there's something about. . .

st. patrick's day that to me, each year, gets creepier and creepier.  don't get me wrong, i love ireland, etc., etc.  it's possible the creepiness comes from the fact that in the U.S., st. patrick's day celebrations seem to be symptoms of a deeply repressive culture that needs to have some kind of reason or excuse to drink themselves to the point of obliteration.   there's that.  (not the drinking to obliteration, i emphasize--the need for a reason to do so is the problem.)  but i think it's also the big crowds of white people celebrating their whiteness and having a vague and ill-informed idea about that whiteness as an underdog status that is really the creepiest part, for visceral as well as for world-historic reasons.  it just seems so obviously like a terrible idea.  but then again, i'm very sensitive.