builds on the ancient myth of the pygmy in the western world.”
We also put the theory to Dáibhí Ó’Cróinín, professor of history at the National University of Ireland in Galway, and the author of a history of early medieval Ireland. His emailed response was unequivocal: “Complete nonsense,” he wrote.
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Snopes has much more at the above link.
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It's my birthday and I'm supposed to be relaxing but i had to post this. We don't celebrate #StPatricksDay - It represents a genocidal massacre of our African family called the TWA people. They were very small between 3 & 5 feet. THAT'S where the slur "Leprechaun" comes from
* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
Snopes explains that this is simply untrue.
Snopes: Did St. Patrick Wipe Out an African ‘Pygmy’ Tribe, the First Inhabitants of Ireland? False
Did St. Patrick Wipe Out an African 'Pygmy' Tribe, the First Inhabitants of Ireland?
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
Did St. Patrick Wipe Out an African ‘Pygmy’ Tribe, the First Inhabitants of Ireland?
A long-standing theory of ancient Irish history describes the genocide of the Twa pygmies, purportedly the original source of the "leprechaun" myth.
Dan MacGuill
Published 29 July 2019
Claim
St. Patrick led the genocide of a contingent of Twa 'pygmies' from Central Africa, who were the original inhabitants of Ireland.
Rating
False
[SNIP]
The theory is not backed by any historical evidence, and as a set of factual claims, it can be dismissed. One prominent historian told Snopes it was, simply, “complete nonsense.”
The origins of the “Twa” theory of Irish prehistory are not entirely clear. However, it appears to be informed by what is sometimes referred to as “Afrocentrism,” an approach to historical study that emphasizes the role and achievements of African people in the evolution of Western civilization. The theory also seems to be influenced by euhemerism, an unusual strand of pseudohistory that was particularly popular in the 19th century
.
[SNIP]
Conclusion
The “African pygmy” theory of Irish prehistory, and in particular the theory of St. Patrick’s genocide of the Twa people, represent a fascinating, if confused and at times incoherent, jumble of various long-discredited strands of pseudohistory and euhemerized versions of Irish, Bantu, Egyptian and other mythologies.
Kairn Klieman, an associate professor of history at the University of Houston and author of a history of the Batwa pygmies of Central Africa, dismissed the theory as a “mish-mash of ideas,” but said it was an interesting attempt to understand the ways in which various geographically separated cultures developed similar ideas about “little people,” in particular conferring on them magical and supernatural powers.
Writing by email, she told us the theory explores “real similarities that exist in terms of myths about small people associated with the earth (sprites, leprechauns, mythical pygmies, mythical batwa). These myths existed since Egyptian times and there is a long intellectual history of how they came, in Western minds, to be associated with primordial humans. When the Europeans met Batwa, they unloaded all of this myth onto them.”
However, Klieman added that: “The idea that ‘pygmies’ or small dark people inhabited the world in ancient days is a 19th century trope that builds on the ancient myth of the pygmy in the western world.”
We also put the theory to Dáibhí Ó’Cróinín, professor of history at the National University of Ireland in Galway, and the author of a history of early medieval Ireland. His emailed response was unequivocal: “Complete nonsense,” he wrote.
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Snopes has much more at the above link.
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