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I liked Nuala so much because she was honest, vulnerable, imperfect, had a very natural touch in her writing and, although an academic, did not try to impress with what we call "book learnin'". I never met her but could relate to a certain capriciousness in her, an uncertainty about being a woman in what was once a Church-dominated country. As Nuala O'Faolain was one of nine children, she had to fight for her individuality more than most. Above all, she had a sense of humour which leavened her more sharp criticisms.
I know what you mean about this site. There is a level of viciousness that shocked me to the core when I first wrote in support of Hillary Clinton. The "ad feminam" onslaughts made me wonder what sort of a society has been created in the United States. I refuse to be bullied, however, and have persisted, refraing from using the crude language so beloved of those who have come to be known as the "Hillary-haters". I don't really understand why I feel so strongly about this, apart from the fact that I believe in justice, in civilized values, and that the female of the species deserves the same rights as the male. That seems to be a quaint idea to SOME of Obama's supporters who shy away from the fact that it was his American mother who endowed him with American citizenship and thus the qualification to be a candidate for the presidency of the United States. In the racial maelstrom and blizzard of slurs, it is an "inconvenient truth" that it was this American (white) woman who carried her son in her body for nine long months before bringing him into the world.
The idea now that Obama supporters should fight slurs with slurs is going to make this American election even more poisonous than it already is. On this thread alone, one person has suggested delving into the circumstances of John McCain's divorce from his first wife. The woman is disabled, I gather, but this poster has no qualms about inflicting psychic pains on an innocent woman by re-opening old wounds so as to benefit Barack Obama. If I were the shuddering type, I'd shudder at that. Whoever becomes POTUS may just have achieved a Pyrhhic victory after all when it's the culmination of a campaign in which race, gender, religion, age and marital fidelity have supervened. America, once regarded as the most progressive country on earth, now cuts a very shabby figure and, although I voted "No" to the Lisbon Treaty and the so-called "European Project", I'm happier to be a European than an American. The spirit of reconciliation is stronger in Europe (look at the French and the Germans!) than it is in the United States where recriminations about the Civil War and related issues seem never-ending.
Thank you for your letter and its mild tone which is reassuring that not all Americans are burning with rage and intolerance of conflicting opinions. All the best to you.
