What are we so afraid of?

jay92 · 03-07-2013 1:33am #1

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

AnonoBoy · 03-07-2013 1:36am

I'm not sure starving ourselves will work.

Most of us could do with losing a few pounds though.

endacl · 03-07-2013 1:36am

If we did something, things might get fixed, we'd have nothing to whinge about, and Joe Duffy might be out of a job.

That's why. Actions have consequences. Its for the good of Joe Duffy.

Celly Smunt · 03-07-2013 1:37am

Any protest made by the people would be hijacked by the ULA or eirigi.

super_furry · 03-07-2013 1:38am

Relatively speaking things still aren't that bad here.

jay92 · 03-07-2013 1:39am

AnonoBoy wrote: »

What have you done as a matter of interest as opposed to start a thread on the internet about it?

Personally nothing, because I would be more than happy to see this country fall off the map.

Question Is posed at those who have a bit of interest in the well-being of the hellhole.

But if there was a riot/protest organised I would attend, I need a new tv anyway and there was on in the window of dixons that I have my eye on :P

Ihatecuddles-old · 03-07-2013 1:40am

It might rain...

Celly Smunt · 03-07-2013 1:41am

jay92 wrote: »

But if there was a riot/protest organised I would attend, I need a new tv anyway and there was on in the window of dixons that I have my eye on :P

Now there's a blast from the past.

the_syco · 03-07-2013 1:42am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

What did Tony do?

=-=

Cut the Dole to €50 a week, and people will protest. Otherwise they're happy to stay at home.

AnonoBoy · 03-07-2013 1:43am

jay92 wrote: »

But if there was a riot/protest organised I would attend, I need a new tv anyway and there was on in the window of dixons that I have my eye on :P

SSssshhh.... I edited my post. Stop answering me pre-edit!

But I do think Irish people seem to think that rioting somehow solves something. Do you really think we should be smashing sh*t up and getting ourselves killed?

Personally I think peaceful protest is a much better way of doing things and much less likely to be high-jacked by people who don't care about anything and just want to break things.

bleepp · 03-07-2013 1:43am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

I think its a lot to do with history and that has fed into our mind set. Ireland and the UK are very much rooted firmly in democracy having had democratically elected governments since the 1800's and we tend to take our anger out in the polling booth as was seen with the destruction of FF last time round. Most of Europe has been raped by dictators down through the years and have politically are a lot less stable than here. Greece, Spain not to mention Egypt.

We're just too democratic.

Dostoevsky · 03-07-2013 1:44am

Celly Smunt wrote: »

Any protest made by the people would be hijacked by the ULA or eirigi.

So, how would the handful of members of Éirigí or ULA hyjack a protest made by hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens?

I never fail to be astounded by the excuses Irish people invent in order not to make a stand. I just do not understand the mentality. Mass demonstrations work. It is delusional to claim otherwise. In fact, even the threat of a moderately large protest by OAPs in this state worked. A peaceful mass demonstration by hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens on a consistent basis for accountability, prosecutions and radical reform of the Irish political system would have revolutionary consequences, and inspire the rest of Europe. Irish people could then hold their heads up high.

jay92 · 03-07-2013 1:45am

AnonoBoy wrote: »

SSssshhh.... I edited my post. Stop answering me pre-edit!

But I do think Irish people seem to think that rioting somehow solves something. Do you really think we should be smashing sh*t up and getting ourselves killed?

Personally I think peaceful protest is a much better way of doing things and much less likely to be high-jacked by people who don't care about anything and just want to break things.

I,ll stop lol

Yeah I agree with your post, we have too many ***** in this country that would thrive in the environment of a violent protest, problem is even with a peaceful protest would people be bothered to show up? I somehow think not

Dostoevsky · 03-07-2013 1:59am

super_furry wrote: »

Relatively speaking things still aren't that bad here.

The bastards - the involved negligent senior politicians and civil servants who are now on ridiculous pensions; fraudulent auditors; fraudulent senior bank officials involved in this crisis; newspaper owners who spoke up the economy because their income depended upon it while they pompously proclaimed themselves the "paper of record"; foreign politicians insisting upon terms from the Irish people which protected the interests of their countries corporations; and so many more - are getting away with this massive, multi-billion euro transfer of private debt to Irish citizens. This is before we get to the reality that Paddy Kelly, Seán Mulryan and the rest of these property developers are still being paid more per year than most/all people posting here, while we carry their debts.

How can all of that robbery of Irish public wealth/social services be so easily accepted? You don't have to be a crusader for justice to want these people to be made accountable. You just need to have a remedial sense of justice and fairness.

dxhound2005 · 03-07-2013 2:11am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

Have you any recent examples of street protests in France and Germany changing government policy? The most recent ones in France that I can recall were the anti same-sex marriage protests but the government didn't back down on that.

Am Chile · 03-07-2013 4:45am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

Good post- you are right about france they are very different from the irish when they arent happy about something they will do more then ring in a joe duffy show to complain-take the retirement age being raised in ireland from 65 to 68 and the retirement age being raised in france from 60 to 62- while the retirement age was raised here there wasnt any big protest in opposition to it- compared to huge protests taking place in france over the retirement being rasied by just 2 years- BTW the retirement age was lower back to 60 at after the last french election- while the retirement age is still 68 in ireland because people didnt protest.

Workers who entered employment aged 18 will be able to retire at 60 rather than 62, under the decree agreed at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The decision follows pre-election promises from the new president Francois Hollande to reverse the rise in the retirement age introduced by his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9314666/French-president-Francois-Hollande-cuts-retirement-age.html

CommanderC · 03-07-2013 5:50am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

jay92 wrote: »

Personally nothing, because I would be more than happy to see this country fall off the map.

Question Is posed at those who have a bit of interest in the well-being of the hellhole.

But if there was a riot/protest organised I would attend, I need a new tv anyway and there was on in the window of dixons that I have my eye on :P

That's why we don't protest. Because everyone is waiting for some else to organise it.

You're not weak minded. You're just lazy :rolleyes:

Fukuyama · 03-07-2013 8:57am

I have three problems with these calls for 'protest'.

First, they normally vaguely refer to attacking gardaí, private business etc... all in the name of 'protesting'. This isn't Egypt.

Second, we're all supposed to be out protesting about something. What exactly? You wan't reforms but are vague. They vast majority of people have no idea how financial systems, banks and economies work. You'd get more support from a center right population with an actual plan with evidence to back it up.

Thirdly, I'm in work that day. There's around 13% unemployed in this country. Most people have work/school/college to go to. So yeah, all you'll get is Eirigí and the ULA.

Compare the transparency in Ireland to Greece, Cyprus or North Africa where there is actually something to protest about. We have it VERY good in this country.

In France there is a culture of opposing right wing policies off hand. Surely you can see the benefit for everyone n raising the retirement age? We're living A LOT longer than we used to? Whose going to pay for the millions of pensioners living well into their 80s/90s? We operate as a society and elect a government to manage that society. Governments make decisions which are not going to be popular to but are done because they make sense. Turkeys won't vote for Christmas.

What would your plan be for pensions in Ireland then? Just don't plan ahead? Ignore all the CSO data and forecasts? What?

Frank Black · 03-07-2013 9:05am

jay92 wrote: »

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation starting another fcuking thread in AH and complaining is all we are capable of.

Fixed that for you.

Frank Black · 03-07-2013 9:09am

Nobody should be allowed to protest about increased taxes or cuts to services until they have outlined a properly costed alternative proposal.

Asking the money fairy to come down and conjure up a lare pile of cash doesn't count.
Muttering about 'burning bondholders' doesn't count.
Shouting 'tax the rich' through a megaphone doesn't count.

If all the placard waving crusties did this, I might take their protests a little bit more seriously.

RebelSoul · 03-07-2013 9:10am

Afraid of getting the house robbed by pikeys selling carpets if they ring the doorbell and there's no one home.

AudreyHepburn · 03-07-2013 9:14am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

I don't think it's that we're afraid of anything.

It's just that in truth the country really is not in as bad a position as we would like to think, it is not about to collapse.

03-07-2013 9:25am

Dean0088 wrote: »

I have three problems with these calls for 'protest'.

First, they normally vaguely refer to attacking gardaí, private business etc... all in the name of 'protesting'. This isn't Egypt.

Second, we're all supposed to be out protesting about something. What exactly? You wan't reforms but are vague. They vast majority of people have no idea how financial systems, banks and economies work. You'd get more support from a center right population with an actual plan with evidence to back it up.

Thirdly, I'm in work that day. There's around 13% unemployed in this country. Most people have work/school/college to go to. So yeah, all you'll get is Eirigí and the ULA.

Compare the transparency in Ireland to Greece, Cyprus or North Africa where there is actually something to protest about. We have it VERY good in this country.

In France there is a culture of opposing right wing policies off hand. Surely you can see the benefit for everyone n raising the retirement age? We're living A LOT longer than we used to? Whose going to pay for the millions of pensioners living well into their 80s/90s? We operate as a society and elect a government to manage that society. Governments make decisions which are not going to be popular to but are done because they make sense. Turkeys won't vote for Christmas.

What would your plan be for pensions in Ireland then? Just don't plan ahead? Ignore all the CSO data and forecasts? What?

Well said.

03-07-2013 9:28am

jay92 wrote: »

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

There's no fluoride in their water.

kneemos · 03-07-2013 10:05am

Dostoevsky wrote: »

So, how would the handful of members of Éirigí or ULA hyjack a protest made by hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens?

I never fail to be astounded by the excuses Irish people invent in order not to make a stand. I just do not understand the mentality. Mass demonstrations work. It is delusional to claim otherwise. In fact, even the threat of a moderately large protest by OAPs in this state worked. A peaceful mass demonstration by hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens on a consistent basis for accountability, prosecutions and radical reform of the Irish political system would have revolutionary consequences, and inspire the rest of Europe. Irish people could then hold their heads up high.

OAP's are serial voters,students,unemployed and others that normally make up protests not so much or are left wing.

jester77 · 03-07-2013 10:11am

The standard of living in Ireland is very cosy compared to most other countries. Even with changes the government brought in, most people have it easy and have little to truly complain about. Unemployment might be high but the benefits that one gets are high and taxes are still low. There is little reason for most people to go out on the street.

Wurly · 03-07-2013 10:16am

Frank Black wrote: »

Nobody should be allowed to protest

I think you're confused about what constitutes democracy and human rights!!

eamonnq · 03-07-2013 10:19am

There was a 'protest' organised last Thursday at 1pm and apparently approximately 50 people showed up ?

Sleepy · 03-07-2013 10:30am

Show me a protest for a more libertarian approach to running our country and I'll join in.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of our nation are morons that don't understand economics and have no interest in listening to reason or logic: they'd rather be down the local drinking a bulmers whilst shouting at a television to support a foreign football team or arranging the piss-up and bouncy castle for their daughter's communion (despite disagreeing with most of the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church).

And those who can't find work, expect the rest of us to provide them with this lifestyle.

Sir Humphrey Appleby · 03-07-2013 10:35am

jay92 wrote: »

I was listening to Niall Boylan and he had 'Tony' on air, he is on hunger strike to get the attention of the government outside the four courts. He made the point that If they would listen if we all went out and protested.

In countries like France and Germany for example if the government does something that the population arent in favour of then they will go out and protest and not just a few hundred but thousands upon thousand and they manage to get their way in the end.

So what are afraid of? We are weak minded.

Why cant we get off our ****ing arses and do something? Calling into a radiostation and complaining is all we are capable of.

If there was a day set-up to go out on the streets of your respective counties and protest/riot would you go?

No I wouldn't, and I consider such a suggestion to be dangerously stupid in the extreme!

fryup · 03-07-2013 10:41am

an Ali G type protest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uJNekyP-6s

What are we so afraid of?

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