This is the weird thing I find, especially in the course I'm doing, which shares a few modules with a course which is essentially Tumblr Studies.
As you said, issues which are not applicable to our own end up becoming big deals and for what reason? Ireland and America are two completely fucking different countries with completely different histories, attitudes and experiences towards racism, sexuality and so on. Ireland has never had an obvious history of long-term institutional oppression of people of other races, yet we have had others. Others which America don't have to face, and which our solutions would not work for. So how are American solutions to Irish problems or vice versa going to solve ANYTHING? Now that's not aimed at your average American by any means, but it's frustrating when people here make massive problems out of things they see in movies and get conditioned to believe in foreign media that aren't even problems of ours to begin with. we should not have to feel guilty for the past and present sins of other countries. The pretentious twats who talk in a variety of English best described as highly sanitized Hollywood with an Irish inflection beg to differ though.
They'd gladly talk about the oppression of PoC and minority cultures in America or other places, yet shit all over the Irish language and the Irish-speaking community. They don't even realize that we have been an oppressed minority and our history shows that time and time again, and what we can do is show a good example of a successful post-colonial state. But of course that doesn't matter since we apparently have to steadfastly bear the same guilt of other countries with which we have little in common.** We have to use solutions that are impractical and unsuitable within our cultural and societal context to problems which may not be ours, or completely different in nature to begin with.**
As a result, we ignore the very significant and real problems of housing and socioeconomic inequality, healthcare, environmental issues and social problems our own society faces. As a socialist, it pains me to see socialism and so-called socialists in Ireland go from being champions of trade unionism, civil rights and liberties in the vein of James Connolly and Jim Larkin reduced to a toothless pity party of people who have been watching too much MTV.
P.S Parts of my comment which alude to America are not intended as an insult to Americans. What I'm saying is that the Hollywood brainwashing that has gone on leaves us unable to implement solutions and fix problems within our own cultural context because it detaches people from it. It is bad for any small culture or country to be so heavily and easily influenced by the wills and attitudes of others. Such is the dark and destructive side of globalisation.
Sorry for the rant, but this shit just... gets me, and I completely empathize with OP.