This week we bring you a special episode after an Irish listener writes in and asks us to fact-check myths surrounding the Irish Famine. Luckily friend of the show, historian and author Joe Coohill, literally wrote the book on Ireland. Better known as Professor Buzzkill from the awesome podcast of the same name, Joe helps us set the record straight debunking historical myths on the tragedy.
Download direct: mp3 file
Professor Buzzkill
Thanks, Professor Buzzkill and Reality Check crew, for another deep dive into the nuances of history. ExtraCredits (on YouTube) recently did a series on the Irish Famine and, as you all noted, the truth about what happened was VERY complicated. The bit about forgetting all the lessons in later times was a bit disheartening though; more disheartening is that itself is now more fodder for the “It was intentional genocide!” crowd… though I’m sure the other-ization of racism still has an effect to this day too.
(…or I’ve been listening to way too much Ezra Klein lately and am over-analyzing. 😉 )
Thanks for the feedback! Definitely complicated, going into I was pretty ignorant on the topic. Professor Buzzkill is awesome and it was a sober history lesson.