There’s a writer called Padraig Reidy, an MBED (Misunderstood British Empire Devotee) Irishman in England, who writes for an anti-censorship publication called Index on Censorship.

Here is what they say about themselves: "Index on Censorship is an international organization that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression."

Reidy wrote a scathing article about me and others who dared to question the right of people to object to an Irish Famine sitcom. The idea for the sitcom was recently made public. 

Padraig waxed eloquently and with lots of anger against people who would dream of censoring such a remarkable project as a sitcom about Ireland's Holocaust that Britain's Channel 4 is considering.

He continued his rant in the Irish Examiner newspaper during the week, slamming those who dared to think that the Famine was not a fit subject for humor.

I decided to write a response to the Index on Censorship, given that he had certain facts wrong about my contribution, especially the one that I had called for the show to be banned.

That is what these wise guys do – create a false premise and then attack that. His comrade in arms at the Irish Times, MBED Donald Clark, did the same recently in an article on the same topic.

I actually never called for the series to be banned. I merely stated I thought it was a dreadful idea. The writer Hugh Travers stated that tragedy plus 100 years equals comedy. On that basis humans should be enjoying belly laughs about the recent Paris massacre in 10 decades or so.

I wrote up my reader's comment response as instructed by the Index on Censorship filled in the necessary form in order to comment, was accepted and sent it off to the Index on Censorship. The bot told me the comment was pending. And pending. And pending. 

Days went by. “I’m still pending yeah, yeah, yeah” as Elton John might sing. 

So I was censored myself by a publication dedicated to stopping censorship. Other comments, all four of them, supportive of the MBED Padraig are up and running.

Now censorship by publications dedicated to ending censorship is a new sort of animal altogether.

I’m just hoping Padraig didn’t do it deliberately and it was a crazy oversight by a censoring editor. But you have to admit it is a strange one when a publication dedicated to censorship censors a contribution.

Kinda like an Irishman defending British behavior during the Famine.