I’ve just watched the RTE documentary on the late Brian Lenihan and it was difficult going. It was difficult because the production was little more than a propaganda broadcast on behalf of the Lenihan family and those who see themselves as the ruling elite in Ireland.
On a personal basis Brian Lenihan seems to have been a likeable and intelligent man, an intellectual. But he was also a traitor to his country.
When I say ‘traitor’ I don’t mean in the strong sense as when somebody provides information to an enemy that results in severe and immediate consequences for fellow citizens, including death.
Lenihan was a traitor in the sense that loyalty to his country was the least of his priorities. As a member of the ruling elite his priorities were as follows:
Himself and his family dynasty.
Himself and his social class.
Himself and his political party.
Himself and his country on the condition that the financial and political interests of the above were not in any way undermined.
Lenihan was a leading member of what is, in effect, an Irish aristocracy. Practically all other politicians are either members of this ruling elite, court followers or parasites endlessly kowtowing to their ‘betters’ in the hope of being thrown a few crumbs.
The churches, the legal community, big business and super-rich moguls, among others, support this ruling elite. They are also loyally supported and defended by a disturbingly large percentage of the media.
The first and most important principle of the ruling elite is – loyalty to each other. Severe consequences are imposed on anyone who betrays this principle. Former junior minister Roisin Shortall, for example, was immediately ejected from the club when she had the temerity to put personal integrity before loyalty to the ruling political class.
When a member of the elite dies, retires or resigns, all sins, crimes and betrayals are wiped from the record and, with unstinting support from a loyal mainstream media, their political careers are rewritten and manipulated to a point where any questioning of their pedigree is seen as vulgar and extreme.
Bertie Ahern, for example, was forced to resign in disgrace when he was caught lying under oath at the tribunal but the mainstream media rarely mentions this uncomfortable fact. Instead, we are subjected to a constant stream of drivel about the Peace Process and Ahern’s ‘courage’ in returning to the talks after his mother died.
The corrupt politician Haughey is another example. When the criminal died he was given a state funeral at which the liar Ahern told us that Haughey was a patriot to his fingertips. A liar politician stating that a criminal politician is a patriot is not at all seen as bizarre in the insulated bubble inhabited by the ruling elite and their media supporters.
And that’s what the Lenihan documentary was all about. It’s part of the now well-established strategy of rewriting the history of those who gave life-long loyalty to themselves and their class at the expense of Ireland and its people.
Happily, we are living through the dying days of this corrupt ruling elite.
Copy to:
RTE
Fianna Fail