Comment on i enjoy high fructose corn syrup too
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days agoThe Irish genocide that you refer to as using the colonizer’s term “Irish Potato Famine” had absolutely fuckall to do with potatoes or the Irish.
But it has everything to do with potatoes (a particular blight that affected potato crops) and the Irish (the actual affected people of this genocide).
The social and political reasons for why the Irish ended up so dependent on a single crop for sustenance is part of the story, of course, but this discussion right here is about the fragility and brittleness of relying on a single crop.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
But they were growing other successful crops. The English just stole it all from them.
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
You’re just listing reasons why they were reliant on a single crop for sustenance. Cool, but the actual historical example shows why that particular arrangement is brittle and vulnerable to shocks, which is the point being made here.
lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com 3 days ago
Proximate vs ultimate/distal cause? Proximate cause was lack of potato varieties. Real/ultimate cause was ruthless exploitation by English denying the Irish better choices.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
No, that is just a narrative you are pushing in order to distract from the point being made here, which is that it was an intentionally constructed genocide. Can you define in general terms what you mean in this context when you say “that particular arrangement” that is “vulnerable to shocks”? Do you mean the arrangement of genocidal theft of produced crops? Of course thats a brittle agricultural system. That was the point.