'The Haunting Soldier' sculpture vandalised

Del.Monte

The lower end of the gene pool strikes again. :mad:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46302090

JohnnyFlash

Probably carried out by some knuckle-dragging moron from Eirigi or some other fringe Republican grouping.

Gatling

Stupid arseholes ,

It's a statute ,no doubt one of tens of thousands who claim their grandparents were in the gpo during the rising

Franz Von Peppercorn

Either a republican or a woke opposed to the lack of colonial representation.

Harry Palmr

Sighs. Red paint points me towards socialists.

chrissb8

How stupid can you be. Wouldn't you loved to have asked them what did they get out of doing it? Then the second they open their mouth tell them to stfu because whatever they say is a pile of s**t.

To think we were actually awarded this statue in a lottery of prominent countries. I hope whoever is caught has to clean it up in hi vis jackets in full view of the whole public on a lovely crisp sunny day.

Conall Cernach

A statue to a British soldier in the place of one of the key battlegrounds of the Easter Rising. Who thought it was a good idea to put it up there in the first place?

Gravelly

chrissb8 wrote: »

To think we were actually awarded this statue in a lottery of prominent countries. I hope whoever is caught has to clean it up in hi vis jackets in full view of the whole public on a lovely crisp sunny day.

A freezing cold, pissing rain day would be even better. I doubt the types that do this give a damn about being seen by the public.

vonlars

Conall Cernach wrote: »

A statue to a British soldier in the place of one of the key battlegrounds of the Easter Rising. Who thought it was a good idea to put it up there in the first place?

What makes you think it's a British soldier? 200,000 Irishmen fought in WWI. Should we forget them simply because of whose side they were on while fighting for peace?

Chips Lovell

Del.Monte wrote: »

The lower end of the gene pool strikes again. :mad:

Guarantee you there'll be at least some people along to defend this vandalism and rail about "the Brits".

Roger Hassenforder

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Guarantee you there'll be at least some people along to defend this vandalism and rail about "the Brits".

Copy and paste: something empire something west brits something imperialism something jingoistic something Irish times.

Trigger Happy

It was a very impressive piece that many people went to see. Certainly thought provoking for those of us with relatives who fought in WW1.
Numb skulls think it is provocative and needed defacing. Fck me.

vonlars

vonlars wrote: »

What makes you think it's a British soldier? 200,000 Irishmen fought in WWI. Should we forget them simply because of who's side they were on while fighting for peace?

"Forget" - ah, if we aren't glorifying the footsoldiers of the British Empire by dedicating prominent positions in our public space to them and the "We fought for the rights of small nations" myths of their British imperial society then we are "forgetting" them. How very Royal British Legion of you.

Moreover, there are infinitely more worthy Irish-born people to commemorate than those who fought to defend the very same British Empire that held all of this country under its boot at the same time. Preposterous to commemorate those people.

If I were looking for people worthy of commemoration I'd start with commemorating all those who fought, century after century, for the freedom of this small country from the British colonial jackboot.

Baron de Charlus

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Guarantee you there'll be at least some people along to defend this vandalism and rail about "the Brits".

It's always infinitely more bizarre that there will be some Irish-born people who want this society to commemorate people who fought for the British Empire, the supposedly "good" imperialists who only tried to help the natives wherever they want. Bless.

Harry Palmr

Deleted User wrote: »

"Forget" - ah, if we aren't glorifying the footsoldiers of the British Empire by dedicating prominent positions in our public space to them and the "We fought for the rights of small nations" myths of their British imperial society then we are "forgetting" them. How very Royal British Legion of you.

Moreover, there are infinitely more worthy Irish-born people to commemorate than those who fought to defend the very same British Empire that held all of this country under its boot at the same time. Preposterous to commemorate those people.

If I were looking for people worthy of commemoration I'd start with commemorating all those who fought for the freedom of this small country from the British colonial jackboot.

This mentality is hard to fathom, they fought in good faith (and for the money) in hard times. It would have been easy enough to have stayed at home and plough a damp stony field and those who went should not be assumed to be west Brits.

The country is still festooned with lumps of stone or metal commemorating the rising, they haven't gone away you know

Conall Cernach

vonlars wrote: »

What makes you think it's a British soldier? 200,000 Irishmen fought in WWI. Should we forget them simply because of who's side they were on while fighting for peace?

It is a representation of British soldier, that is very obvious. It's not a German, a French, a Turk, an American, a Russian, An Austrian or an Italian solider. There a dozens of similar statues up all over the North, they all represent British soldiers and they are not about the horror of war or the duplicity and lies that sent these men out to die. They are all about "these guys died for something noble" and that is utter ****e.

I would have been more accepting if the statue was something other than a great big British soldier. If the people that brought us this statue wanted to remember a generation that was murdered on behalf of the elite then there surely are any amount of alternatives they could have opted for.

Nice memorial to Irish-born British soldiers near it, commemorating those heroic British soldiers who fought bravely to maintain the British concentration camps in South Africa, where tens of thousands of women and children died between 1900 and 1902. It's no wonder when the British erected it even the Home Rule party politicians in Dublin termed it 'Traitors' Gate':




Oddly enough, the removal of this glorification of mass murder to fulfil the unrelenting political aims of the British Empire never makes it to the agenda of journalists in the Dublin media.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

"Forget" - ah, if we aren't glorifying the footsoldiers of the British Empire by dedicating prominent positions in our public space to them and the "We fought for the rights of small nations" myths of their British imperial society then we are "forgetting" them. How very Royal British Legion of you.

Moreover, there are infinitely more worthy Irish-born people to commemorate than those who fought to defend the very same British Empire that held all of this country under its boot at the same time. Preposterous to commemorate those people.

If I were looking for people worthy of commemoration I'd start with commemorating all those who fought, century after century, for the freedom of this small country from the British colonial jackboot.

I don't deny your passionate railings against imperialism and its advocates, however they're rather misplaced here.

JPCN1

What a cowardly form of protest. Wouldn't have the courage to stand in front with a placard and try to make whatever point they were trying to make. Sneaking up under cover of darkness tells you all you need to know...

TomSweeney

I'd imagine it was AntiFa scum.

HeidiHeidi

Maybe a (stupid) political point, or maybe the same sort of knuckle draggers that had to vandalise all those cows when they were placed around Dublin.


The mind just boggles.

Chips Lovell

Deleted User wrote: »

It's always infinitely more bizarre that there will be some Irish-born people who want this society to commemorate people who fought for the British Empire, the supposedly "good" imperialists who only tried to help the natives wherever they want. Bless.

If you could just see past your bitterness, you'd realise that there's a difference between commemorating ordinary soldiers who fought and died in that war and glorifying the empires they fought for.

WW1 was a barbaric slaughter of millions of mostly working class young men, lured into signing up to be machine gun fodder for the agents of imperialism.

It's a shame we can't commemorate those men without all the usual toxic vitriol.

megaten

TomSweeney wrote: »

I'd imagine it was AntiFa scum.

Do you want to shove the yanks into everything?

theguzman

When I saw this on the news there recently I said it won't last candle light before some scumbag does something to it.

Doctors room ghost

The pond rat who threw the paint on it should be chained to it like an exhibition so the public can get a good look at him.he should also be made write down his reasoning for vandalizing it and display that aswell.and if they are on entitlements from the state they should also be stopped considering they can afford to be buying paint and wasting it like that.

Harry Palmr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

This mentality is hard to fathom, they fought in good faith (and for the money) in hard times. It would have been easy enough to have stayed at home and plough a damp stony field and those who went should not be assumed to be west Brits.

In every empire's army, excuses can be made for the people who fought for it. Just as excuses can be made for people who committed crimes, without that uniform on, for economic reasons. Where does it end? Well, the answer to that seems quite clear: if they're wearing a British state uniform, they are worthy of commemoration in the eyes of the people who support commemorating the footsoldiers of the British Empire.

Sorry, I don't share that politics.


At the time, many, many thousands of Irish people refused that British money and Britain's latest imperialist war and chose to stay at home. They were not bought off, even in the summer of 1914 when people expected the war to be over within a year (not by Christmas, as is commonly claimed). It took much more courage and conviction to do that than to partake in a war which was expected to be over soon enough. Glorifying these people as "brave" or "heroic" because their reality turned out differently makes no sense.

Alun

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

WW1 was a barbaric slaughter of millions of mostly working class young men, lured into signing up to be machine gun fodder for the agents of imperialism.

and the majority of them weren't British either.

_Brian

Deleted User wrote: »

It's always infinitely more bizarre that there will be some Irish-born people who want this society to commemorate people who fought for the British Empire, the supposedly "good" imperialists who only tried to help the natives wherever they want. Bless.

My history is weak but while these men were fighting for the British crown and taking the queens schilling, hadn’t the British got their boot firmly on the throats of the ordinary Irish people - Or was that a different British that did that ?

And remind me how was their “paid loyalty” rewarded during the times of the Easter rising when we took a stand to have our country back.

I will not commerate, congratulate or mourn a single soldier that faught or fights for the Queen.

Having said that I wouldn’t condone the destroying of the monument, I would need to acknowledge it’s contex to lower myself to that.

vonlars

Deleted User wrote: »

"Forget" - ah, if we aren't glorifying the footsoldiers of the British Empire by dedicating prominent positions in our public space to them and the "We fought for the rights of small nations" myths of their British imperial society then we are "forgetting" them. How very Royal British Legion of you.

Moreover, there are infinitely more worthy Irish-born people to commemorate than those who fought to defend the very same British Empire that held all of this country under its boot at the same time. Preposterous to commemorate those people.

If I were looking for people worthy of commemoration I'd start with commemorating all those who fought, century after century, for the freedom of this small country from the British colonial jackboot.

Ah yeah. Sure the Germans would have been so much nicer to us than the British were :rolleyes:

RandomName2

vonlars wrote: »

Ah yeah. Sure the Germans would have been so much nicer to us than the British were :rolleyes:

Hush. He wants to soapbox exclusively about the UK because his only interest in life is a 32 county republic where the treacherous members of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail can be lined up against the wall.

Grayson

Deleted User wrote: »

In every empire's army, excuses can be made for the people who fought for it. Just as excuses can be made for people who committed crimes, without that uniform on, for economic reasons. Where does it end? Well, the answer to that seems quite clear: if they're wearing a British state uniform, they are worthy of commemoration in the eyes of the people who support commemorating the footsoldiers of the British Empire.

Sorry, I don't share that politics.


At the time, many, many thousands of Irish people refused that British money and Britain's latest imperialist war and chose to stay at home. They were not bought off, even in the summer of 1914 when people expected the war to be over within a year (not by Christmas, as is commonly claimed). It took much more courage and conviction to do that than to partake in a war which was expected to be over soon enough. Glorifying these people as "brave" or "heroic" because their reality turned out differently makes no sense.

It took more courage to stay at home than go off and fight a war?

TomSweeney

megaten wrote: »

Do you want to shove the yanks into everything?

AntiFa are quite active in Ireland, they are linked with Eirigi and socialist anarchy groups and have attacked people in Dublin.

BohsCeltic

vonlars wrote: »

What makes you think it's a British soldier? 200,000 Irishmen fought in WWI. Should we forget them simply because of whose side they were on while fighting for peace?

What peace ? Look at the state of the world now.

Gravelly

TomSweeney wrote: »

AntiFa are quite active in Ireland, they are linked with Eirigi and socialist anarchy groups and have attacked people in Dublin.

They are very careful about who they attack and keeping their face covered when they do it. Cowards, one and all.

The J Stands for Jay

Conall Cernach wrote: »

A statue to a British soldier in the place of one of the key battlegrounds of the Easter Rising. Who thought it was a good idea to put it up there in the first place?

Maybe have a look at the arch in front of the statue...

valoren

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

If you could just see past your bitterness, you'd realise that there's a difference between commemorating ordinary soldiers who fought and died in that war and glorifying the empires they fought for.

WW1 was a barbaric slaughter of millions of mostly working class young men, lured into signing up to be machine gun fodder for the agents of imperialism.

It's a shame we can't commemorate those men without all the usual toxic vitriol.

Precisely. The statue itself represents a returning soldier, the body language, his expression implying despair, sadness, trauma, dismay etc. It is certainly in no way represented as a means of glorification either for having fought a fight or for fighting for the 'empire', it is a dedicated memorial to soldiers from all sides of the war who died.

This was a cowardly protest conducted in the most cowardly manner possible under the cover of darkness by cowards.

Baron de Charlus

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

If you could just see past your bitterness, you'd realise that there's a difference between commemorating ordinary soldiers who fought and died in that war and glorifying the empires they fought for.

WW1 was a barbaric slaughter of millions of mostly working class young men, lured into signing up to be machine gun fodder for the agents of imperialism.

It's a shame we can't commemorate those men without all the usual toxic vitriol.

Ah your opponent's "bitterness", and your rationality. Give it a rest. There were plenty of other slaughters in world history but you're embracing one of the few which resulted in large numbers of British soldiers being victims rather than just perpetrators for a change. Why the moral selectivity about human death?

Should you take a tour around an Irish history book you might encounter some of these slaughters, carried out by the very British Empire you're trying to humanise here. Empires don't exist without their soldiers. You're trying, for your own political agenda, to separate them. Those people were not conscripted into the British forces, they volunteered and were well paid for it. The "following orders" Nuremberg Defence wasn't acceptable in Nuremberg, and it's just as unacceptable a defence for the footsoldiers of imperialist Britain as it was for the footsoldiers of fascist Germany.

TomSweeney

Gravelly wrote: »

They are very careful about who they attack and keeping their face covered when they do it. Cowards, one and all.

I went to school with a guy that was filmed attacking someone on a LUAS - he was part of the anitFa group


Wasn't exactly a tolerant chap, used to have all the n*gger jokes, also is a football hooligan, big supporter of a north dublin club associated with antiFa.


Would have been so easy for him to have become a far right neo nazi too,

He had a photo of himself on FB doing a nazi salute - years ago now, long since deleted.

different sides of the same coin.

Harry Palmr

Always beware the one note drum banger. Fuaranach should be outside the British Embassy with a placard or something.

Gravelly

TomSweeney wrote: »

I went to school with a guy that was filmed attacking someone on a LUAS - he was part of the anitFa group


Wasn't exactly a tolerant chap, used to have all the n*gger jokes, also is a football hooligan, big supporter of a north dublin club associated with antiFa.


Would have been so easy for him to have become a far right neo nazi too,

He had a photo of himself on FB doing a nazi salute - years ago now, long since deleted.

different sides of the same coin.

Sounds about right. The one lad I know of that has been involved with it is the son of friends of mine. Spoiled rotten all his life, got everything he wanted, but was always in trouble. Spent ten years in college at his parents expense, and left with no qualifications. Now calls himself an artist, while drawing the dole and pissing it away. It seems to be full of similar types - like a club for losers.

TallGlass

Conall Cernach wrote: »

A statue to a British soldier in the place of one of the key battlegrounds of the Easter Rising. Who thought it was a good idea to put it up there in the first place?

It's not a British solider, in fact it's just 'a solider', they tried hard to make sure it didn't associate with one side, it represents everyone.

If you want more information on it, then there should be a piece on 'Live Line' on the RTE website from a few weeks back.

Would be great if people actually researched the item they are about to vandalise, that said it could have just been a bunch of clowns just out to wreck it for no reason at all.

Odelay

[Deleted User] wrote: »

"Forget" - ah, if we aren't glorifying the footsoldiers of the British Empire by dedicating prominent positions in our public space to them and the "We fought for the rights of small nations" myths of their British imperial society then we are "forgetting" them. How very Royal British Legion of you.

Moreover, there are infinitely more worthy Irish-born people to commemorate than those who fought to defend the very same British Empire that held all of this country under its boot at the same time. Preposterous to commemorate those people.

If I were looking for people worthy of commemoration I'd start with commemorating all those who fought, century after century, for the freedom of this small country from the British colonial jackboot.

You’ve shown disrespect for men that put their lives on the line for what they believed in. They didn’t fanny about whining about a flag, they got in with it.
That deserves far more respect than you’ll ever achieve tapping away on your keyboard about something you have had no experience of.

Grayson

Grayson wrote: »

It took more courage to stay at home than go off and fight a war?

Yes - you can read, yes? The context of their making the decision to go to war in the summer of 1914 didn't entail much courage given the then strength of the British Empire and the anticipation that war would be over soon, not to mention the relatively good pay. Do you really think they would have been "courageous" if they knew of the deathtoll in, say, the Somme? Not to mention all the guys who were shot for deserting when the reality of this new type of war became clear. The answer to that question of their courage is a definitive 'No' because it's very noticeable that when the deathtoll became so high, the British couldn't recruit in Ireland. You're looking at the past from the vantage point of 1918 and projecting a whole slew of misplaced values on the guys who volunteered in the summer of 1914. Really poor history.


In contrast, the Irishmen who stayed at home in 1914 risked financial impecunity for their families and career advancement if the country remained under British rule when the war was over.

Harry Palmr

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Always beware the one note drum banger. Fuaranach should be outside the British Embassy with a placard or something.

Another devastating cliched response from a long-standing apologist for the thugs of the British Empire.

TallGlass

TallGlass wrote: »

It's not a British solider, in fact it's just 'a solider', they tried hard to make sure it didn't associate with one side, it represents everyone.

If you want more information on it, then there should be a piece on 'Live Line' on the RTE website from a few weeks back.

Would be great if people actually researched the item they are about to vandalise, that said it could have just been a bunch of clowns just out to wreck it for no reason at all.

For anyone interested I have found the archive of the 'Live Line' show

https://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline/programmes/2018/1107/1009323-liveline-wednesday-7-november-2018/

Under the heading 'WWI Statue', give the history of this statue. I found it interesting listening to it.

RandomName2

Deleted User wrote: »

You're looking at the past from the vantage point of 1918 and projecting a whole slew of misplaced values on the guys who volunteered in the summer of 1914. Really poor history.

Said without a shred of irony :eek:

How about you tell us again how the US were really the bad guys in WW2 because of the bombings in Vietnam (during the Vietnam War), or the UK in WW2 was the same as ISIS because they bombed culturally important German cities? If you didn't record it in print it would be hard to believe.

I think you should make some mention of the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s again due to its importance in WW1

bullpost

TallGlass wrote: »

It's not a British solider, in fact it's just 'a solider', they tried hard to make sure it didn't associate with one side, it represents everyone.

If you want more information on it, then there should be a piece on 'Live Line' on the RTE website from a few weeks back.

Would be great if people actually researched the item they are about to vandalise, that said it could have just been a bunch of clowns just out to wreck it for no reason at all.

A lot of geniuses around these days - Anti-homeless protesters occupying the offices of "Focus Ireland" , preventing homeless people getting access to the facilities the charity provide

Chips Lovell

Deleted User wrote: »

There were plenty of other slaughters in world history but you're embracing one of the few which resulted in large numbers of British soldiers being victims rather than just perpetrators for a change. Why the moral selectivity about human death?

Except nobody is saying "we should ignore all other slaughters except this one". The only person who's being selective here is you.

Odelay

Odelay wrote: »

You’ve shown disrespect for men that put their lives on the line for what they believed in. They didn’t fanny about whining about a flag, they got in with it.

Loads of people have put their lives on the line for what they have believed in. You might have missed the ISIL guys in the Middle East lately? Do you seek to commemorate them? If not, why not?

Odelay wrote: »

That deserves far more respect than you’ll ever achieve tapping away on your keyboard about something you have had no experience of.

Like the rest of the apologists for the crimes of the British Empire, you fail to explain why the footsoldiers of that Empire deserve respect from an Irishman who believes in the freedom of this small country from being ruled by that state, and occupied by its legions of footsoldiers who have garrisoned this island for many centuries now.

Your heroes; you commemorate their thuggery against my people and many, many other peoples across this planet to your heart's content.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Conall Cernach wrote: »

A statue to a British soldier in the place of one of the key battlegrounds of the Easter Rising. Who thought it was a good idea to put it up there in the first place?

Its a statue to remember all soldiers on all sides, its not a British soldier. Go visit it, or there's enough information online about it if you want to enlighten yourself.

Sigh.

Baron de Charlus

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Except nobody is saying "we should ignore all other slaughters except this one". The only person who's being selective here is you.

Yet there you are only seeking to give pride of place in our capital city to these representatives of the "heroic" myth nonsense of modern-day British nationalists. Why aren't you seeking to commemorate the Irish "fallen" throughout the centuries, who died at the hands of the same Empire, in such a prominent public space?

There are more than enough memorials in Dublin to those who died for the political aims of British imperialism.