Can we be proud of the progress we made as a nation

steddyeddy

I think we can. Growing up in the eighties I can remember a time the economy was in the pan, divorce and birth control was illegal and we seemed to still fear the local parish priest.

In 2016 we're the first country in the world to bring in same sex marriage, we no longer live under the rule of the church and our economy is doing relatively well. We even topped the "goodest country" ranking, a study which ranks countries by what they give to the rest of the world. This year we celebrated the 100 years anniversary of the 1916 rising which we did quite tastefully IMHO. It seems like we're becoming less apologetic of our past and prouder of the progress we made. I do think a lot of us have a tendency to self hate as a nation so maybe it's about time we recognised how far we've come?

Iwasfrozen

Our social changes yes, but the economy's still in the pan.

cometogether

In short, yes. Ireland is a fantastic country to be able to grow up and live in, and half the people who spend their lives whinging about it ought to travel a bit to see how lucky we have it.

me_irl

Excessive use of the word "we" annoys me.

Steppenwolfe

Sure. Clap yourself on the back and be proud. :rolleyes:

steddyeddy

cometogether wrote: »

In short, yes. Ireland is a fantastic country to be able to grow up and live in, and half the people who spend their lives whinging about it ought to travel a bit to see how lucky we have it.

I used to constantly moan about Ireland until I seen the rest of the world. We have our faults but I think we've come far and there are far worse places to live.

Course we can. We are a very young country in self government terms, we fought off the rise of fascism in the 30s, dodged WWII in the 40s, negotiated a peace process in a conflict that saw thousands die on a quarter of the island in the late 60s through to the 90s, have survived the at times pervasive influence of religion and of financial mismanagement. It's not all good, far from it...but it's a lot better than many new nations that emerged from colonialism.

syklops

cometogether wrote: »

In short, yes. Ireland is a fantastic country to be able to grow up and live in, and half the people who spend their lives whinging about it ought to travel a bit to see how lucky we have it.

That opens the possibility of seeing places that are better.

FortySeven

Another ten years of copying the British and you'll be.........






Still 10 years behind the British.

steddyeddy

FortySeven wrote: »

Another ten years of copying the British and you'll be.........






Still 10 years behind the British.

Colonial power vs colonised country. We have very different mindsets.

lawlolawl

What's "child control" OP?

Burial.

Ireland wasn't the first country to bring in gay marriage.

steddyeddy

me_irl wrote: »

Excessive use of the word "we" annoys me.

We're sorry. We shall make efforts to change the words that we use.

cometogether

Burial. wrote: »

Ireland wasn't the first country to bring in gay marriage.

First country to introduce it after a public vote.

steddyeddy

Burial. wrote: »

Ireland wasn't the first country to bring in gay marriage.

The first to bring it in by popular vote.

steddyeddy

cometogether wrote: »

First country to introduce it after a public vote.

You beat me to it ha ha!

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

steddyeddy

Patww79 wrote: »

No bigger anti-Irish group than most of the current Irish people, so this should go well.

Yea I agree.

FortySeven

steddyeddy wrote: »

Colonial power vs colonised country. We have very different mindsets.

So Ireland is great when compared to?

me_irl

steddyeddy wrote: »

We're sorry. We shall make efforts to change the words that we use.

Ireland, Irish, the people. Don't lump me in with your saccharine patriotism.

steddyeddy

FortySeven wrote: »

So Ireland is great when compared to?

My former less travelled view of it.

steddyeddy

me_irl wrote: »

Ireland, Irish, the people. Don't lump me in with your saccharine patriotism.

Ireland's made great progress as a nation. It's rarely mentioned so I thought I would.

Charles Babbage

steddyeddy wrote: »

In 2016 we're the first country in the world to bring in same sex marriage,

We weren't, and the devaluation of marriage is nothing to be proud of.

FluffyAngel

last monday ,i made my way to the homeless unit in cork,as a wheelchair user i was astonished to find there was no access to building ,not a offer was made to give me respect of a closed door while i explained medical,psychical needs

the clinic was held on the main road,data procession,respect,dignity my bloody arse

,theres nothing like sitting outside the homeless unit in a wheelchair in full view of staring eyes to make me realise that we are still very much in dark ages in attitudes towards people

to have my doctor tell me

Dave, lie in middle of road.. they will have to pick you up and bring you somewhere

words fail me

FortySeven

steddyeddy wrote: »

My former less travelled view of it.

So we should be proud we have moved with the times?

Schools still indoctrinating our kids, health service is shockingly poor, inability to lay flat roads that arent tolled, broadband provision very last decade, boom built substandard housing, rent crisis, housing shortage, ridiculous cost of living, childcare provision, ridiculous tax to services ratio........and on. And on.

But hey, the gays can marry. Tis grand sure!

January

I'll be proud when we don't have homeless families living in hotels and the 8th amendment is repealed, when we don't have indoctrination in schools and when the health service is fixed.

The gay marriage referendum result didn't strike me as the historic day it seems to be to others.

I mean, if it had failed, I would have been no less proud of us a country. The outcome didn't validate us, the fact that we decided the issue as a democracy was for me the important issue whatever the outcome.

steddyeddy

January wrote: »

I'll be proud when we don't have homeless families living in hotels and the 8th amendment is repealed, when we don't have indoctrination in schools and when the health service is fixed.

You're equating being happy with a lot of our progress with being happy with the way things are. I will back any campaign that aims to repeal the eight or moves Ireland towards educate together schools.

January

January wrote: »

I'll be proud when we don't have homeless families living in hotels and the 8th amendment is repealed, when we don't have indoctrination in schools and when the health service is fixed.

Is there a country with no homelessness, abortion, secular schools and a great health system?

JustTheOne

January wrote: »

I'll be proud when we don't have homeless families living in hotels and the 8th amendment is repealed, when we don't have indoctrination in schools and when the health service is fixed.

There is more than enough houses to house these families in hotels.

They just won't take the houses because it's not beside their mammy and their favourite pub.

Go homeless and you will get a house quicker. It's been well documented this is what's happening.

mansize

A great country that's puts people's rights to popular vote

steddyeddy

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The gay marriage referendum result didn't strike me as the historic day it seems to be to others.

I mean, if it had failed, I would have been no less proud of us a country. The outcome didn't validate us, the fact that we decided the issue as a democracy was for me the important issue whatever the outcome.

Yea I agree. I'm proud that we did it via popular vote. It was remarkable. Likewise I hate the Brexit outcome but I'm happy people got a choice.

mansize

Deleted User wrote: »

The gay marriage referendum result didn't strike me as the historic day it seems to be to others.

I mean, if it had failed, I would have been no less proud of us a country. The outcome didn't validate us, the fact that we decided the issue as a democracy was for me the important issue whatever the outcome.

Should people's rights be decided by the majority?

Iwasfrozen

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Is there a country with no homelessness, abortion, secular schools and a great health system?

Would you back a movement which doesn't glorify violence by having army officers visiting schools to deliver a copy of a document signed by dead terrorists? ...

Just a thought.

steddyeddy

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Would you back a movement which doesn't glorify violence by having army officers visiting schools to deliver a copy of a document signed by dead terrorists? ...

Just a thought.

Ah Jesus dude it's a Sunday night. Could you leave the IRA/real IRA/UVF/I can't believe it's IRA for one thread.

And no it's not a thought. It seems to be a series of constant thoughts you have along that line. This isn't a Ireland via Britain thread. I love my time here in the UK.

steddyeddy

mansize wrote: »

Should people's rights be decided by the majority?

I think people should get eqaul rights by whatever means they can. Be that popular vote or introduction of new laws.

tayto lover

We have a great country. Best people in general, best food, best drink, best sports. All we need is better weather. We also have too many crooked people in high places.

Fakediamond

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there a country with no homelessness, abortion, secular schools and a great health system?

Yeah, pretty much any Scandinavian country. Their democracies are more advanced and the majority of the citizens genuinely want to live in an equitable society. I'm sure they have some problems but we could do worse than look to them for a social model to live by.

JustTheOne

Fakediamond wrote: »

Yeah, pretty much any Scandinavian country. Their democracies are more advanced and the majority of the citizens genuinely want to live in an equitable society. I'm sure they have some problems but we could do worse than look to them for a social model to live by.

Would you be willing to pay higher taxes and water charges?

By the way there is 20,000 homeless people in Sweden.

https://www.rt.com/news/sweden-welfare-homeless-choice/

It's amazing how some people believe sinn fein and the aaa when they say Ireland is a 3rd world cesspit.

We probably have one the lowest rates of homeless in the world.

Ireland is a great country if you fall on hard times.

Fakediamond

JustTheOne wrote: »

Would you be willing to pay higher taxes and water charges?

I absolutely would, providing I got quality services in return. Anyway, I've yet to meet a a poor Scandinavian, they seem to be thriving on them high taxes

JustTheOne

Fakediamond wrote: »

I absolutely would, providing I got quality services in return. Anyway, I've yet to meet a a poor Scandinavian, they seem to be thriving on them high taxes

"There are over 900 voluntary organizations caring for Sweden's estimated 20,000 homeless, which means there are almost as many carers as there are homeless people. They reject the idea that people on the streets can be happy with being homeless."

Yes their thriving in your Scandinavian paradise.

Iwasfrozen

steddyeddy wrote: »

Ah Jesus dude it's a Sunday night. Could you leave the IRA/real IRA/UVF/I can't believe it's IRA for one thread.

And no it's not a thought. It seems to be a series of constant thoughts you have along that line. This isn't a Ireland via Britain thread. I love my time here in the UK.

The IRA isn't an Ireland vs Britain issue, it's a decent people vs terrorist apologists issue.

Fakediamond

Fakediamond wrote: »

Yeah, pretty much any Scandinavian country. Their democracies are more advanced and the majority of the citizens genuinely want to live in an equitable society. I'm sure they have some problems but we could do worse than look to them for a social model to live by.

Which ones have only had a hundred years of self governance? I have no doubt that the likes of Sweden are more advanced, they were after all one of the most powerful countries in the world up to the 1700s. We have self governed for less than 100 years, it's hardly an exact comparison.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Iwasfrozen

Patww79 wrote: »

Please just leave this one alone. You'll have plenty of threads to constantly drag it all up, it's getting really tiring.

It was brought up in the original post. It's not off topic.

FortySeven

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Which ones have only had a hundred years of self governance? I have no doubt that the likes of Sweden are more advanced, they were after all one of the most powerful countries in the world up to the 1700s. We have self governed for less than 100 years, it's hardly an exact comparison.

You're still not self governed. The church are still pulling strings in Ireland.

pauliebdub

Fakediamond wrote: »

Yeah, pretty much any Scandinavian country. Their democracies are more advanced and the majority of the citizens genuinely want to live in an equitable society. I'm sure they have some problems but we could do worse than look to them for a social model to live by.

The grass always looks greener somewhere else. Having lived in Sweden and travelled throughout Scandinavia, Ireland is a much better country to live in. Plenty of problems in Sweden with unintegrated immigrants ghettoized in suburbs, homelessness and drug addiction is also a problem, plus youve much higher taxes, dreary weather, drab architecture and people who are no craic at all.

JustTheOne

FortySeven wrote: »

You're still not self governed. The church are still pulling strings in Ireland.

Of course they are.

Ulysses Gaze

steddyeddy wrote: »

I think we can. Growing up in the eighties I can remember a time the economy was in the pan, divorce and birth control was illegal and we seemed to still fear the local parish priest.

In 2016 we're the first country in the world to bring in same sex marriage, we no longer live under the rule of the church and our economy is doing relatively well. We even topped the "goodest country" ranking, a study which ranks countries by what they give to the rest of the world. This year we celebrated the 100 years anniversary of the 1916 rising which we did quite tastefully IMHO. It seems like we're becoming less apologetic of our past and prouder of the progress we made. I do think a lot of us have a tendency to self hate as a nation so maybe it's about time we recognised how far we've come?

Lot's of progress but still lots to do.

Particularly getting rid of gombeen, parish-pump, politics.

FortySeven

JustTheOne wrote: »

Of course they are.

Been in a school lately? Not hotbeds of free thinking. How many leaders aren't found in church on Sunday?

Until the churches are burned and the schools purged there will be no self anything in Ireland.

steddyeddy

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

The IRA isn't an Ireland vs Britain issue, it's a decent people vs terrorist apologists issue.

There's a million other threads to give your opinion. Maybe try to cooking forums?