Let's all take Blindboy seriously now...

One eyed Jack

Insect Overlord wrote: »

The problem with your suggestion is that Blindboy often operates on a level that is, arguably, above that of his critics. He's a very eloquent and well-read man. His thick accent seems to belie this, especially when it comes to people who haven't really listened to him before trying to argue with him.

He really doesn't. He's no Elizabeth Anscombe (Limerick native), that's for certain. Now there was a woman who was unquestionably on a level well above that of her critics. Blindboy? Not so much.

Dannyriver wrote: »

Read his book man,or even the review of it i ve linked below. Cant remember twink releasing a book that was lauded by critics and fellow writers and artists. or maybe I missed that one.

https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/demented-dishevelled-and-deeply-surreal-blindboy-boatclubs-book-will-shock-and-delight-36265267.html

I've read his book, and I read that review. It reads like it was written by Brian Badonde. It's certainly not as creative as The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct: A Sokal-Style Hoax on Gender Studies. I still laugh every time I read their explanation of "manspreading" -

Manspreading — a complaint levied against men for sitting with their legs spread wide — is akin to raping the empty space around him. :pac:

And I'm not the first person to suggest it's not a particularly riveting read either -

Blindboy Boatclub book: A mixed plastic bag of mad ideas

Dannyriver wrote: »

I think you misinterpreted my use of 'mental health issues' as 'mental illness' Regarding mental illness i agree with you. I also agree/know that GP s aren t qualified nor have the time to deal with basic mental health issues of their clients and tend to use the medical model far too broadly. We need a proactive approach to education around mental health fitness[resilience] from an early age and also teachers and carers of young people need to be educated around same.

When was the last time you set foot inside the doors of Mary I?

Or any school in Limerick for that matter?

Wall to wall mental health. Mental health'd up to the eyeballs!

Teachers are people too btw, their profession doesn't give them immunity from experiencing issues with their mental health. Quite the opposite really, so to suggest that they need educating around same is a bit of a head scratcher.

Dannyriver wrote: »

Man that's actually laughable you haven t a clue what you re talking about yet you still decide to not listen to people who actually know Limerick because they are from there. The 2 choices you picked just prove it. Abbeyfeale is a small town which is practically in Kerry, and steamboat quay is not the best place to raise small kids considering its been bought up by vulcher funds who rent the apartments out to every drug dealer in town. Its party central down there from Thursday to Monday. Do you believe all the news you read in the papers or only the nonsence about Blindboy coming from the plush suburbs, Id say you d have no problem spotting fake news if it suited what you wanted to believe.

Whoa! The bang of irony off that, I'd to open a window :pac:

I'd love to see a source for your bullsh... claims. While you were busy berating others for not knowing what they were talking about and abandoning their critical faculties, you appear to have done exactly the same thing yourself.

Mind you don't choke on your prosecco.

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

Internet warriors disagree with what man says simply because he has a bag on his head, completely ignoring what he ACTUALLY says. It's laughable.

I'm not an internet warrior, but really, what do you expect? He has a plastic bag on his head! Where do you go from there like? :pac:

Dannyriver

One eyed Jack wrote: »

He really doesn't. He's no Elizabeth Anscombe (Limerick native), that's for certain. Now there was a woman who was unquestionably on a level well above that of her critics. Blindboy? Not so much.





I've read his book, and I read that review. It reads like it was written by Brian Badonde. It's certainly not as creative as The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct: A Sokal-Style Hoax on Gender Studies. I still laugh every time I read their explanation of "manspreading" -

Manspreading — a complaint levied against men for sitting with their legs spread wide — is akin to raping the empty space around him. :pac:

And I'm not the first person to suggest it's not a particularly riveting read either -

Blindboy Boatclub book: A mixed plastic bag of mad ideas






When was the last time you set foot inside the doors of Mary I?

Or any school in Limerick for that matter?

Wall to wall mental health. Mental health'd up to the eyeballs!

Teachers are people too btw, their profession doesn't give them immunity from experiencing issues with their mental health. Quite the opposite really, so to suggest that they need educating around same is a bit of a head scratcher.





Whoa! The bang of irony off that, I'd to open a window :pac:

I'd love to see a source for your bullsh... claims. While you were busy berating others for not knowing what they were talking about and abandoning their critical faculties, you appear to have done exactly the same thing yourself.

Mind you don't choke on your prosecco.





I'm not an internet warrior, but really, what do you expect? He has a plastic bag on his head! Where do you go from there like? :pac:

I take it ur not too fond of Blindboy there one eyed jack, sorry to hear you got burnt with his book. sleep well.

OnDraught

I think a lot of people have a problem with the rubberbandits because they are issue jumpers. Whether it is recreational drug use, suicide, feminism or whatever it is next month. They seem to jockey on to whatever is the cause of the day. There is no follow up. This is true of most social commentators but they lose all edge and it could be anyone making the point as a result.

Junkyard Tom

pumpkin4life wrote: »

Smart enough to understand the nonsense that is put into his head, but not smart enough to think around the theory.

What do you mean by this?

potatohouse

i come back on to boards every now and then to see if its still all misers and gatekeepers. was not let down this time 10/10 keep up the catholicism

the_syco

Sky King wrote: »

but when the prank phone call making, glue-huffing, spastic hawk-toting Blindboy talks serious we all suddenly have to sit up take it seriously.

Do you not see his point? :pac:

Wibbs

OnDraught wrote: »

This is nothing new and absolutely fukk all to to do with feminism. It’s a problem caused by capitalism and it’s only going to get worse.

Leaving aside the problem is capitalism, as pointing the finger at any ism you fancy is overly simplistic and is more informative of the position held by the person doing the pointing. IE Socialists see capitalism as the enemy, Conservatives will see socialism as the enemy and so on.

My comment on feminism and boys/young men was part of a previous post where I outlined a few factors that may be in play.

"So what could be the reasons? In mental health generally I would look to greater awareness, which is good. However greater awareness also runs the risk of self diagnosis and a medical profession that helps that along. I can walk into any GP within a five mile radius of my gaff, tell them I'm not sleeping that well and feel stressed and at least half will write me a script for SSRI's. The over medicalisation of mental health and normal human experiences another pressure.

There is also a generation divide in the west. Namely those born and raised before the interwebs and those born and raised with it. The Interwebs has been an incredible boon to mankind, but coming along for the ride has been information overload, information vagueness and an increased sense of fear. Ideas and illnesses once rarely heard or seen, often because they were rare, are now seen to be "common" because a few people get together online and make a much bigger noise than they could have before. QV Feminists, Red Pill muppets, conspiracy nuts of all stripes and so forth. It makes the radical seem mainstream.

Along with that social media brings its own issues. It plugs into the natural human need for social connection and recognition. Which is fine, but also amplifies the equally natural tendency of narcissism, often to scary degrees. Even scarier when it's not recognised. More, because of how social media can be framed some promote an ever more perfect world that they inhabit, but you don't, you failure. An ever increasing arms race of oneupman(woman)ship. IF you're not in you can't win. Or not in enough. I can certainly say I would fcuking hate to be an adolescent these days, boy or girl(though IMHO the girls have it worse in a couple of areas).

Add in the economic fallout from the "Celtic Tiger". Many of the cubs have seen parents and lifestyles go from shiny to sh1tty in ten years. That's gonna have an affect. The jobs market when they leave schooling another.

That's in general. Male specific? Yes I would agree the Provider thing is in play, but it's coming late enough to the party IMH. Another would be the good to see increasing success of women in academia. That may make some men feel left behind. Especially as classrooms are overwhelming taught by women, who even with the best will in the world will naturally tend to teach in ways more likely to be conducive to how girls learn. Feminism? If anything it's a negative for young men. If any young man was to delve into feminism and I mean mainstream feminism, he will read and hear that all the ills of this world are because of men. Even if it's couched in patriarchy, that's still men. Even if his sorry state is accepted, it's still because of how his gender have allegedly shaped the world. Women are always the agentless victims and men are always to blame. If a young man is hearing that on the regular, do you really think that's going to make him feel secure, appreciated, valued? Especially when he reads and sees that his women peers are clearly more valued and supported by the society at large?"

Taking things further, I think we can all agree that today's Ireland is far more liberal, more left of centre, far less religious, with more gender equality, more gay rights, more social safety nets, far more discussion and acceptance of mental health and illness and far more avenues of treatments than the Ireland of say the Conservative Catholic, women can't work after marriage, gays don't exist, widespread abuse of our children and real poverty was rife 1960's, yet in the face of all that we're being told - and it certainly seems to be the case - that the rates of mental illnesses are going ever upward. This does not compute. If we've improved so much on so many levels from the Bad Old Days© of muttering polished rosaries and by god we have, then what's the explanation for the rise of mental issues in men and women?

I am not suggesting those days were better. Far bloody from it. I'm old enough to remember the hint of the odour of the fart that it was. I am suggesting that the easy soundbite answers of more whatever ism you're having yourself is not a solution and its not an answer, it's barely a question. And it seems it's not working.

nozzferrahhtoo

Do not recall ever listening to a thing the guy has to say. Since however his second pod cast was linked early in the thread I have taken the time to listen to it. I see little wrong with it at all. Quick summary of it:

00:00 - 02:00

Just introductions. Nothing wrong there.

02:00 - 10:00

Starts talking about the issue of mental health again, showing that he has actually been talking about it in his work since 2005 and not just some recent thing to further his career.

Much like the "We have had abortions" thread here, he talks about how much help it can be for such people to hear the testimonies and experiences of other people who have such issues. Things like anxiety attacks are terrifying and freaky, but when you hear other people going through the same stuff it makes you feel more normal.

He talks about how talking about mental health should be a discussion that we move to normalize. That we need more of it to achieve that.

He gives a quick adumbration of the thinking being CBT as well. He is clearly convinced by it, so mentions it, but does not evangelize it TOO much. And he does mention it's limitations and his own biases for it, which is useful and honest. Including recent research that shows mindfulness meditation and CBT can be, when used on the wrong people, actually harmful and limiting.

Again seeing nothing wrong here. All good stuff in fact.

10:00 - 19:00

Talking about the "I can not take him seriously because of the bag" people. He pretty much explains why he does it, how irrelevant it SHOULD be, and what he thinks of the critique of it in general. He distinguishes between what he sees as "anonymity" and "privacy" and why the bag is for the latter, more so the former.

He talks about how fame / notoriety can change you. When you go places and people see you and know you, you can end up "going up your own hole" thinking you are special. That there is a different way people treat you and talk to you when they know you are from "the tele". And he gets NONE of that, because without the bag on his head generally no one knows who he is, he is not treated different or special, and he lessens the risk he will think he is more important to the world than he actually is.

Getting a tiny bit more "preachy" on that he talks about how self-esteem should not be predicated on external things. Such as the approval or awe of others. And "the bag" assists him in keeping a healthy divide in that regard.

Still not seeing anything wrong in his message or thinking there.

19:00 - 22:00

Talks about his book a bit. And the process of writing and creating art. And how reading reviews of his work influences his work, in positive and negative ways. Quite honest here but nothing that, for me at least, is terribly interesting.

22:00 - 29:30

A weird segue into Madagascar traditions around corpses, and how people here in Ireland treat death. He thinks there is a strange beauty in their attitude towards death there. Suffering and death is unavoidable in life, and we spend a lot of our time avoiding thinking about it at all. I think it quite healthy the basics of what he is talking about here. I generally do think that our human attitude to death is not a healthy one by far.

29:30 - end

Just a short story from his book so I skipped that for the sake of saving time. Was more listening to what he had to say, than to his "art".

Summary

My first exposure to the guy and he seems to be articulate, intelligent, heart in the right place on mental health issues. Also seems invested in his art. Whatever about any other words he has done in the past, nothing in this podcast strikes me as anything but positive. Nothing super deep or amazing to wow at of course, but generally all positive from what I can see.

One eyed Jack wrote: »

I'm not an internet warrior, but really, what do you expect? He has a plastic bag on his head! Where do you go from there like?

He mentions this in the link I refer to above. As he points out, some of the people with some of the most authority in our world (judges) have ridiculous looking wigs on their head that he thinks look like "dehydrated poodles".

While priests who have authority for some go around essentially wearing dresses or "curtains from a bin outside a brothel".

So I think it is worth looking at the content of peoples words rather than what they wear while saying it.

c_man wrote: »

Well a straight google search for Blindboy gets you his name and picture, among other details. So let's leave the anonymous thing aside as it's a non-runner

In the link I refer to above he distinguishes between total anonymity and "privacy" anonymity.

In that the number of people who used google as you just described to see what he looks like is minimal. So he can still walk down the street, sit on a bus, go into a shop, or whatever he likes and GENERALLY (almost entirely) never be recognized or approached.

So no, not seeing the anonymous thing as a "non-runner" at all.

Dannyriver

OnDraught wrote: »

I think a lot of people have a problem with the rubberbandits because they are issue jumpers. Whether it is recreational drug use, suicide, feminism or whatever it is next month. They seem to jockey on to whatever is the cause of the day. There is no follow up. This is true of most social commentators but they lose all edge and it could be anyone making the point as a result.

But they re not you see. They've been consistently talking about all those issues and in the case of suicide google 'Sonny' [which was their last song release] feminism and drug use read his book or listen to his podcast. Mind you your statement would look like it was a good summation if it was true.

Dannyriver

OnDraught wrote: »

The idea that male suicide is on the rise because of feminism is pure bollox in my opinion. The Dubliners were singing Pete st Johns lyrics in the 70’s that went

“By trade I was a cooper
Lost out to redundancy
Like my house that fell to progress
my trade's a memory”

This is nothing new and absolutely fukk all to to do with feminism. It’s a problem caused by capitalism and it’s only going to get worse.

You ve read this post out of context it's not what wibbs either said or meant at all.

The First Bredi

OnDraught wrote: »

The idea that male suicide is on the rise because of feminism is pure bollox in my opinion. The Dubliners were singing Pete st Johns lyrics in the 70’s that went

“By trade I was a cooper
Lost out to redundancy
Like my house that fell to progress
my trade's a memory”

This is nothing new and absolutely fukk all to to do with feminism. It’s a problem caused by capitalism and it’s only going to get worse.

Sure if in doubt blame capitalism , seems to be the trendy choice.

You say it has fukc all to do with feminism, yet you don't know what is causing it, you are just surmising like everyone else.

um7y1h83ge06nx

My opinion on Limerick property.

The Ennis Road generally is a good part of the city, some parts better than others and some worse. But overall it would be a good part of Limerick. People are trying to run it down by saying it is close to Moyross and Ballynanty. That is true but doesn't reflect badly on the area. Imo the most expensive part of Limerick is North Circular Road and that's a fairly short walk to Thomond Park and onto Ballynanty and Moyross.

For those talking about the affordability of houses in Limerick, the last few years you could buy a semi-D in a decent suburb like Dooradoyle or Raheen for approximately 160-200k. That's not bad at all in my opinion. Back in the boom they were making 280-300+ k.

Limerick, even in the boom, was probably the cheapest of our large urban areas for houses. I'm in my early 30s and the majority that I know around my age here in Limerick own their own homes.

OnDraught

OnDraught wrote: »

I think a lot of people have a problem with the rubberbandits because they are issue jumpers. Whether it is recreational drug use, suicide, feminism or whatever it is next month. They seem to jockey on to whatever is the cause of the day. There is no follow up. This is true of most social commentators but they lose all edge and it could be anyone making the point as a result.

Indeed, issue jumpers. Whatever's populist they'll have a speel about it.
Some of the comments in here seem to be actually written by Blindboy, I wonder is he posting here anonymously ............. sort of like the plastic bag on telly.

Kinsley Future Carrot wrote: »

............

Limerick, even in the boom, was probably the cheapest of our large urban areas for houses. I'm in my early 30s and the majority that I know around my age here in Limerick own their own homes.

Indeed.

Yet Blindboy (same age as you) proclaims NONE of his friends or peers own their own homes or can look forward to buying.

He's a full of sh1t populist spoofer looking to line his own pocket.
Could see him as a TD in the future :pac:

RocketRaccoon

Kinsley Future Carrot wrote: »

My opinion on Limerick property.

The Ennis Road generally is a good part of the city, some parts better than others and some worse. But overall it would be a good part of Limerick. People are trying to run it down by saying it is close to Moyross and Ballynanty. That is true but doesn't reflect badly on the area. Imo the most expensive part of Limerick is North Circular Road and that's a fairly short walk to Thomond Park and onto Ballynanty and Moyross.

For those talking about the affordability of houses in Limerick, the last few years you could buy a semi-D in a decent suburb like Dooradoyle or Raheen for approximately 160-200k. That's not bad at all in my opinion. Back in the boom they were making 280-300+ k.

Limerick, even in the boom, was probably the cheapest of our large urban areas for houses. I'm in my early 30s and the majority that I know around my age here in Limerick own their own homes.

I'm in my early 30s and of my close friends and even extended friends I can think of 2 who own their own houses.

RocketRaccoon

RocketRaccoon wrote: »

I'm in my early 30s and of my close friends and even extended friends I can think of 2 who own their own houses.

But are you from the Ennis Rd? :pac:

pumpkin4life

Junkyard Tom wrote: »

What do you mean by this?

The people that are most subject to ideologues are not dumb people (because they can't understand what you are saying) and not smart people (because they're usually less exposed to idealogues/can out-think what you are saying) but average intelligence to above average in intelligence people.

Feminism appeals to women who are smartish, but not very smart for example.

The other problem with this is that these people can be awful to be around, because they know/are used to the fact that they're above average and this gives them a massively inflated confidence on how the world around them works.

Blindboy is intelligent enough to accept feminism, but he can't make that next step to see it is full of dem swiss cheese holes.

Dannyriver

Augeo wrote: »

But are you from the Ennis Rd? :pac:

The Ennis rd is a massive area where a very small section of it , namely the north circular road could be considered as posh/plush. The rest of it are housing estates such as Greystones, Clareview, Caherdavin which are 3 bedroomed mostly and in no way considered posh and certainly not owned by anyone who has the money to buy their children houses ...hope that makes it clear for you.

frozenfrozen

Augeo wrote: »

Some of the comments in here seem to be actually written by Blindboy, I wonder is he posting here anonymously ............. sort of like the plastic bag on telly.

Specifically call out which posters you think are BB posting anonymously

Cienciano

Noveight wrote: »

Criticizing ≠ begrudging. Probably suits him better that it does, mind.

I like blindboy, but I agree with you. It's as if we can't dislike anyone famous, if we do it's because they're successful. Some people dislike famous people because they think they're ****, simple as that. For instance, I really dislike Ryan Tubrity. Can't stand the guy. But I like Graham Norton. Surely I would dislike Norton more because he's doing so well for himself. Begrudgery almost doesn't exist, certainly not to the extent some famous irish people make it out.

The Moldy Gowl

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Specifically call out which posters you think are BB posting anonymously

Wibbs

frozenfrozen

frozenfrozen wrote: »

Specifically call out which posters you think are BB posting anonymously

Is that not against the charter?

Dannyriver wrote: »

The Ennis rd is a massive area where a very small section of it , namely the north circular road could be considered as posh/plush. The rest of it are housing estates such as Greystones, Clareview, Caherdavin which are 3 bedroomed mostly and in no way considered posh and certainly not owned by anyone who has the money to buy their children houses ...hope that makes it clear for you.

Hold on now Fred, I'm not alluding to anyone getting a house bought for them.
Private estates comprising of 3 bed family homes ......... what is the norm is that much of the kids grow up, go to 3rd level / do a trade / get a remotely decent job and go on to buy their own home.

Limerick house prices offer a great opportunity to do that.

Blindboy claims NONE of his friends/peers have done so, completely unbelievable and so utter horsesh1t.

frozenfrozen

Augeo wrote: »

Is that not against the charter?

Wasn't against site rules when the guy from fair city was accused of posting about himself?

You can consult a mod to ask but I would see no problem with you backing up the statement you already made by being specific about the posts here you think were written by BB.

Hector Savage

Christ he has a book !!

frozenfrozen

frozenfrozen wrote: »

....................

You can consult a mod to ask ..............

I'm hardly going to consult mod to see if answering a question YOU asked me is against the charter

Like, I know the answer to the question you are asking :pac:

The Moldy Gowl

Hector Savage wrote: »

Christ he has a book !!

Whats the problem with that?

Its a collection of short stories he wrote himself.
Heaven forbid he wants to do something creative on the side.

Boom_Bap

Mod
Please don't try to link any account here to someone in real life. It's against the charter.







Regards,

BlindBoy
Boom_Bap

Boom_Bap

Boom_Bap wrote: »

Mod
Please don't try to link any account here to someone in real life. It's against the charter.............

Thank you for the clarification.
I thought that was the case.

Billy86

c_man wrote: »

Ah that Willie o'Dea song was pretty funny. Problem for them was that there's a certain geographic boundary to how far jokes about Limerick and drugs go (things didn't work out on C4 for example) so no international breakthrough, and people here got pretty bored of the hole schtick. Yeah, we get it you singing about yokes and robbing stuff... *snore* So that led to the pivot to where they are now i.e. right-on, PC stuff. It's given them a huge new audience and devoted following.

I had a look at their Twitter during the last "controversy" about them. Wow. Apparently anyone who expresses the sentiment that they're not funny anymore is a right wing troll. Says them anyways.

What's funny there is I've shown a few Rubberbandits videos to people from outside Ireland, they absolutely love them and find them hysterical - Black Man and Horse Outside particularly.

Yet I don't know that I've met a single non English or British person who 'got' Father Ted.

Insect Overlord

Augeo wrote: »

what is the norm is that much of the kids grow up, go to 3rd level / do a trade / get a remotely decent job and go on to buy their own home.

Limerick house prices offer a great opportunity to do that.

Blindboy claims NONE of his friends/peers have done so, completely unbelievable and so utter horsesh1t.

"horsesh1t" indeed.

You must surely realise that there was a prolonged recession in this country which resulted in thousands and thousands of young people emigrating to Australia, Canada, the USA, Britain, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and elsewhere. Those of us who stayed behind in Limerick were limited to very unstable working prospects. Tradesmen were out of work with the lack of building projects in the area so the old reliable apprenticeship of the boom years disappeared too. Limerick City had an unemployment rate in the 20-27% range for much of the last few years. What cash-strapped financial institution is going to offer money to young lads who might only be working three days a week?

The Limerick Re-generation project ground to a halt after the initial stage where a load of properties were demolished in various housing estates. The promised new homes still haven't been built in any appreciable numbers.

Even among my own graduating class of newly qualified teachers (approx 400 young workers in 2010 when mature students are taken out of the equation) I'd estimate that less than 10% have homes of their now. The ones who do have mortgages are mostly married to other teachers, and I know from close friends that they still struggle to cover bills despite combining incomes from a traditionally "safe" profession.

I can think of 4 lads from my Leaving Cert class who became doctors and even they've been moving from one short-term rent for another while they try to get a foot-hold in different hospitals. Out of the 150 of us who did the LC together, I'd say maybe 20% are still living in and around Limerick. Everyone left when they had the chance. They're all in Dublin or the UK now, or on the other side of the planet.

Billy86

c_man wrote: »

Well a straight google search for Blindboy gets you his name and picture, among other details. So let's leave the anonymous thing aside as it's a non-runner, obviously anyone who's interested can seek him out. What we're left with is that the bag, mock accent et al is part of the character. You wouldn't seriously claim Shirely Temple Bar had the wig and all so yer man could shop in Dunnes in peace.

Question:

Both of these are extremely famous athletes in their own fields, but which one of them is more likely to be recognised on their every day routine by random members of the public where their sports are most famous, in a celebrity obsessed world?





Is it going to be the one everyone sees in a t-shirt and shorts, or the one everyone sees in a helmet with a visor that completely blocks out their face?