The Age should apologise for its ‘Drunk Paddy’ headline
The Age is a reputable newspaper, one of Australia’s finest. Many Irish and Irish Australian journalists work there.
These facts compounded the sense of hurt and betrayal that followed their decision to run with a headline that declared “Drunk Paddy’s $500k flood of tears” on May 7. The story was picked up by many media outlets around the world, including the Irish Echo.
The man at the centre of it, Padraig Gaffney, was the subject of at-times vicious and derisory commentary on Facebook, in online newspaper comments and on chat forums.
As we now know, Mr Gaffney took his own life the following day.
This is a story with no winners and the community’s anger over an offensive headline turned to rage as news broke about the Longford man’s death.
Padraig Gaffney was the subject of at-times vicious comments on Facebook and took his own life the day after the headline
The Age’s editor in chief would not comment to this newspaper but, we have learned that he has given assurances to members of the Irish community in Melbourne that the term “Paddy” will not be used by the newspaper again.
The Ambassador of Ireland Noel White was also given the opportunity to write a column, pointing out the problems associated with negative stereotyping.
We also understand that there was a robust internal argument over the original headline getting published. But as recently as 2012, the same newspaper (along with its sister publication the Sydney Morning Herald) published another headline that caused anguish and frustration within the Irish Australian community.
An article by Peter Hanlon was headlined: “Punch drunk: Ireland intoxicated as Taylor swings towards boxing gold”.
The backlash led to an apology by The Age, the article and its headline were amended and a letter of complaint by the Irish ambassador Noel White was published online.
But The Age has issued no meaningful apology over the Gaffney piece. Nor, to our knowledge, has it told its readers that Mr Gaffney had passed. This is shameful behaviour for a reputable newspaper. But perhaps we should get used to feeling offended by insensitive headlines.
The Abbott government seems determined to water down the Racial Discrimination Act. Attorney General George Brandis said in parliament recently that people have the right to be bigots.
But does this not simply embolden those who wish to cause offence, who want to racially vilify others because of their ethnicity.
There is already a coarseness to the Australian discourse that requires some getting used to. Irish jokes or stereotyping about alcohol or stupidity are supposed to be taken on the chin. Prickly responses are dismissed as over-sensitivity. Often the presence of some (any) Irish heritage is seen as offering impunity against the ability to cause offence.
The term Paddy can be a term of affection among Irish people, like the ‘n’ word with African Americans. But when used by someone outside the community, it can be a powerful weapon.
“The term Paddy can be a term of affection among Irish people, like the ‘n’ word with African Americans”
For many Irishmen who worked on building sites in England during the dark days of the 50s and 60s, Paddy was part of a suite of offensive slurs that they were forced to endure. The cultural memory of that is spread across the diaspora.
While we unambiguously support calls for The Age to apologise over the original offensive headline, we do not believe – as others have stated – that this debacle shines a light on anti-Irish racism in Australia.
There was a time here when that charge had merit. Irish Catholics in particular were passed over for jobs and opportunities. As in England, the Irish in Australia were – at one time –accustomed to being racially abused.
But when you look at how well Irish migrants integrate into Australian life; when you look at the statistics that show the Irish to be among the top earning immigrants; when you consider the bigger picture; it is difficult to mount a case that supports the proposition that the Irish are powerless victims of racism. It is simply not true.
The truth is that we occasionally have to deal with idiots who believe that causing offence is collateral damage to their effort at humour.
Free speech does allow anyone to say offensive things but it does not stop people from getting offended.
We should, as a community, let people know that we are uncomfortable with any form of negative racial stereotyping. We should stand together with other communities who have to endure this kind of nonsense. And we should tell our politicians to set a good example by encouraging Australians to try to avoid causing racial offence rather than offering them free speech as a defence for their bigotry.
