Head of UCC Ográ Fianna Fáil in Homophobic and Anti-Atheist Rant

Byron85

I couldn't believe this when I read about it earlier. It's already in the Irish Examiner and he has since taken down the blog post, but someone with more numble fingers than I managed to get a screenshot.

http://www.irishlabour.com/dublinopinion/cache-01.jpg


Here's a choice quote from it:


"The scourge of secularism and the evil of Atheism that has spread so rapidly in the last number of years, has DESTROYED or country. People have no morals anymore, no guidance, this can easily be seen with the rise in crime, homosexuality, divorces, the use of artificial contraceptives, and the rising call for the legalisation of abortion."

Such warped view has no place in a setting of higher education. I will be emailing Michéal Martin post haste and I suggest anyone else disgusted by his actions to do the same.

RedXIV

He must be fun at parties

x43r0

Not going to get into this much yet as I only just heard about it but I know of the guy and just wanted to point out that in the year or so since the blog went up he has converted to Atheism and one of his closest friends has come out.

I don't condone what he wrote in the blog. It was ignorant and ridiculously small-minded.


A lot of people won't care but for what its worth the person who wrote that blog is very different from the person being attacked today

28064212

http://www.irishexaminer.com/election/analysis/ogra-ff-chair-retracts-remarks-on-homosexuals-147187.html

He retracts them and says he did not intend for it to be taken seriously. Lines like "How can those people expect the majority of people in this country to take them seriously if they insist on prancing around half naked, sporting a tutu and sprinkling fairy dust around the country" would seem to support the "not serious" excuse. It was pretty ill-advised if it was a joke though

Byron85

x43r0 wrote: »

Not going to get into this much yet as I only just heard about it but I know of the guy and just wanted to point out that in the year or so since the blog went up he has converted to Atheism and one of his closest friends has come out.

I don't condone what he wrote in the blog. It was ignorant and ridiculously small-minded.


A lot of people won't care but for what its worth the person who wrote that blog is very different from the person being attacked today

Since I posted the above, he has claimed as much in a facebook post on the page of a friend of mine. If he has moved on, then I salute him for that but nonetheless, what he wrote is unacceptable and his attempts to blame his "rural upbringing" for his views is somewhat insincere sounding.

I'll wait and see how it develops though

KnifeWRENCH

Commented on this on the LGBT forum thread but I'll say it again here; I don't think it's a big deal (and I say this as an LGBT person myself.) People make mistakes, and some of the wording of the blog post certainly went over the top. But that "prancing about in a tutu" remark definitely seems like a joke to me and not to be taken seriously.

And it was a year ago: people are allowed change their minds. He seems to have done so on certain issues.

I've met him once or twice since I have friends involved in Donogh O'Malley Cumann, and I had heard that he had "interesting" views but from the few words I had with him he seemed like a pretty nice, normal guy to talk to. I wouldn't be immediately calling for him to be sanctioned or kicked out of the society or anything.

robp

Of course its poorly written.
Of course its politically ill-advised and insensitive but if you look through it closely its not actually not incendiary or hateful.

Its is a bit of a non-issue IMHO.

samf

The real question here is why is a blog post from a year ago of a newly elected auditor of a UCC society suddenly front page news???

The journalist behind it should be ashamed of themselves for what they've dragged the student in question through, though I agree what was written in the blog post was idiotic and ignorant this isnt a paid councillor we're talking about, its a 20 yr old ucc student who's reputation has been destroyed by the press for an opinion he held over a year ago - sickening to see.

CantGetNoSleep

samf wrote: »

The real question here is why is a blog post from a year ago of a newly elected auditor of a UCC society suddenly front page news???

The journalist behind it should be ashamed of themselves for what they've dragged the student in question through, though I agree what was written in the blog post was idiotic and ignorant this isnt a paid councillor we're talking about, its a 20 yr old ucc student who's reputation has been destroyed by the press for an opinion he held over a year ago - sickening to see.

Journalist will have a fine career in the Sun no doubt though

rebel girl 15

samf wrote: »

The real question here is why is a blog post from a year ago of a newly elected auditor of a UCC society suddenly front page news???

The journalist behind it should be ashamed of themselves for what they've dragged the student in question through, though I agree what was written in the blog post was idiotic and ignorant this isnt a paid councillor we're talking about, its a 20 yr old ucc student who's reputation has been destroyed by the press for an opinion he held over a year ago - sickening to see.

Because he was stupid enough to post the thing in the first place! Of course someone was gonna do a bit of digging on his past, and when he has a blog, they are going to read it. He could have taken down the blog post, when his views and that changed! When its politics they are involved in, nothing is safe - and unfortunately, he learned a very hard lesson about it! You put yourself in a position of authority or power like that, then you are going to be targeted, especially with political parties involved! Yes, I do agree that it seems ott for a student to be put through the mill like that, but its politics - IMO its trying to target FF through him!

pirateninja

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Because he was stupid enough to post the thing in the first place! Of course someone was gonna do a bit of digging on his past, and when he has a blog, they are going to read it.

Why? What would make a journalist for a national newspaper say I'm going to dig some information on an auditor of a youth branch of the third largest political party in Ireland? It makes absolutely no sense!

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

He could have taken down the blog post, when his views and that changed!

He did take it down, but it was found in cache. Nothings ever gone from the internet and he's had to learn that the hard way!

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

When its politics they are involved in, nothing is safe - and unfortunately, he learned a very hard lesson about it! You put yourself in a position of authority or power like that, then you are going to be targeted, especially with political parties involved! Yes, I do agree that it seems ott for a student to be put through the mill like that, but its politics - IMO its trying to target FF through him!

I really don't see how being an auditor of a UCC society is a big enough position of authority or power to get the kind of coverage that this has. I completely agree with you that it does look like targeting FF through him! I do think it's an absolute disgrace that you would do that by targeting a young person who is still developing his views on the world and is entitled to do so without being hounded by the press for it!

rebel girl 15

pirateninja wrote: »

Why? What would make a journalist for a national newspaper say I'm going to dig some information on an auditor of a youth branch of the third largest political party in Ireland? It makes absolutely no sense!

I really don't see how being an auditor of a UCC society is a big enough position of authority or power to get the kind of coverage that this has. I completely agree with you that it does look like targeting FF through him! I do think it's an absolute disgrace that you would do that by targeting a young person who is still developing his views on the world and is entitled to do so without being hounded by the press for it!

Its been widely reported that FF leader Micheal Martin is looking at young candidates for the upcoming Seanad elections and then for the future local elections - these candidates coming from the youth branch of FF as one source - Ogra Fianna Fáil’s largest third-level cumann elected auditor and someone gets a story like that! Makes sense to me tbh, thats one potential future candidate harmed because of stupid comments he made on a blog

pirateninja

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Its been widely reported that FF leader Micheal Martin is looking at young candidates for the upcoming Seanad elections and then for the future local elections - these candidates coming from the youth branch of FF as one source - Ogra Fianna Fáil’s largest third-level cumann elected auditor and someone gets a story like that! Makes sense to me tbh, thats one potential future candidate harmed because of stupid comments he made on a blog

When Micheal Martin is talking about selecting young candidates for the Seanad, Locals and next general I have a feeling that his first stop will not be for someone who still has a few years left in college. Especially not one who's barely 20 years of age. That said I would hope that Micheal Martin would understand that people are entitled to hold an opinion and that people are also entitled to change an opinion (as is the case here)


As for the stupid comments, no doubt they are stupid, idiotic, ignorant and any other name that you'd like to call them but the same views are not held by him today so really the whole thing is non issue like robp said above.

I think the biggest problem I have overall with this is that everyone gets to be wrong, everyone is allowed to make mistakes and you should not be punished for a view that you used to hold.

pbowenroe

FIANNA FAIL MEMBER IS AN IDIOT

In other news, scientists have discovered that grass is green and that the sky is indeed blue.

BigDaddyCan

pbowenroe wrote: »

FIANNA FAIL MEMBER IS AN IDIOT

In other news, scientists have discovered that grass is green and that the sky is indeed blue.

epic truth son

BickNarry

samf wrote: »

The real question here is why is a blog post from a year ago of a newly elected auditor of a UCC society suddenly front page news???

The journalist behind it should be ashamed of themselves for what they've dragged the student in question through, though I agree what was written in the blog post was idiotic and ignorant this isnt a paid councillor we're talking about, its a 20 yr old ucc student who's reputation has been destroyed by the press for an opinion he held over a year ago - sickening to see.

Homophobia is as bad as racism. I don't care when he held these views, if he posts them on his blog he should be open to criticism. And more. If he said black people are the scourge of society there'd be a stronger reaction i'd say. People need to let homophobes know that they're not welcome as long as they have their views. And I wouldn't go trusting someone in politics just because they said they changed their minds. Only words.

Manach

Good for the FFer, it certainly encourages debate.

BickNarry

Manach wrote: »

Good for the FFer, it certainly encourages debate.

What a ridiculous logic.