RTE and Travellers **MOD WARNING OPENING POST**

Dr Sunshine

Anyone think RTE presenters are a bit prejudiced in their treatment of travellers?

Watching Hector Goes Traveller last week and although he wasn't saying anything negative he was imitating them saying "Howya boss" and doing a skit on bare knuckle boxing. I thought this was a bit disrespectful.

This morning Kelly Mongan, who was a contestant on last night's The Voice, was on Ryan Tubridy's programme and was asked if she was representing travellers on the Voice. I found this a strange question. I mean if the contestant was black would she be asked if she was respresenting black people? Even the reaction of the judges on the Voice last night was a bit OTT in my opinion.

What do you think?

Mod Warning HERE

Deleted User wrote: »

Mod

Right folks, just to remind you of our charter here in After Hours. Any further breaches of the charter will result in a ban.

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Zero tolerance will be shown to posts containing racism or discrimination. This includes the travelling community. Please do not use this forum to incite hatred.

According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination.

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or assumed. This shared heritage may be based upon putative common ancestry, history, kinship, religion, language, shared territory, nationality or physical appearance. Members of an ethnic group are conscious of belonging to an ethnic group; moreover ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness

AnonoBoy

I'm pretty sure Travellers can handle Hector saying 'howya boss' without getting offended. :rolleyes:

corktina

i think i'm going to say IBTL

orestes

RTE and travellers, now there's a good combination for an AH thread! Can we do bankers and roma gypsies next?

SEPT 23 1989

The liberal media and the pc crowd have created a monster with these people

smash

Dr Sunshine wrote: »

Watching Hector Goes Traveller last week and although he wasn't saying anything negative he was imitating them saying "Howya boss" and doing a skit on bare knuckle boxing.

I have serious doubts that any of them were intimidated by that.

pabloh999

P1ss off with your overly sensitive, everyone is offended by everything bullsh1t. That is all

Ghandee

Hectors show gave an extremely unbiased report on travellers and their lifestyles.

I'm not a traveller, know a few admittedly, but I detest when they routinely get all labelled with the same stereotypically negative reps.


As for Hector 'mocking them'

C'Mon now, that's clearly someone trying to stir things up.

Death and Taxes

pabloh999 wrote: »

P1ss off with your overly sensitive, everyone is offended by everything bullsh1t. That is all

Is someone in a bad mood? are we hungover boss?:D:D

starlings

I enjoyed the condescending, we're-sooooo-cool-with-this, attention given to Kelly Mongan's background and dress sense on My Big Fat Gypsy Voice last night.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Is "Howya boss?" not more of a farmer/rural saying?

Chuck Stone

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

these people

.

Dr Sunshine

Ghandee wrote: »

Hectors show gave an extremely unbiased report on travellers and their lifestyles.

I'm not a traveller, know a few admittedly, but I detest when they routinely get all labelled with the same stereotypically negative reps.


As for Hector 'mocking them'

C'Mon now, that's clearly someone trying to stir things up.

No, Ghandee, I wasn't trying to stir things up. Maybe I just posted in the wrong forum? I know Hector is a p*ss taker and a bit of craic but just felt he was skating on thin ice.

BTW I have seen some travellers (and non-travellers) behave appalingly so not defending them all.

super_furry

I thought Howya Boss was an aftershave for Cavan people.

AnonoBoy

People have a tendency to get awfully offended on behalf of other people these days.

It's boring.

Ghandee

Dr Sunshine wrote: »

No, Ghandee, I wasn't trying to stir things up. Maybe I just posted in the wrong forum? I know Hector is a p*ss taker and a bit of craic but just felt he was skating on thin ice.

Is there an anti-traveller forum round here that'd be more appropriate?

Dr Sunshine wrote: »

BTW I have seen some travellers (and non-travellers) behave appalingly so not defending them all.

This applies to non travellers too.

D1stant

This thread offends me

Czarcasm

Dr Sunshine wrote: »

Anyone think RTE presenters are a bit prejudiced in their treatment of travellers?

Watching Hector Goes Traveller last week and although he wasn't saying anything negative he was imitating them saying "Howya boss" and doing a skit on bare knuckle boxing. I thought this was a bit disrespectful.

This morning Kelly Mongan, who was a contestant on last night's The Voice, was on Ryan Tubridy's programme and was asked if she was representing travellers on the Voice. I found this a strange question. I mean if the contestant was black would she be asked if she was respresenting black people? Even the reaction of the judges on the Voice last night was a bit OTT in my opinion.

What do you think?

Hector is an annoying head up his own àrse twat. He goes on like he's mad hot shìt and he's everybody's "buddy", so it was no surprise to see him "getting down with his homeys" on that programme about travellers.

As for the girl on The Voice last night, how was the judges reactions OTT when the girl herself was dressed OTT? I don't think you could fault Kian Egan's observation skills when he quipped "Wait 'til ye see this lads!", something to that effect. Suffice to say he approved!

I would imagine it was merely meant to be a patronising fluff piece interview as the same girl has often said it herself that she wants to represent the travelling community and is proud of her heritage.

I think you know well why the question was asked and why this girl is being seen as unusual- because she's not the stereotypically presented "my big fat gypsy wedding" type that are loud, brash, and full of themselves.

When somebody is not your stereotypical perception of whatever minority, it's a valid question to ask if they are representing that minority in an effort to change stereotypical perception.

pabloh999

WileyCoyote (Accelleratii Incredibus!) wrote: »

Is someone in a bad mood? are we hungover boss?:D:D

Are you suggesting im hungover because all us Irish drink too much?

Racist!!

smash

Ghandee wrote: »

This applies to non travellers too.

That's what he said... "some travellers (and non-travellers) behave appalingly"

Dr Sunshine

AnonoBoy wrote: »

People have a tendency to get awfully offended on behalf of other people these days.

It's boring.

Sorry to bore you. :rolleyes:

Maybe some of us just have more empathy than others.

AnonoBoy

Dr Sunshine wrote: »

Sorry to bore you. :rolleyes:

Maybe some of us just have more empathy than others.

It's not a case of empathy. They're not being put upon in this instance - the show itself reflected quite well on the Travelling community (in fact one of the complaints levelled at it was that it was too nice to them).

The offense you're taking on behalf of the Travelling community is both unnecessary and probably unwanted. The use of the word 'boss' and a light-hearted poke at the ridiculous Youtube 'call-out' videos is hardly something that they'd get upset about considering how measured the rest of the show is.

Everyone these days is so quick to jump to someone's defence, even when it's not bloody needed. People go around looking for things to find offensive. It's tedious and it's a waste of time.

mr_edge_to_you

Sure they gave Blackie Connors a job back in the 80s down in Glenroe.

These days he's living in Carrgistown and riding the wife from Upwardly Mobile.

RTE is an equal opportunities employer

monkeypants

Dr Sunshine wrote: »

...Hector...skating on thin ice.

I wouldn't mind my licence fee being spent on that show.

oldyouth

At what time do AH Mods usually finish their lunch????

castletownman

I find that RTE Player in conjunction with a smart phone is very handy for those travelling and thus missing an RTE Show.

That is what the thread is about right?

Death and Taxes

oldyouth wrote: »

At what time do AH Mods usually finish their lunch????

Lunch is fer wimps!
sure isn't well known that dem der mods only eat troll and only between 3 and 4 in the morning in the months of February and November:D

joe stodge

I'm done with travellers on the tele, I'm fed up with them trying to pull the wool over our eyes when it comes to what they do to fund their lavish lifestyles.

I know enough travelers to know what they do when the cameras aren't filming. I live next to two halting sites and both have been raided in the past 6 months and both had bombs/ bomb making equipment found on them. Fire arms have been found previously as well large amounts of cocaine.

Potential-Monke

The amount of time that RTÉ is giving to travellers is what offends me. Such BS those programs, cameras never seem to be running when they do what they do best.

Pumpkinseeds

To be honest, I've found that the vast majority of documentaries made about travellers, by any tv network, is overly positive. There seems to be a deliberate glossing over of the more negative behaviour that is often associated with travellers. I never watch Hector, never.

MaxSteele

Pffffttt. I promise if you vote for MaxSteele in the next general election, I'll lobby to have the words "offended, offense, offensive" punishable by death. Sick to my balls hearing the term thrown around.

I couldn't give a tuppenny f*ck whether or not travellers or Pavee Point blah blah blah are offended by criticism of their lifestyle.

Death and Taxes

joe stodge wrote: »

I'm done with travellers on the tele, I'm fed up with the trying to pull the wool over our eyes when it comes to what they do to find their lavish lifestyles.

I know enough travelers to know what they do when the cameras aren't filming. I live next to two halting sites and both have been raided in the past 6 months and both had bombs/ bomb making equipment found on them. Fire arms have been found previously as well large amounts of cocaine.

Yea, ya wouldn't find settled folk messing with guns and cocaine, would you?

Potential-Monke

WileyCoyote (Accelleratii Incredibus!) wrote: »

Yea, ya wouldn't find settled folk messing with guns and cocaine, would you?

Thing is though, if you labelled every white person a coke dealing scumbag, you'd be wrong. If you labelled every traveller a criminal, you wouldn't be far wrong.

TwoShedsJackson

The bigger problem is the air time devoted to that eejit Hector. Rahoo rahoo rahoo!!!

joe stodge

WileyCoyote (Accelleratii Incredibus!) wrote: »

Yea, ya wouldn't find settled folk messing with guns and cocaine, would you?

Yeah, you would.
But we're free to call them what ever we like, but you can't say boo to a minority. For a group of people who make up 0.4% of the population they sure make the news far too often.

FTA69

Potential-Monke wrote: »

Thing is though, if you labelled every white person a coke dealing scumbag, you'd be wrong. If you labelled every traveller a criminal, you wouldn't be far wrong.

So nearly every Traveller is a criminal?

Potential-Monke

FTA69 wrote: »

So nearly every Traveller is a criminal?

In my personal experience, nearly? Yes.

Gulliver

They said it best themselves at the end of the show.

"They don't want no country people poking their noses in and speaking for Travellers". They consider themselves a separate culture and will NEVER integrate with Irish culture (unlike Africans, Asians, Eastern Europeans etc who do integrate to a point whilst respecting their own original culture).

The meaning I took from their wish to be completely separate is they don't want Social Welfare, medical care or any benefits paid for by country people. They are essentially looking for autonomy from the rest of Ireland. You'd never know, if they launch their own currency, it might be a better bet for us than the Euro in a few years.

pabloh999

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Irish-Traveller-gang-arrested-for-international-crime-spree---from-theft-of-rhino-horns-to-tarmac-fraud-187096071.html
Travellers : international entrepreurs

not yet

I for one am sick to fcuking death of gypsy weddings,fat gypsy funerals, skinny gypsy 21st's, tall gypsy bare knuckle fighting etc etc.....

Whats the buzz recently with everything gypsy.

FTA69

Potential-Monke wrote: »

In my personal experience, nearly? Yes.

In my personal experience (which is more than the vast majority) I find in the most part they are decent enough people who work hard in order to make ends meet. While I have known Travellers who were complete and utter criminals, I've also met some very decent people and have been shown great kindness my Travellers in the past.

dr.bollocko

Mod

Right folks, just to remind you of our charter here in After Hours. Any further breaches of the charter will result in a ban.

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Zero tolerance will be shown to posts containing racism or discrimination. This includes the travelling community. Please do not use this forum to incite hatred.

According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination.

An ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or assumed. This shared heritage may be based upon putative common ancestry, history, kinship, religion, language, shared territory, nationality or physical appearance. Members of an ethnic group are conscious of belonging to an ethnic group; moreover ethnic identity is further marked by the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness

AnonoBoy

I think the issue is that most people's experience of Travellers is when there's law-breaking involved - be it locally or reading about it in the newspapers.

It's the decent ones who keep the head down and just get on with things that you don't hear about.

Like people from Longford. I'm sure there's decent ones out there, I've just yet to meet any of them!

monkeypants

Isn't everyone a traveler nowadays? I travel back and forth to work quite regularly, sometimes I travel up the country, sometimes down, other times left or right. Years ago you wouldn't be expected to travel if you had no legs, but we put wheels on them folks now.

Potential-Monke

FTA69 wrote: »

In my personal experience (which is more than the vast majority) I find in the most part they are decent enough people who work hard in order to make ends meet. While I have known Travellers who were complete and utter criminals, I've also met some very decent people and have been shown great kindness my Travellers in the past.

I would also like to think that my experience is more than the vast majority, and in the 8 families i know, not one of them does not have a criminal record, or isn't still involved in criminal activities (some of which is major). I did say nearly, so i know there are some families out there that may not be involved in crime, but in the case of travellers (imo, and with no intention of being racist), the majority outweighs the minority.

Deleted User wrote: »

Mod

Right folks, just to remind you of our charter here in After Hours. Any further breaches of the charter will result in a ban.

My apologies if my posts come across as racist/discriminatory, i was just giving my (experienced) opinion on my personal dealings with them. And in the interest of not getting banned, i will no longer take part in this discussion.

pabloh999

Sure what about all the "travellers" stranded at airports across Britain?
Most of them on the news seemed decent

branie

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

The bigger problem is the air time devoted to that eejit Hector. Rahoo rahoo rahoo!!!

I don't think much of him

marcsignal

Hold the phone here...

On Irish TV you have:

1 My big fat Gypsy wedding
2 My big fat Gypsy voice
3 The truth about travellers

etc etc..

How tf can travellers, as a minority, claim to be discriminated against with all that airtime???

dd972

On the racism angle, how are they a different race ? They're Irish, nothing to do with Romany people that you get in the UK or Romanian gypsies.

Secondly, they're a tiny % of the populace, why do folk go on about them so much ?

It's also a feature of the hateful classism in Ireland to refer to those perceived as being lower down the socio-economic or educational order as 'knackers', a lot of the time you can be on the receiving end of this treatment if someone merely dislikes your face, snap judgements and superficiality reign supreme amongst the Irish.

I was once refused service in a pub in Drogheda along these lines, I'm a totally middle of the road person as well in terms of dress sense, behavior and accent, when I enquired why, I was told ''no reason''.

MagicSean

dd972 wrote: »

On the racism angle, how are they a different race ? They're Irish, nothing to do with Romany people that you get in the UK or Romanian gypsies.

Secondly, they're a tiny % of the populace, why do folk go on about them so much ?

It's also a feature of the hateful classism in Ireland to refer to those perceived as being lower down the socio-economic or educational order as 'knackers', a lot of the time you can be on the receiving end of this treatment if someone merely dislikes your face, snap judgements and superficiality reign supreme amongst the Irish.

I was once refused service in a pub in Drogheda along these lines, I'm a totally middle of the road person as well in terms of dress sense, behavior and accent, when I enquired why, I was told ''no reason''.

In Ireland they are not recognised as being an ethnic group. But they are given the same protections as ethnic groups. The problem with this is that there is no definition of what a traveller actually is that equates to what people who identify themselves as travellers do. In all honesty, anyone could claim to be a traveller and it would be quite difficult to prove otherwise.

As to why they are talked about so much. The proportion of traveller men in prison is about five times the proportion of the population they make up. Simple logic would indicate that a traveller male is 5 times more likely to engage in crime. There are other contributing factors to why a person identifying themselves as a traveller might find themselves the topic of conversation. These things include the proportion of travellers who claim social welfare and who declare taxable income as compare to those in the settled community. Crime, social welfare and tax are probably the most talked about things in the Ireland so it's inevitable a group with such dramatically different figures would be included in the conversation.

Sources:

http://www.dohc.ie/publications/aiths2010/TR2/AITHS2010_TechnicalReport2_HR_PartC.pdf?direct=1

http://www.Paveepoint.ie

Bad Santa

What I don't like about Travelers is that they never ever back down.

Or maybe that was just a trait specific to the Wilburys.