IS Joe Duffy good for the health of the nation?

Fuinseog

At times Joe Duffy makes for interesting listening, a voice for the small man, but in general he can be very depressing and you get the impression sometimes that the end is nigh.

I cannot help but feel that without him people would have to sort out their own problems instead of trying to get him to sort them out.

What I notice is that very often someone misses a deadline and as a result they fail to get a place or job. They ring Joe and complain that it is unfair, which I find bizarre.

I mean if you do not follow the rules you have only yourself to blame.

coylemj

I guess it's a bit of a pressure valve for people to whinge. The issue I have is that on odd days (usually when Joe is away) you get the mad and the sad.

One guy went to a cafe in the city centre, bought a cup of coffee, sat at one of the tables outside and after 45 minutes he was asked by the staff to vacate the table i.e. move on so he rang Joe to complain! Listening to him the guy clearly wasn't plugged into reality but the person hosting the show had nobody else to talk to so this nutter got the national airwaves all to himself, it was disgraceful.

Fuinseog

you also had the 18 year old who was not allowed to sit the driving test. He had altered the L plate because it was obstructing his view (he could have simply stuck it somewhere else) so that it was no longer a clear L plate sign. He also arrived late, although you are clearly informed to arrived at least 15 mins before the test. Of course he did not ring up and complain. His mother did and complain she did of the "injustice' her son suffered.

I sometimes think if self righteous people just followed simple instructions there would be fewer problems, but giving them airtime, when they are clearly in the wrong just encourages them.

Corsendonk

I worked in a company that was moving it customer complaints to the UK from Ireland, They sent some of there operators over from the UK to work alongside the Irish Customer Service before they closed up shop. They had to explain the "Joe Duffy" concept to them because every irate customer threated to ring JD. One other thing they noticed was that in Ireland they had more serial complainers, the same customers were ringing in every week with a new complaint and looking compensation.

SlimCi

lots of lonely people out there....this really comes across and some have nobody to talk to or turn to for help....!

Maggie McGaggie

I think joe is a type of communal therapist. He had some very good pieces on hoarders, mental illness and depression. He also highlighted institutional sex abuse to a greater extent than many other outlets. He is not all doom and gloom as he has Doc and Syl to cheer us up once a month.

Fuinseog

SlimCi wrote: »

lots of lonely people out there....this really comes across and some have nobody to talk to or turn to for help....!

you also have a lot of self righteous people out there with chips on their shoulder and JD empowers them.

Fuinseog

Maggie McGaggie wrote: »

I think joe is a type of communal therapist. He had some very good pieces on hoarders, mental illness and depression. He also highlighted institutional sex abuse to a greater extent than many other outlets. He is not all doom and gloom as he has Doc and Syl to cheer us up once a month.

I wonder if that is dangerous. The man is not a qualified therapist or pyschiatrist yet he acts like one.
I heard the one on depression but I did not hear qualified people give their views.

Brasil 34

Actually Joe Duffy is a qualified social worker and pyschotherapist:D

vicwatson

but in general he can be very depressing and you get the impression sometimes that the end is nigh.

It's not just Joe.

Listen to every RTE news bulletin.

Listen to Pat Kenny Show.

Gloom, doom, more gloom, doom and a bit more gloom with a lot of doomy gloomy economics in the mix.

Jaysuuuuuusssss

Elmo

Corsendonk wrote: »

I worked in a company that was moving it customer complaints to the UK from Ireland, They sent some of there operators over from the UK to work alongside the Irish Customer Service before they closed up shop. They had to explain the "Joe Duffy" concept to them because every irate customer threated to ring JD. One other thing they noticed was that in Ireland they had more serial complainers, the same customers were ringing in every week with a new complaint and looking compensation.

I would actually say we are the opposite we don't know how to complain. Going straight to Joe Duffy for example. We aren't good at speaking up when things go wrong. Perhaps we are changing now with the recession but I often think Irish people "don't like to cause a fuss". E.g. Training staff from another country to take your job

mikemac

There are some excellent shows now and again, depression got coverage last week. Informative

The man also has a lot of power, you saw what he whipped up over the headshops. There were around for a long time but the show about the headshop in Clontarf, wow I though the callers were going to march on the Dail and burn it such was the fury
Bit of hypocrite too. Gets on the soapbox about drugs but chats away with his little people, the salt of the earth Moore St traders with their smuggled illegal cigarettes and sure aren't they only trying to make a few pound

I agree with others, I think there are a lot of lonely people out there and they complain in shops or call Liveline just for a bit of drama and someone to talk to
One lady had no licence and her dog was wandering the estate. Dog warden picked it up and she couldn't/wouldn't pay the fine, she cried and sobbed on liveline and a sucker/saint came along and paid the fine for her
By the end I wasn't sure if this was a happy story with kindness from strangers or a nasty cyncial story with someone being used
To cry on national radio, I think the women has issues and it's far more serious then her dog

dev100

I think he is great... A champion of the people:) I started listening to him 3 or 4 year ago on podcast. he is absolutely fantastic at putting me to sleep at night time:)

pjmn

... I just regret it wasn't a bigger car in that shopping centre car park....;)

Elmo

mikemac wrote: »

The man also has a lot of power, you saw what he whipped up over the headshops. There were around for a long time but the show about the headshop in Clontarf, wow I though the callers were going to march on the Dail and burn it such was the fury

They also increased in number and had got allot of free publicity from the media starting with RTÉ's Philip Boucher Hayes, from that report to government action Head Shops began to steadily increase in number.

Fuinseog

vicwatson wrote: »

It's not just Joe.

Listen to every RTE news bulletin.

Listen to Pat Kenny Show.

Gloom, doom, more gloom, doom and a bit more gloom with a lot of doomy gloomy economics in the mix.

Jaysuuuuuusssss

and before that it was gay who bemoaned how banjaxed the country was but given the chance to repair it was somewhat reluctant.

SuperInfinity

Of course he's good for the health of the nation.

OP, everything isn't always rosey. Pretending that everything is grand when it's not, basically lying to yourself and to others, is what causes an awful lot of continual misery and eventual breakdowns.

If we've learned anything from the past surely it's that opening up and facing the reality of the situation... good or bad... is the best way to make a better future, instead of continual supression of feelings and playing happy families... which we still do of course, but perhaps not as much.

tomthetank

never listen anymore, depressing stuff. Obviously it's important not to bury your head in the sand and to bring public attention to matters of national importance, but jd show just feeds into a hysteria that makes the show a laughing stock at this stage, zero cred anymore

Maggie McGaggie

tomthetank wrote: »

never listen anymore, depressing stuff. Obviously it's important not to bury your head in the sand and to bring public attention to matters of national importance, but jd show just feeds into a hysteria that makes the show a laughing stock at this stage, zero cred anymore

Tom i disagree. He might be a laughing stock to you but for me he is an important social barometer. The only problem i have with him is his exorbitant salary and i sometimes feels it undermines his credibility when dealing with problems. When the story of the Institutional child sex-abuse story is written Joe will have to be mentioned as he made (and continues to do so) an invaluable contribution to this area.

whippetgood

David McSavage did a pisstake of Joe in the Savage Eye, am I allowed post a link?

headmaster

There's no doubt about it, Jo Duffy is THE biggest hypocrite in Ireland. On top of that, he just picks a hot topic from whatever is getting up peoples noses, then goes with it on the show. It doesn't take long for the wacko types to phone in and spew their garbage. God knows, there's any amount of them out there. Bring it on baby, bring it on.

Fuinseog

dev100 wrote: »

I think he is great... A champion of the people:) I started listening to him 3 or 4 year ago on podcast. he is absolutely fantastic at putting me to sleep at night time:)

do you find his voice soothing?

Fuinseog

whippetgood wrote: »

David McSavage did a pisstake of Joe in the Savage Eye, am I allowed post a link?

I think Joe might object. in truth the sketch was so ridiculous it was hilarious.

Joe dished the dirt on his brother in his book and the latter was less than amused.