An atheistic or agnostic opinion

Geomy

We had the whole era of religion and that went tits up, then consumerism came knocking on our door and that was a flash in the pan.

What do you think is wrong with the Irish mindset ?

Are we still hungover from Catholicism ?

smacl

Geomy wrote: »

We had the whole era of religion and that went tits up, then consumerism came knocking on our door and that was a flash in the pan.

What do you think is wrong with the Irish mindset ?

Are we still hungover from Catholicism ?

Like most societies, I think we're evolving socially, where organised religion tends to stifle this. Irish society has improved in many ways, but certainly has a long way to go. I think we're behind some other European societies in some respects, and ahead of others in different respects.

I don't think there's much wrong with the Irish mindset per se, just the the canon of inherited wisdom it is operating from needs constant revision.

Czarcasm

Geomy wrote: »

We had the whole era of religion and that went tits up, then consumerism came knocking on our door and that was a flash in the pan.

What do you think is wrong with the Irish mindset ?

Are we still hungover from Catholicism ?

Interesting choice of words given our reputation as a nation of either raging alcoholics, or scholars!

I reckon our mindset has a lot to do with the fact that we're an island nation with a small population, and when we feel any bit flush or any bit of freedom at all, we go a bit doolally, and take it to extremes - the overbearing influence of religion followed by the indulgence during the Celtic Tiger years was no small coincidence, and because we're a small island nation with a pretty much isolated society, you tend to notice the effects a lot more than you would say in Continental Europe or America where they're much more used to doing things in moderation, so the extremes aren't as noticeable given their population sizes and mixture of many different cultural influences.

That's a very long sentence :pac:

ScumLord

Geomy wrote: »

We had the whole era of religion and that went tits up,

I don't know, in the grand scheme of things religion could be seen as a beneficial part of the human species development. We have gone from just another animal to what we are today and religion played a large part in that journey for millennia. It could even be argued that religion was science beta and encouraged people to start being more scientific to prove their believes. Religion always told us we were fallible and science has always tried to counter that fallibility.

then consumerism came knocking on our door and that was a flash in the pan.

Consumerism is still alive and well. It's still the driving influence behind most human societies. Consumerism but more fundamentally trade, has been the cornerstone of human society since human society existed.

What do you think is wrong with the Irish mindset ?

Nothing, it's not all that different from any number of other mindsets around the world.

Cabaal

Geomy wrote: »

We had the whole era of religion and that went tits up, then consumerism came knocking on our door and that was a flash in the pan.

What do you think is wrong with the Irish mindset ?

Are we still hungover from Catholicism ?

But Spain was and still very much is a far more religious/catholic country then Ireland, it experienced as big a boom and it got hit even harder hit then Ireland...it has 25% unemployment after all.

So do I think its a hang up from Catholicism...nope, certainly not.

Hotblack Desiato

Cabaal wrote: »

But Spain was and still very much is a far more religious/catholic country then Ireland, it experienced as big a boom and it got hit even harder hit then Ireland...it has 25% unemployment after all.

So do I think its a hang up from Catholicism...nope, certainly not.

We're still stuck with a Franco-era explicitly catholic constitution though while Spain has a liberal constitution and (limited) abortion.

Piliger

Geomy wrote: »

We had the whole era of religion and that went tits up, then consumerism came knocking on our door and that was a flash in the pan.

What do you think is wrong with the Irish mindset ?

Are we still hungover from Catholicism ?

We are still smack bang in the middle of the era of religion, unfortunately. And we are also in the middle of the great consumerism era, thank goodness.