re: #287 Anymouse

re: #290 wheat-dogg

I think this is almost a universal function among American xenophobes, who are a very large group. When I first went to Ireland in the 1990s countless people warned me about the deadly and ubiquitous violence I would be chancing. It didn’t matter that the Troubles had been over for years, or that even during the Troubles the country was far less dangerous per capita than my recent residence of NYC had been, or even that it was far less dangerous than my current residence of Baton Rouge was. Many Americans simply want to believe that all foreign countries are hellholes relative to the Good Ole USA, facts and statistics and The Quiet Man be damned. In truth Eire was the most peaceful and least fearful place I’ve ever visited.