Monday, August 10, 2009
“There’s something you’ve forgotten…”
In a bold act of solidarity with President-for-Life Gerry Adams, Danny Morrison blogs about his own problems misremembering who sang what when - pointing out he misremembered a song from the movie Reds when writing a love letter to his wife whilst in prison. When compiling his prison letters for his book, Then the Walls Came Down, he realised he had gotten the song all wrong but decided to print the letter as it was without correction, staying true to the misremembrance as it was in his memory. The problem for Adams and his now-infamous “misremembrance” of what he sang while he was in prison is that Adams is ‘mis-remembering’ his own autobiography (autobiographies, as Morrison does point out, are held to a higher standard than memoirs). Not only is he misquoting himself, he is doing so clearly out of keeping in with the political climate: at the time of writing his autobiography, it was still acceptable for Gerry Adams, leader of the Republican Movement, to be singing rebel songs in prison. Now that he is Gerry Adams, International Statesman of Peace, the memory changes to more benign singing material with no regard to its historical accuracy. Sure, it all makes for a happy ending anyway; in Gerry Adams’ world it’s not the details that matter but the ‘feel good’ factor. In Morrison’s favour, although the motive behind his little vignette is perhaps craven, at least in his book he was remaining true to the details as it happened for him, and resisted the urge to change them to make him look better once he realised the mistake. So fair play to him for that. Adams, as noted by Pete Baker, is still peddling the lie as the truth, even today. It might be worth mentioning to him that even Hillary Clinton owned up to her own misremembrance when caught by the balls: “I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. you know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things—millions of words a day—so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement.” That might just be a good quote for Adams to keep in mind - it may come in handy for him more often than not, and would anyone really notice if he pinched it? In the meantime, when taking any ribbing, he should just remember this:
Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle
And this’ll help things turn out for the best…
And…always look on the bright side of life…
Always look on the light side of life…
Rusty Nail @ 12:31 PM
Rusty,
You really need to interview Brendan Duddy, Mountain Climber, and get him to give you his version of the Hunger Strike.Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 02:27 PMthere is another thing danny morrison forgot, and that was to tell his girlfriend/later wife that he was about to reveal their private love letters to the rest of the world!
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 02:30 PMAh good. What is important now is what we remember ... not what it actually was. Just imagine what this Alzheimer politics and history can do for us!!
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 02:59 PMI guess one of the motivations for him having the “false” memory about singing that famous song (Always look on the bright side of life) is that it addresses “the claim” that his name comes out at 666 on a certain numeric alphabet.
He may be consciuosly or unconsciuosly attempting to mock Christ by suggesting that the boys in Long Kesh, his great mates and heroes, would deliberately mock Jesus on the cross, where Monty Python portrayed the song’s singers to be.
So its alright being the potential Antichrist if Jesus was a bit of an idiot, as he was to the Oxbridge educated Monty Python crew.
So Gerry’s recall may not be as bad as you might imagine and his Freudian attempt to take the “who gives a damn” road is just his way of acknowledging the inevitable and suggesting that he knows men (the singers) who are better men than Christ. They even mock Christ as an idiot.
So there isn’t a lot more for me to do when I’ve already convinced Gerry Adams of my revelations.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:09 PMI am taking a very good herbal remedy for memory loss and I’d send the name of it on to Gerry if I hadn’t forgotten it.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:11 PMI’m starting to rather enjoy Johns O’Cs comments lol.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:13 PMTake no notice of John O’Connell. He’s talking a load of shite.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:29 PMIf everybody’s “number” comes out as 3 digits, then 1 in every 1000 or so people is the antichrist.
As yer cia guy says, it’s a load of shite.Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:37 PMJohn,
do you facilitate study groups or public meetings where one can engage in full and frank discussions on your scholarship? I think that you should. Are you affiliated with a local parish?
Will you send me one of your books for free? Do you receive much royalties from your books? When is your next book out like?
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:48 PMMorrison was two timing on/lying to his wife. Hardly credible. Then he went to the Sandy Lynch interview/execution.
Rusty Nail:what do u want? And is this all a non story to all but the INLA/IRSP?
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 03:53 PMThat’s the trouble with autobiographies. Once they’re out there you can’t simply haul them back in when you’re found out in a porkie or two. Nor can you edit them like you would a ... well, like a post on Slugger O’Toole.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 04:09 PMI’m not a particular fan of Adams and think there is a world of difference between lying and misremembering.
Not that any of us is free from lying occasionally. But, in this case, there is no potential “profit” to be gained by lying.
Silly season.Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 04:27 PMWell, at least Gerry Adams is able to remember his own name which is a task that seems beyond the ability (or willingness) of the author of the above thread. Isn’t it, “Rusty”?.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 04:41 PMRory,
Adams has misremembered his own name - ‘Brownie’ - and even claims to have let people borrow his non-de-plume (well, when the content was potentially damaging). Rusty’s consistency is something Adams doesn’t have under any name he choses to write under.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 04:49 PMWell said Rory, we can all rest better now knowing Mr. Adams recalls his name. Pure genius on your part.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 04:55 PMAll this talk about “misremembering” caused me to look the word up.
I read a very funny novel last year by a County Derry woman called “The Misremembered Man”. I’d never come across the word before and assumed it was an Ulster usage. But my online (American) dictionary lists it and defines it as “remember imperfectly or incorrectly”.
Who’d a thought it?
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 04:58 PMThe problem for Adams and his now-infamous “misrembrance” of what he sang while he was in prison
Nefarious: flagrantly wicked or impious : evil
So wee Gerry wickedly and evily misremembered the song he was singing 30 some odd years ago? the bald faced nerve on the fella is just nefarious
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 05:21 PMChrist I mean John Oc forgive me and my dyslexia scrub that last post will ya? Maybe just wave your magic wand or whatever you conjurers do
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 05:23 PM” at least Gerry Adams is able to remember his own name”
.....but a shame about the things he seems to have forgotten
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 05:38 PMI wonder if Gerry Adams (or Danny Morrison) can remember where they were on 21 July 1972.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 05:44 PM“No Irish nationalist could support any treaty which institutionalizes British government claims to a part of Irish national territory. Indeed, the term - ‘constitutional nationalism’- used by Mr.Mallon (SDLP) and his colleagues to describe their political philosophy is a contradiction in terms. The only constitutional nationalist in Ireland today is Sean McBride. He puts his nationalism within a framework of Irish constitutionality. Mr. Mallon, however, puts his within the framework of British constitutionality. Irish nationalism within British constitutionality is a contradiction in terms.”
- Gerry Adams, 1986(“The Politics of Irish Freedom”, Gerry Adams, Brandon Book Publishers, Ltd., Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland 1986, page 112, lines 26-35. NOTE: REMOVED FROM 1995 and1996 EDITIONS).
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 05:58 PMDixie,
“NOTE: REMOVED FROM 1995 and 1996 EDITIONS”
Strewth! I take back what I said earlier about editing autobiography. Barefaced.
On the other hand my argument still stands. Those earlier editions are still out there, a silent witness to “misremembering”.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 06:03 PMDixie
Those were the equivalent of his famous last words before word came from Galway in March 1986 from Galway Sinn Fein members that his name came out at 666.
Then his next line was, “What’s the telephone number for Fr Alex Reid and John Hume.”
He then became a contradiction in terms organising 100 tonnes of weaponry from Libya to land (presumably it was too late to cancel) while suing for peace (or a complete collapse in republican theology.)
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 06:10 PMMM
Do me a favour and email me. Anything i send to you is bouncing back this evening
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 06:35 PMFD,
If that is to me, major problems with my email address at the moment. I’ll drop you a line from an alternate to the address you are using here.
Posted by on Aug 10, 2009 @ 06:46 PM
