Is Trumpian MaGA at All Akin to Irish Sinn Fein in Fighting for Freedom?

Can the MaGA Christian nationalist movement in America see themselves as a kind of Sinn Fein in Ireland, fighting for freedom and righteousness?

An Phoblacht (Irish for "The Republic") is a longstanding Irish republican publication that serves as the official voice of Sinn Féin, the Irish nationalist and political party. It plays a significant role in promoting the party's policies, perspectives, and broader republican ideals. 

Back to America...

While there might be some parallels in rhetoric or self-perception, the comparison between MAGA Christian nationalists in America and Sinn Féin in Ireland is not straightforward. Here's why:

Similarities in Self-Perception

1. Freedom Fighters: Some MAGA Christian nationalists may see themselves as defenders of traditional American values and freedoms, portraying their actions as a battle against perceived moral or societal decay. This could echo how Sinn Féin historically framed their struggle as a fight for Irish freedom and self-determination.

2. Religious Justification: Both groups have leveraged religious or moral narratives. Christian nationalists often tie their mission to a divine mandate, while Sinn Féin’s support base historically included individuals who framed Irish independence within a Catholic cultural context.

3. Opposition to a Perceived Elite: Both movements may see themselves as opposing powerful, entrenched elites or systems that they believe oppress their communities or values.

Key Differences

1. Historical Context: Sinn Féin was directly tied to the Irish republican struggle against British colonial rule and was associated with violent resistance through the IRA. MAGA Christian nationalists operate in a democratic context and are not fighting an occupying force but rather opposing shifts in cultural and political power within their own country.

2. National Identity vs. Religious Identity: Sinn Féin's focus was primarily on national sovereignty and independence, while MAGA Christian nationalists focus heavily on cultural and religious identity, seeking to align American laws and governance with their interpretation of Christian values.

3. Use of Violence: Sinn Féin’s struggle was linked to armed conflict, whereas most MAGA Christian nationalist actions remain within the bounds of political advocacy, protests, and legal battles. However, there have been fringe elements engaging in or advocating for violence, such as during the January 6th Capitol attack.

4. Ideological Breadth: Sinn Féin evolved into a political party with a broader left-wing platform, while MAGA Christian nationalism is a subset of the larger MAGA movement and focuses on specific cultural and religious issues.

Concluding Thoughts

While some MAGA Christian nationalists might view their actions as a righteous struggle akin to movements like Sinn Féin, the contexts, objectives, and methods are quite distinct. The comparison may resonate rhetorically for those framing their efforts as a moral crusade, but the historical and political differences are substantial.

It really seems the comparison is more likely that American liberals against Trumpian MaGA nationalism in a reverse kind of similarity than MaGA's theistically (weaponized) base of authoritarianism could be considered.

If we look at the comparison in reverse, with American liberals or progressives being likened to Sinn Féin in terms of their opposition to perceived authoritarianism or domination, the analogy does gain more traction in several ways:

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Comparing American Liberals to Sinn Féin (In Reverse)

1. Resistance to Perceived Oppression

   • Sinn Féin: Fought against British colonialism and what they saw as systemic domination over Irish identity, culture, and sovereignty.
   • American Liberals: Often position themselves as resisting the rise of authoritarianism and Christian nationalism, advocating for pluralism, equity, and individual rights.

2. Advocacy for Inclusion and Rights

   • Sinn Féin: Historically associated with efforts to uplift the marginalized, including Catholics in Northern Ireland under systemic discrimination.
   • American Liberals: Champion causes like racial justice, LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, and protections for minorities, often arguing against structures they see as exclusionary or oppressive.

3. Grassroots Movements and Popular Resistance

   • Sinn Féin: Rooted in grassroots organizing and seen as a voice for the Irish working class and those disenfranchised by British rule.
   • American Liberals: Rely heavily on grassroots movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter, climate activism) to counteract conservative or nationalist policies.

4. Framing the Struggle as Moral and Ethical

   • Sinn Féin: Framed their resistance as a fight for justice and righteousness against oppression.
   • American Liberals: Often portray their resistance to MAGA nationalism as defending democracy, human rights, and the moral fabric of a pluralistic society.

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Why This Reverse Analogy Fits Better

1. Sinn Féin's Struggle Against Domination
   Sinn Féin resisted what they saw as an oppressive power structure, which mirrors how American liberals see MAGA Christian nationalism: an attempt to enforce a specific cultural and religious hegemony over a diverse society.

2. Liberal Resistance to Authoritarian Tendencies
   Sinn Féin opposed the British government’s authoritarian grip on Ireland. Similarly, liberals often criticize MAGA nationalism for its tendencies toward authoritarianism, suppression of dissent, and undermining of democratic norms.

3. Liberals’ Use of International Solidarity
   Sinn Féin’s struggle gained international sympathy, particularly from Irish-Americans. Similarly, American liberals often appeal to global values, such as human rights and environmentalism, to build solidarity.

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Differences That Temper the Analogy

1. Sinn Féin's Use of Violence
   Sinn Féin was historically linked to armed resistance, which contrasts with the largely peaceful strategies of American liberals, even in the face of far-right extremism.

2. Power Dynamics
   Sinn Féin represented a colonized group with little systemic power. While American liberals are not an oppressed group in the same way, they see themselves as defending the democratic balance against what they view as an authoritarian threat.

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Conclusion

Your suggestion makes sense: the struggle of American liberals against MAGA Christian nationalism could indeed mirror Sinn Féin's fight, but in reverse. Sinn Féin represented the underdog fighting against a dominating force, which aligns more naturally with how liberals view themselves opposing a MAGA agenda they perceive as authoritarian and culturally monolithic. Meanwhile, MAGA nationalism might more closely resemble the imperialist and hegemonic power Sinn Féin resisted.

On An Phoblacht

Here's a breakdown of what the magazine is and its history:

Overview

• Purpose: An Phoblacht acts as a platform for Sinn Féin to advocate for Irish reunification, socialism, and the end of British rule in Northern Ireland. It addresses social, political, and cultural issues from a republican perspective.
• Name: "An Phoblacht" reflects its commitment to the vision of an Irish republic as outlined in the 1916 Proclamation of Independence.

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History

1. Origins (1906): The title was first used in the early 20th century by various republican groups. The modern version is most closely tied to Sinn Féin.
2. Merger in 1970: Two republican papers, An Phoblacht (based in Dublin) and Republican News (based in Belfast), merged in 1979 to form the magazine as it exists today.
3. Peak Circulation: During the height of the Troubles in the 1980s, the magazine was a major outlet for republican viewpoints, both in Ireland and internationally.
4. Digital Shift: While originally a weekly print publication, An Phoblacht shifted to an online-only format in 2018, aligning with modern media trends.

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Content

• Political Commentary: Articles on Irish reunification, Brexit's implications for Ireland, and Sinn Féin’s policies.
• Historical Perspectives: Features on Ireland's struggle for independence, the 1916 Easter Rising, and events during the Troubles.
• Cultural Content: Commentary on Irish culture, language preservation (especially Irish Gaelic), and republicanism in the arts.
• Social Justice: Advocacy for workers’ rights, environmentalism, and equality, aligned with Sinn Féin's leftist ideals.

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Role During the Troubles

• Platform for Republicans: During the Northern Ireland conflict (1960s–1998), An Phoblacht was a critical platform for the republican movement to communicate its message, counter British narratives, and address its supporters.
• Controversy: It faced criticism for its close ties to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and was accused of being a propaganda outlet for armed republicanism.

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Modern Relevance

• An Phoblacht continues to champion Sinn Féin's vision of a united Ireland and addresses contemporary issues like economic inequality, housing crises, and climate change.
• It remains a voice for Irish republicanism globally, appealing to the Irish diaspora and supporters of Sinn Féin's political agenda.

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In summary, An Phoblacht is more than a magazine; it is a key historical and political tool for Sinn Féin, shaping and amplifying the republican message for over a century.

Choose your side, because the losers are about to be in power. 

Remember, losing doesn't mean you're wrong. But thinking you're winning and that you're Right? Not true either. Especially when you're on the side of crime and authoritarianism in a country primarily and wholly set to exist to be against monarchy.

Cheers! Sláinte!

Compiled with aid from ChatGPT

"The Teenage Bodyguard" screenplay - Ruminations - Happy 4th!

Wishing you all a very happy 4th of July, 2023!

On that patriotic note, celebrating one of our own... 

I know a producer who’s worked with A-list talent on films, and read my screenplay, a true crime/biopic titled, "The Teenage Bodyguard". It sucked him in enough to then work with me on a rewrite. The rewrite was a selling script version while my original was what I referred to as the “Bible“ for the story that was the most researched, accurate and detailed. 

I get the concept of a biopic been entertaining. But for myself watching one, I prefer do at times, accuracy over entertainment value. As long as it’s interesting, engaging, evocative, and informative on things that happened, especially when in arenas I am unfamiliar with, even if it's a bit harsh, or bittersweet, I much prefer that in biopics better than the ones I would like which are merely entertaining and then, I later find out that half or all of it was just pure bullshit. IF you're going to tell a true story, based in a true story, at least try to be as accurate as possible, as much as possible. Unless possibly, if at the beginning your clearly state, "This is all bullshit, but very entertaining."

That producer said about the ending of my screenplay, a true story about a 17 year old guy (he was actually 18, but the producer thought 17 was a better idea), and about his experience over the course of a week in 1974 while protecting a murder witness. She had been a cocktail waitress at Tacoma‘s first popular topless club, run by the local crime family, the Carbones, enemies of the bigger and scarier Seattle crime family, the Colacurcios. And yes, all of Italian ancestry. The Carbone situation made national news in the late 80s for their federal court trial that had to be moved to San Francisco.

This producer said of my ending that he hated it. It had "ripped his heart out". Which was the point. The rewrite we did together, I wrote it, he guided me, and is a more mechanically functional screenplay than mine. But we left out that ending. I loved that. I loved it because this was the orientation of the entire story: bittersweet. For the young guy in a real world, growing up in a tough town of Tacoma, Washington in the Pacific Northwest, a town far tougher than he knew. This is not a typical "coming of age" tale. It is darker than light. Sadly, so many who I have tried to share the screenplay with, latched onto the young guy, hot girl, both caught up in the absurd situation storyline.

The first producer I told about this story was a London producer who triggered the whole thing. He said it was a great story. And that bittersweet intensity was its selling point. I have ongoing access to the actual character in the story and full agreement from him to tell his story. He and his story both are the selling points of this screenplay/story. The problem I ran into with the story immediately when I started writing a screenplay about it, after a lot of research and ever more as the screenplay developed and through rewrites (before I met the producer I was convinced to rewrite it by) was that no one believed this guy‘s life when he would tell anyone about it back in the 1970s. 

So he eventually quit telling this story to people. Stories he would tell people about this life story in general were discounted and disbelieved. "Kids just don’t do things like that," they would say. What is so sad for him about all that was that he was already downplaying those things but still people disbelieved him. Which surprised him. They would claim he was lying to try and make himself look better. But he didn't lie. His desire to never lie is another story altogether. So when people disbelieved him, he was shocked to be questioned. Why would he lie. But then he learned how unusual much of what he had done was to most people. Back then.

Nowadays we know far more about people and more about kids who are known for doing amazing things. And more kids are doing more amazing things now. Just consider Greta Thunberg, for instance.

But back then, for that woman to have happened upon that kid, at that time in her situation, really was an amazing stroke of luck for her. Or them both, depending on how you view it. In the end, he succeeded in his first job as a bodyguard. He later had a few protection jobs after that and into adulthood. She remained while in his protection, unharmed, unseen, and unfound by her enemies until she left the Tacoma at the end of that week. The awakening of this young man, raised as and by then a lapsed Catholic, with an old-school Slovakian mother, and a distant, seldom seen, Irish father, with a troubled stepfather who really didn’t like him very much, these are all entirely other but interesting elements of his story. 

It was a different time in the 60s and 70s. Drug culture was more prevalent. Free love was, if not more of a thing, more of a cultural phenomenon. There were no cell phones. If you were in danger, you had to get yourself out of it or find a phone somewhere. People could commit crimes more easily, and get away with them more easily. 

Some crimes, like the one this story begins with and because, in that of a bouncer at that topless club, in reality his murder was committed at 2 AM in the club's parking lot. It was deemed by a corrupt Sheriff's office, first on the scene, as a random event of violence by an "anonymous person". When in reality it was done by that crime family, to one of their own and most likely, the Sheriff's office, at least some, probably the Sheriff himself, knew what was going on, and what had happened. As he was in the Carbone's pocket, 

I had well known screenplay site, "The Blacklist", perform coverage of the screenplay. One of the reviewers asked in his review, "Why isn’t this already on the screen somewhere?" And that was years ago. Why? Because I don’t live in Hollywood? Also, although things are easier now with the Internet, the Film Industry is still after all a business. For whatever reason, I've been unable to find just the right person who gets what I'm selling here. Hard to believe, but it's true and I bet this happens all the time with great stories/screenplays.

The aforementioned producer, when he read the screenplay, said he had trouble with the beginning. But he got himself through it and in the end, it made him want to contact me. He said he wanted me to rewrite it with his help. Which I think says something right there. 

After it was rewritten, we talked to several directors he got interested in it, who wanted to make it as a film. But either we didn’t really click with one another, or I simply didn’t like their "take" on the spirit of the movie, and it didn’t happen. Because I wouldn’t go forward. We had three chances to make it into a film that I turned down. Because no one seemed to catch onto what the film is really about or who the protagonist was/is. He wasn't just some teenage boy with raging sex hormones. As one true crime podcast put it ("Scene of the Crime"), he was incredibly knowledgeable for his age and time, a quite disciplined young man, with ADHD, who was quite ethical, and had since childhood had a strong sense of character and of right and wrong. Things that had gotten him into trouble at times. 

He had found the works of Aristotle in the local library, in fifth grade and read him. In the early 60s as a little kid, he had liked watching adult detective and court ("Perry Mason") TV shows, and espionage shows. Some he watched with his grandmother. While he watched kids shows too, these were not shows other kids watched. Anyway, overall this a very good story. I just hope before I die, or even after I die, that somebody makes it into a good (great?) movie. 

Ah, now I remember what that London producer had said about this story… It reminded him of the film, "The Place Beyond the Pines" (2012). Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling. A gritty crime drama. And that is what "The Teenage Bodyguard" is.

THAT is what I have been shooting for. More of a serious drama. But everyone wants to turn it into a teen romp or some bullshit. I don’t understand it. The screenplay starts with a few scenes that lead into the protagonists childhood in order to make his story/character all more believable/acceptable. It stresses ta bit on his family situation. He was perhaps immature emotionally, but in other ways much more of an adult than many adults. 

By the time he was 18 he'd done many things that some adult would never do over their entire lifetime. He was a trained marksman by 9th grade. He was military trained in the USAF auxiliary, Civil Air Patrol with search and rescue training, where in his squadron, he was a Flight Commander training other cadets in drill and discipline. CAP kids can get called out of school for search and rescue missions, whenever a small plane goes down, to search for it.

When he actually entered the US Air Force, he was made primary squad leader which the entire flight of 50 men take their lead in marching from. Granted, at over 6' the tallest also goes to the front right for reasons that should be obvious.

He had his Radio-Telephone Operators permit in 8th grade in 1968, in order to operate HAM radio and that same year he flew and landed his first airplane. He landed it with a 2-point landing, which the USAF pilot owner of the plane (a "Senior" in CAP) said was excellent. "Better than some pilots would do", he had said. That scene is in the screenplay. He took pilot ground school, twice that year. He had begun Isshinryu Okinawan Karate in fifth grade and fought tournaments around the Pacific Northwest. 

By time he got connected up with that waitress (through a "friend", or so he thought...), he might well have been the most adept teen in the entire region, if not one of the most adept and well trained on the entire West Coast. 

Tell me that isn’t all set up for one hell of a story!

I’ve not named that Hollywood producer who I had worked with, because we’re not actively working together now. However, he did said should I find a buyer on my own, he would definitely be interested in  being a producer on it. He also said he’s always looking for somebody for this project. 

He's a really busy guy, working on more active projects. He saw this film as a small indie feature. I see it as a little bit bigger indie project (again, "The Place Beyond the Pine"). So we’ve kind of parted ways, but on good terms and may still work together one day. I will say, at the time I worked with him, the last A-list actor/producer he had worked with, has been one of my performing arts "heroes" since childhood. Not to mention, his father. Who, when I was very young, with my own birth father absent, was one of my "TV/movie dads". I've spoken to other guys over the years, who knew exactly what that means, and who also had absent fathers.

By the way, interesting side note… That A-list Hollywood actor producer, whose dad I so admired in the early 1960s, up until he died too soon (but at an advanced age)… that dad of my producer had been discovered by a famous Director, back in the 49? Or so he said. 

After receiving my second-degree from Western Washington University (first from Pierce College), I attended a series of seminars with that famous director. I got to sit and listen to him Saturday after Saturday, about the most amazing tales and advice on film production and the golden age of Hollywood, about his career and the famous actors he had worked with. What I would do to have a video tape of those lectures. Or even an audio recording of it. I’d have done that, recorded it, but it would’ve been too obvious back then. I started that first day seminar to take a notes, but I just gave up because of the onslaught of what he was saying, story after story all that were so amazing and distracting. He moved up north here to the PNW to retire near his daughter who lived up here. Best seminars ever. Week after week of looking forward to Saturday Kramer seminars, in 1984, at Bellevue Community College.

The problem I feared I had with this screenplay, this story, this protagonist, this real person, was getting people to find his character and actions, believable. Just throw him into situations with no backstory seems artificial. It's hard to buy into. People might see it as fantasy. How is this kid able to do all this stuff? Or have the "guts" to even agree to do it? Some is just ignorance. Some is boredom in life. Some was his position in his sometimes troubled nuclear family. Some was his position in his dojo in grade school or his  position as Flight Commander in his CAP Squadron and his first responder training.

Nowadays we can maybe see that in a youth. We see too many films that really are fantasies, but sold to us as action adventure, sci-fi, whatever. I think about the protagonist in "The Teenage Bodyguard" in that he just had a solid foundation. He had a lot of training. He sweat and worked hard since childhood. He was a "dojo rat" from fifth grade, which means he was at his dojo 7 days a week, and even when the dojo wasn’t open sometimes, on Sundays. If he heard the Sensei was going to show up to do some paperwork on Sundays, he’d request showing up alone and working out. And begrudgingly, at first, it was granted. So after mass at St. Joe's Slovak Catholic Church, he'd take the bus to the dojo.

The point of all this? "The Teenage Bodyguard" is a very interesting, well researched, true crime biopic. It just need the right director who gets the story for what it is. One of these days...