Contemporary Usage
"West Brit" is today used by Irish people to criticise a variety of perceived faults:
- A pejorative term for someone from Dublin, particularly an affluent area.
- Taking a view of Irish history which highlights perceived positive aspects of British influence in Ireland, or criticizing Irish nationalist rebellions
- Cultural cringe: following British popular culture, while appearing embarrassed by or disdainful of aspects of Irish culture, such as the Irish language, Gaelic games or Irish traditional music
- Opposition or indifference to a United Ireland (see Partitionism) or to Irish republicanism
- Support (or alleged support) for neo-Unionism
- Irish presidential election, 2011: During his campaign Sinn Féin candidate Martin McGuinness criticised what he called "West Brit" elements of the media who he said were out to undermine his attempt to win the election. He later backtracked and said it was an "off-the-cuff remark" but did not define for the electorate what he had meant by "West Brit".
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Famous quotes containing the words contemporary and/or usage:
“Eclecticism is the degree zero of contemporary general culture: one listens to reggae, watches a western, eats McDonald’s food for lunch and local cuisine for dinner, wears Paris perfume in Tokyo and “retro” clothes in Hong Kong; knowledge is a matter for TV games. It is easy to find a public for eclectic works.”
—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)