MICHAEL J. CUMMINGS
201 W EVERGREEN AVE, APT. 715
CHESTNUT HILL, PENNSYLVANIA 19118
October 9, 2023
Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro once claimed the Bard was given that honorific title because “…he comes from an ancient Irish tradition of semi-mystical poets who were able to see the future and glimpse worlds unseen to ordinary mortals.” Interesting. Although he never set foot in Ireland or set a play there, Shakespeare had a gift for depicting the foibles and flaws of human behavior which exhibit themselves in various ways throughout history. My daughter, recognizing my interest in British treachery in Ireland, gave me a calendar with 365 insults drawn from the Bards works. The original target of his insult is not as important as the fact that the same deceit, arrogance, injustice, vanity, and evil is at work with servants of the Crown in Europe’s last colony. Some of his most stinging barbs are aimed at character traits on display 400 years later in the tortured history of Northern Ireland. Indeed, he may have given us a glimpse of the future.
I thought of this when Parliament recently adopted a statute covering-up British security services collusion with loyalist terrorists in over 1000 killings in NI. Naturally this absolves England from any liability. It is a cruel and cowardly act, spiteful of victims’ families, politically reckless, vengeful, arrogant, deceitful, villainous, greedy, and hypocritical. To acknowledge and honor Shakespeare’s human behavior insights, I have assigned some of these 17th century insults to 21st century British miscreants.
In MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, for example, a character is depicted as “…. the prince’s jester: a very dull fool; only his gift is in devising impossible slanders.” That sounds awfully like Lord Widgery, the judge who authored the scandalous 1972 Bloody Sunday Report and absolved the British Army of 13 murders by embracing every lie the Army claimed about armed protesters.
In TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, Lord Diplock, the architect of such NI legal oppression as juryless trials, paid perjurers, and inferring guilt from silence pairs nicely with a “… sodden-witted Lord. Thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows.” In the same play, “He is a false-hearted rogue, a most unjust knave; I will no more trust him when he leers than a serpent when he hisses “ fits former UK Attorney General Sir Patrick Mayhew who refused to prosecute security forces that colluded with loyalist terrorists killing innocent civilians. In MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Shakespeare declares “I pray thee, cease thy counsel, which falls into mine ears as profitless as water in a sieve. Give not me counsel.” Lord Denning deserves this citation. He propped up a corrupt justice system when he rendered a decision to continue the 16-year false imprisonment of the Birmingham Six for a crime they did not commit.
Shakespeare ‘channeled’ two Prime Ministers. In COMEDY OF ERRORS. “If she lives till doomsday, she ‘ll burn a week longer than the whole world.” I’m assigning this savvy insight to Margaret Thatcher who worked so hard to promote and prolong violence and injustice in N. I. Shifting to ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL we find this spot-on insight of Boris Johnson: “He is a most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker, the owner of no one good quality worthy your lordships entertainment.”
Britain’s Defense Minister Ben Wallace has obstructed all legal information requests from the families of victims killed by security services and ignores the Irish governments demand for info concerning the murders of 33 shoppers killed in the 1974 Dublin/Monaghan bombings. What better way to depict Wallace than to assign “A very tainted fellow and full of wickedness.” from ALLS WELL THAT ENDS WELL. A reference in HAMLET to a fool is a good fit for British Minister Michael Gove: “Let the doors be shut upon him; that he may play the fool nowhere but in’s own house.” He penned the Price of Peace to undermine the Good Friday Agreement and followed that sabotage with support for the folly of Brexit without a clue as to its economic or social impact.
In sum, a simple one liner from HAMLET will suffice: “One may smile, and smile and be a villain.” Awarded to Queen Elizabeth II. She was a propaganda machine for MONARCHY Ltd. showering medals, awards, and honors to all those involved in the violent suppression of truth, democracy, and human rights in NI.
Michael J. Cummings, a native of Spfld., MA, (St. Anselm’s College, B. A., 1968; NYU, MPA., 1970). He co-founded the American Brexit Committee in 2016 and served as Secretary until March, 2023. He is the only person to serve on each of the National Boards of the Irish American Unity Conference (1996-2013), the Ancient Order of Hibernians (2001-2008), and the Irish Northern Aid Committee (1988-1996) primarily in public relations capacities.
He has appeared on American, English, and Irish television and radio and his written commentary has appeared in major American, Irish-American, and Catholic print media. He worked for the State of New York for 36 years.
267-766-5028 castlecomer@gmail.com
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