Sexual assault...but sure he's a nice lad..Mod Warning Post 275

iguana wrote: »

I've sent a mail to the parish registering my disgust in Fr Sheehy. It's also given me the impetus to begin the process of officially leaving the catholic church through Count Me Out.

Are you serious??

you have decided to leave the Church because a priest shook hands with a convicted sex offender.

To be honest, I think there are things that I find a hell of a lot more unacceptable than this with regard to the Catholic Church but each to their own
(and for the record the Bishop of Kerry has disassociated himself from the local priest's support for the convicted man)

It seems this story has a lot of elements to it, the sex offence itself, the notion of how an allegedly promiscious woman is somehow fair game is rearing its ugly head again, the opportunity for the intellectual elite and liberal Dublin-based media to pour scorn on their traditional enemies of church and rural community is here in abundance too.

And let's face it this forum would generally carry a fairly strong anti-church, anti-traditional, anti-rural, anti-male vibe so the vitriol here is no surprise.

However in my spite of my absolute disgust for the self-righteousness and one-eyedness of the so-called liberal elite (when oftentimes they are the most intolerant, most prone to censorship and slurring other, and fail to see the inherent contradictions in their ideology) I have to say that on this occassion the vitriol is absolutely justified.

The rates of conviction for sex crimes in ireland are appallingly low. The woman showed unbelievable courage to basically take on a lot of powerful forces in her own community and ultimately justice was done as the thug was convicted. That some elements of the community continue to support him is sad but typical of the loyalty mindset in closely knit rural communities where people tend to stand by their man regardless of his misdemeanours (this trait can be a very positive admirable characteristic but on this occassion it is most unsavoury and quite creepy)

My heart goes out to the woman affected. I am confident that a significant majority if Listowel locals sympathise with her plight and are appalled by how their town is being portrayed as the liberal elite get a change to stick the knife in. It is incredibly hard to upset the applecart in a small rural community as on every street corner or shop or pub there is the paranoia that someone is whispering about you, mocking you. These communities have so much going for them and a lot of what makes us Irish is best exemplified by these communities, looking out for your neighbour, being friendly and thoughtful with all those you meet, genuine concern and support for one another, warmth, hospitality. However they can also be claustrophobic and unwilling or unable to confront more modern issues. A sweep it under the carpet mentality is prevalent and things like domestic abuse and sex crimes are often ignored instead of being dealt with. The "avoid scandal or lose face in the community" mantra is domineering to such an effect that it paralyses the need to affect changes even in cases where it is absolutely necessary like the above.

In my view, the woman has shown immense courage to challenge the underlying problems that are endemic in these small rural communities and if I was her (and if she has not already done so) I would leave the community for her own sanity if nothing else.

This situation is far more complex than the "grab the nearest pitchfork and teach the stupid inbred culchies a lesson" brigade would have you believe.

Fink Goddie wrote: »

Ah but a good kick in the balls knocks even the biggest man down!

Sigh. How do you propose kicking someone in the balls when they come at you from the side or from behind and slam you against a wall? Do you have the instincts to immediately sense danger and the viciousness to react in the most destructive manner possible? Or would you hesitate and panic seeing someone twice your size come at you, if you'd seen them at all. Is it right to preach that women should be able to defend themselves in these situations? Are young girls now given self defence classes in schools?

I have to laugh at this thread.

We've gone through

She was the town bike
She was out for revenge
She was drunk and therefore fair game

to now

She should have been able to fight him off.

Cop the **** on.