1740s Ireland. The island is covered in cattle. Thousands of them. The grazing land is perfect for livestock. Irish cattle are exported to England in enormous numbers. The beef feeds English cities. The wealth goes to Anglo-Irish landowners. The Irish peasantry raising these cattle eat potatoes. Almost exclusively potatoes. They're legally forbidden from selling meat domestically at prices they can afford. The exports are more profitable. The English market pays better than the Irish one. So the cattle leave Ireland and the Irish eat potatoes. This continues for a century. Irish labor produces beef that Irish people can't access. The system is explicitly designed this way. The 1740s famine kills 400,000 Irish. Not from lack of food. From lack of access. The cattle are still being exported during the famine. The British response: "They should grow more potatoes." The pattern repeats. 1840s, the Great Famine. Potato blight destroys the crop. One million Irish die. Another million emigrate. During the famine, Ireland exports food to England. Cattle, pork, butter, grain. All leaving Ireland while the Irish starve. Not because there's no food. Because the food belongs to landlords who sell to the highest bidder. The Irish are raising cattle they'll never eat. Growing grain they'll never consume. Churning butter they'll never taste. All for export. All for profit. All while eating potatoes exclusively. The physical outcomes are documented. Irish peasants in 1840 average 5'2". The shortest population in Europe. Anglo-Irish landlords average 5'8". They're eating the beef. When Irish emigrate to America and can finally afford meat, their children grow taller. First-generation Irish-Americans average 5'6". Second-generation average 5'8". Same genetics. Different access. Six inches of difference. The Irish Famine wasn't a natural disaster. It was policy. The cattle were there. The butter was there. The grain was there. It just wasn't for the Irish. The British colonial system extracted Irish agricultural production while keeping the Irish themselves on potatoes. And when the potatoes failed, the British didn't redirect the beef exports back to Ireland. They let a million people die while shipping food off the island. The cruelty wasn't accidental. It was structural. Control the food, control the people. Even if controlling it means letting them starve while surrounded by cattle.

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ᖇOᗪ ᗰᑌᒪᒪIᑎ 🌱🐄🥛🥩@RodMullin

Jan 23

Man beef returns at the works are insane at the moment. 4K for my biggest steer, $3600 for bulls 😳

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ᖇOᗪ ᗰᑌᒪᒪIᑎ 🌱🐄🥛🥩 retweeted

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@LePapillonBlu2

Jan 19

Trying to provoke both a world war and a civil war at the same time while demanding a Nobel Peace prize is a level of insanity we’ve never seen ever before.

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