If you write newspaper columns once or even twice a week for over 30 years, almost everything that happens to you becomes material. I was reminded of all of this a few weeks ago when reading an interview in The Irish Times’s New to the Parish series. Many of them did, of course – the point of official repression was to make sure that they wouldn’t know it. Even as it enforced dishonesty and malignant shame, Irish society also revelled in scandalmongering. We know, for example, that most people suffering domestic violence still keep quiet about it – internalised shame has not gone away.

Source: The Irish Times January 02, 2024 18:29 UTC