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Different Standards

  • 20-06-2008 10:19am
    #1
    Cole
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,537 ✭✭✭


    http://www.independent.ie/national-news/politician-suspended-for-greasy-wops-gaffe-1410954.html

    I could not help but compare this to the Conor Lenihan 'kebabs incident' in the Dail, some time ago. I know that was 3 years ago and has probably been discussed here before, but it still amazes me how little was made of it by the government, press and electorate.

    Not only do we, the electorate, overwhelmingly re-elect such politicans..but make them Ministers for Integration!


Comments

  • #2
    RayM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,973 ✭✭✭RayM


    We're just far more tolerant of dodgy remarks here. Maybe it's a good thing, sometimes. I mean, take Conor's aunty Mary's "working like blacks" comment. If a British politician had said that, they would have been instantly banished into obscurity. Here though, there was a general acceptance that O'Rourke, a septogenarian, used a phrase which people of her generation have been using for years, and that she wasn't in any way 'racist'.

    For me, what was most disgraceful about Lenihan's 'kebabs incident' wasn't the xenophobia, but the typical Fianna Fail-style snide, arrogant dismissal of the serious issue of exploitation.


  • #3
    gaf1983
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭gaf1983


    RayM wrote: »
    For me, what was most disgraceful about Lenihan's 'kebabs incident' wasn't the xenophobia, but the typical Fianna Fail-style snide, arrogant dismissal of the serious issue of exploitation.

    +1

    Moving the thread off topic slightly, during that whole Gama workers debate I remember a phrase that was often bandied about by those who supported the workers that there were more dog-license inspectors in Ireland than there were labour regulations inspectors. Does anyone know if this situation has changed since then?


  • #4
    mountainyman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,268 ✭✭✭mountainyman


    I don't think that Mary O'Rourke was especially insensitive (especially as the phrase is NOT 'work like a black') Conor Lenihan's remark is less about racism and more about the contempt this 3rd (or is it 4th) generation member of the ruling elite has for poor people regardless of their nationality.


  • #5
    ninty9er
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,366 ✭✭✭ninty9er


    RayM wrote: »
    We're just far more tolerant of dodgy remarks here. Maybe it's a good thing, sometimes. I mean, take Conor's aunty Mary's "working like blacks" comment. If a British politician had said that, they would have been instantly banished into obscurity. Here though, there was a general acceptance that O'Rourke, a septogenarian, used a phrase which people of her generation have been using for years, and that she wasn't in any way 'racist'.
    +1


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