The echo chamber that is The Journal

Horsebox9000

Hi all,

Posting this as I finish my coffee and feeling somewhat deflated after giving myself migraines from reading The Journal.

Does it seem to anyone else that the comments section is the biggest bunch of uneducated moaners ever who just like to give out about the government at anytime..

It's rare to.find anyone being positive and some of them go on like Ireland is a 3rd world country.

What really sticks out to me is the political echo chamber it has become
The "We need an election now" and "winds of change" comments seem to be posted ad nauseam and all lean (from what I can see) to.one side of the political spectrum.

Basically what I am trying to get at is what is it about this website that seems to bring out these comments. There has been one individual posting about bio metric cards for months on end but he still doesn't understand what bio metrics are even after it being pointed out to them a million times over

Geniunely not looking to put anyone down but more so just wondering is it only me who sees this? If so, am a FG blueshirt shill in that case? Seems any favouring of right leaning economics makes me part of the elite.

Cheers

H9

Edgware

Horsebox9000 wrote: »

Hi all,

Posting this as I finish my coffee and feeling somewhat deflated after giving myself migraines from reading The Journal.

Does it seem to anyone else that the comments section is the biggest bunch of uneducated moaners ever who just like to give out about the government at anytime..

It's rare to.find anyone being positive and some of them go on like Ireland is a 3rd world country.

What really sticks out to me is the political echo chamber it has become
The "We need an election now" and "winds of change" comments seem to be posted ad nauseam and all lean (from what I can see) to.one side of the political spectrum.

Basically what I am trying to get at is what is it about this website that seems to bring out these comments. There has been one individual posting about bio metric cards for months on end but he still doesn't understand what bio metrics are even after it being pointed out to them a million times over

Geniunely not looking to put anyone down but more so just wondering is it only me who sees this? If so, am a FG blueshirt shill in that case? Seems any favouring of right leaning economics makes me part of the elite.

Cheers

H9

The usual lefty shinner losers who think that anyone cares about their rants. Probably not even registered to vote

Fr_Dougal

The comment section is a direct reflection of the readers who are attracted to The Journal.

troyzer

Horsebox9000 wrote: »

Hi all,

Posting this as I finish my coffee and feeling somewhat deflated after giving myself migraines from reading The Journal.

Does it seem to anyone else that the comments section is the biggest bunch of uneducated moaners ever who just like to give out about the government at anytime..

It's rare to.find anyone being positive and some of them go on like Ireland is a 3rd world country.

What really sticks out to me is the political echo chamber it has become
The "We need an election now" and "winds of change" comments seem to be posted ad nauseam and all lean (from what I can see) to.one side of the political spectrum.

Basically what I am trying to get at is what is it about this website that seems to bring out these comments. There has been one individual posting about bio metric cards for months on end but he still doesn't understand what bio metrics are even after it being pointed out to them a million times over

Geniunely not looking to put anyone down but more so just wondering is it only me who sees this? If so, am a FG blueshirt shill in that case? Seems any favouring of right leaning economics makes me part of the elite.

Cheers

H9

Ireland is a country with a ring wing orthodoxy so ingrained as to be practically immovable. There has never EVER been a left wing government in Ireland and a lot of the failings of Ireland can be attributed to a slavish adherence to neoliberalism.

I'm not a Trot and the market economy has its place but it's incredibly frustrating when you get one right wing government after another ****ing it up.

Edgware

troyzer wrote: »

Ireland is a country with a ring wing orthodoxy so ingrained as to be practically immovable. There has never EVER been a left wing government in Ireland and a lot of the failings of Ireland can be attributed to a slavish adherence to neoliberalism.

I'm not a Trot and the market economy has its place but it's incredibly frustrating when you get one right wing government after another ****ing it up.

We really need the Albanian/Venezuelan approach which would be very successful if it wasnt for those nasty Yanks

Horsebox9000

Edgware wrote: »

The usual lefty shinner losers who think that anyone cares about their rants. Probably not even registered to vote

The article on Mary Lou going to the US that was posted today shows the irony in their comment
If it was someone else from any other party they would be branded fat cat elitists however when.Mary does this it's all rosey to attend this 500 dollar plate events.
Again not trying to belittle people for.their beliefs I just don't get what seems to be the huge amount of non critical thinking that takes place in these comment sections

Mad_maxx

troyzer wrote: »

Ireland is a country with a ring wing orthodoxy so ingrained as to be practically immovable. There has never EVER been a left wing government in Ireland and a lot of the failings of Ireland can be attributed to a slavish adherence to neoliberalism.

I'm not a Trot and the market economy has its place but it's incredibly frustrating when you get one right wing government after another ****ing it up.

Funniest **** I've read all week

Keyzer

Provide any type of online platform which allows commentary and it will always attract numpties - Boards is not exempt from this.

Great user name though OP.

Horsebox9000

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

The comment section is a direct reflection of the readers who are attracted to The Journal.

I try read as many publications as possible myself for what one could assume is a decent holistic view on current affairs.

silverharp

its only useful to play spot the typo. Its a bit of a monkeys and typewriters outfit, main job requirement is ,can you Copy Paste?

JohnnyFlash

Never read the bottom half of the internet.

keano_afc

Nobody bothers with the Journal anymore.

If it was an actual printed newspaper, I wouldnt use it to soak up dog piss.

troyzer

Edgware wrote: »

We really need the Albanian/Venezuelan approach which would be very successful if it wasnt for those nasty Yanks

One extreme to the other of course. Venezuela is a ****hole run by a madman. I don't want that. I want Norway and Sweden.

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Funniest **** I've read all week

What part made you laugh the most?

CrankyHaus

Unpopular opinion but... Is the Journal commentariet really that bad? I've never seen it as much worse than what you get on other Irish sites, maybe just different.

I'd argue that the most dimwitted commentators were on the Indo and Irish Times websites when they still allowed comments. Basically people's aunties and uncles gettting the hang of this internet thing.

Horsebox9000

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Unpopular opinion but... Is the Journal commentariet really that bad? I've never seen it as much worse than what you get on other Irish sites, maybe just different.

I'd argue that the most dimwitted commentators were on the Indo and Irish Times websites when they still allowed comments. Basically people's aunties and uncles gettting the hang of this internet thing.

I would half agree however the Journal still seems to be the worst of them in my opinion.
One thing that really sticks out to me is how people believe what is said in the comments reflect what the Irish population really feel.
I am just kinda in a weird awe when I see the same people everyday commenting and giving out every day on every single article.
Left or right. Surely that much negativity must be bad for ones life

Church on Tuesday

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Unpopular opinion but... Is the Journal commentariet really that bad? I've never seen it as much worse than what you get on other Irish sites, maybe just different.

I'd argue that the most dimwitted commentators were on the Indo and Irish Times websites when they still allowed comments. Basically people's aunties and uncles gettting the hang of this internet thing.

It's literally the same as what you see here.

Extreme ends of both spectrums.

Padraig Mor

troyzer wrote: »

Ireland is a country with a ring wing orthodoxy so ingrained as to be practically immovable. There has never EVER been a left wing government in Ireland and a lot of the failings of Ireland can be attributed to a slavish adherence to neoliberalism.

I'm not a Trot and the market economy has its place but it's incredibly frustrating when you get one right wing government after another ****ing it up.

LOL. Ireland doesn't have a single right wing political party that I'm aware of - not in the mainstream anyway. FF and FG are the 'rightest' that we have, and they are centre - left. How you could claim Ireland is a 'right wing orthodoxy' when we have possibly the world's most generous social welfare system where people are literally paid to **** out feral kids is ludicrous.

troyzer

Padraig Mor wrote: »

LOL. Ireland doesn't have a single right wing political party that I'm aware of - not in the mainstream anyway. FF and FG are the 'rightest' that we have, and they are centre - left. How you could claim Ireland is a 'right wing orthodoxy' when we have possibly the world's most generous social welfare system where people are literally paid to **** out feral kids is ludicrous.

It doesn't have a hard right political party if that's what you mean. Renua wouldn't be mainstream.

But in any other country in Europe, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both qualify on the Christian Democrat, centre right spectrum.

I have no idea how you can claim they're centre left parties. That baffles me. At most you could claim that Fianna Fáil has moved towards the centre under Martin.

Economics is about much more than social welfare payments. We have the smallest state in Europe when calculated as government spending percentage of GDP. It's actually the second smallest in the OECD ahead of only Chile. This is a right wing country.

Church on Tuesday

troyzer wrote: »

It doesn't have a hard right political party if that's what you mean. Renua wouldn't be mainstream.

But in any other country in Europe, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both qualify on the Christian Democrat, centre right spectrum.

I have no idea how you can claim they're centre left parties. That baffles me. At most you could claim that Fianna Fáil has moved towards the centre under Martin.

Economics is about much more than social welfare payments. We have the smallest state in Europe when calculated as government spending percentage of GDP. It's actually the second smallest in the OECD ahead of only Chile. This is a right wing country.

Well FF was always ever so slightly left of center they are "the Republican" party after all.

FG are right of center. Always have been.

But really at the end of the day, there is jot all difference between the two.

Mad_maxx

troyzer wrote: »

One extreme to the other of course. Venezuela is a ****hole run by a madman. I don't want that. I want Norway and Sweden.



What part made you laugh the most?

The bit where you uses the term "right wing" and Ireland in the same sentence

Grayson

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Unpopular opinion but... Is the Journal commentariet really that bad? I've never seen it as much worse than what you get on other Irish sites, maybe just different.

I'd argue that the most dimwitted commentators were on the Indo and Irish Times websites when they still allowed comments. Basically people's aunties and uncles gettting the hang of this internet thing.

It's bad. Youtube is worse though. Looking at some of the comments under news clips about brexit apparently we're all going to be living in s muslim superstate in 5 years.

Grayson

Mad_maxx wrote: »

The bit where you uses the term "right wing" and Ireland in the same sentence

Ireland has been right wing generally. Of course now the world is changing. Here I'd be a centrist, according to some on boards I'd be a marxist and the average american would probably think I'm Lenin.

Horsebox9000

troyzer wrote: »

It doesn't have a hard right political party if that's what you mean. Renua wouldn't be mainstream.

But in any other country in Europe, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael both qualify on the Christian Democrat, centre right spectrum.

I have no idea how you can claim they're centre left parties. That baffles me. At most you could claim that Fianna Fáil has moved towards the centre under Martin.

Economics is about much more than social welfare payments. We have the smallest state in Europe when calculated as government spending percentage of GDP. It's actually the second smallest in the OECD ahead of only Chile. This is a right wing country.

Within 2 pages my thread about the Journal comment section has actually turned into the Journal comment section.

Mad_maxx

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

Well FF was always ever so slightly left of center they are "the Republican" party after all.

FG are right of center. Always have been.

But really at the end of the day, there is jot all difference between the two.

All parties in Ireland espouse big government and come election, fight over who can spend the most, all support gay marriage and abortion, FF were traditionally the most socially Conservative but as they were as voracious of spenders as Labour, could only be credibly described as centre left, they were socially Conservative because the Catholic Church were so strong but the Catholic Church are hard left economically

As a people we love Big government and want the state to wipe our arse, love of big government crosses all sections of society

Ireland is a deeply left wing country

troyzer

Mad_maxx wrote: »

All parties in Ireland espouse big government and come election, fight over who can spend the most, all support gay marriage and abortion, FF were traditionally the most socially Conservative but as they were as voracious of spenders as Labour, could only be credibly described as centre left, they were socially Conservative because the Catholic Church were so strong but the Catholic Church are hard left economically

As a people we love Big government and want the state to wipe our arse, love of big government crosses all sections of society

Ireland is a deeply left wing country

Why is our government the second smallest in the OECD then?

blackwhite

troyzer wrote: »

Why is our government the second smallest in the OECD then?

By any sane measure it isn't.

You're just using a massively flawed measure based on GDP to paint a false narrative.

JohnnyFlash

troyzer wrote: »

Why is our government the second smallest in the OECD then?

Because our GDP is skewed by the presence of MNC's putting their sales through here.

Mad_maxx

troyzer wrote: »

Why is our government the second smallest in the OECD then?

We've a tiny military, in the nordic countries, people on low wages pay six times more in tax than someone earning below 25 k here, add to that you cannot be unemployed your whole life and still receive the same fixed benefits, travellers would soon start having smaller families in Sweden, in the nordic countries everyone is expected to contribute, the Paul Murphy gang here preach that certain sections shouldn't have to pay for anything

blackwhite

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

Because our GDP is skewed by the presence of MNC's putting their sales through here.

Govt spend per Capita is more meaningful barometer (but still skewed by the variances in cost of living between countries).

We're firmly middle of the pack (albeit slightly to the higher side) under this measure, between Germany and Italy

Mad_maxx

Grayson wrote: »

Ireland has been right wing generally. Of course now the world is changing. Here I'd be a centrist, according to some on boards I'd be a marxist and the average american would probably think I'm Lenin.

Ireland has never had a right wing government comparable to the tory governments in the UK, we are hugely generous with welfare, soft on crime and the government is highly involved in the economy

troyzer

I detest Paul Murphy and I agree that most of the Irish left has an awful approach to economics.

I accept that GDP is a flawed measure in Ireland's case. But how you can call Ireland a left wing country and also cite how massively influential multi national companies are in the same breath is farcical.

I would adopt the Nordic approach warts and all. Get rid of jobs for life, accept that our defense policy is freeloading, jack up taxes and start to actually do **** properly.

jimgoose

troyzer wrote: »

Ireland is a country with a ring wing orthodoxy so ingrained as to be practically immovable...

My dear chap, we don't even know what "Right Wing" is! What we have here is a sort of moderate socialist mish-mash with slight Right-ish tendencies, still licking it's wounds after the Civil war. :pac::pac::pac:

Cee-Jay-Cee

As far as I can see the typical Journalist commenter is anti-government, most likely on the dole and therefore takes every opportunity to have a swipe at the public service, didn't pay their water charges and thinks that every government department is corrupt and crooked. A real bunch of **** by all accounts.

jimgoose

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

As far as I can see the typical Journalist commenter is anti-government, most likely on the dole and therefore takes every opportunity to have a swipe at the public service, didn't pay their water charges and thinks that every government department is corrupt and crooked. A real bunch of **** by all accounts.

Thus far, aside from the dole part, you haven't excluded me, and I'm a Right-Wing Arsehole! :pac::pac::pac:

Rubber_Soul

troyzer wrote: »

Ireland is a country with a ring wing orthodoxy so ingrained as to be practically immovable. There has never EVER been a left wing government in Ireland and a lot of the failings of Ireland can be attributed to a slavish adherence to neoliberalism.

I'm not a Trot and the market economy has its place but it's incredibly frustrating when you get one right wing government after another ****ing it up.

We spend nearly 30% of our budget on social protection, over 20% on our socialized healthcare system, and nearly 15% on education. This is not the budget of a right wing
Government.

Edgware

Horsebox9000 wrote: »

The article on Mary Lou going to the US that was posted today shows the irony in their comment
If it was someone else from any other party they would be branded fat cat elitists however when.Mary does this it's all rosey to attend this 500 dollar plate events.
Again not trying to belittle people for.their beliefs I just don't get what seems to be the huge amount of non critical thinking that takes place in these comment sections

Mary Lou
Fat cat elitists

What are you insinuating?

dxhound2005

Horsebox9000 wrote: »

I try read as many publications as possible myself for what one could assume is a decent holistic view on current affairs.

Forget about holism. Your experience should have taught you that some publications are to be avoided.

tinpib

Ya, maybe when the whole commenting on articles started about 10 years ago there was novelty in it, but the Journal comments are very tiring at this stage. It's just the same ould heads spouting the same rubbish.

Same goes for Broadsheet.ie which was hilarious when it started and now I rarely visit it, the comments on there are torture now with a core group of the same people commenting on every article all day every day.

Think we are still in a golden age on Reddit though. It's not great for discussion but for LOL moments it is brilliant. The sheer volume of very, very witty people on there is mad.

troyzer

Rubber_Soul wrote: »

We spend nearly 30% of our budget on social protection, over 20% on our socialized healthcare system, and nearly 15% on education. This is not the budget of a right wing
Government.

The size of the budget itself is the problem. Our private healthcare system covers half the country due to how crap our healthcare system is.

I disagree that it's not the budget of a right wing country. The United States spends nearly half of it's budget on social protection and another quarter on healthcare.

CosmicFool

I deleted thejounal app and don't look at any news site anymore. It was the best thing I have ever done.

I rarely go on FB. Boards.ie is the only site I'd use frequently these days.

Diceicle

CosmicFool wrote: »

I deleted thejounal app and don't look at any news site anymore. It was the best thing I have ever done.

I rarely go on FB. Boards.ie is the only site I'd use frequently these days.

Are you me or am I you?

mikemac2

500 jobs for Dublin yay

Wave of bitter comments in the journal about their town getting no jobs.They have a point about regional balance but the way they say it is always so negative

jay0109

troyzer wrote: »

Economics is about much more than social welfare payments. We have the smallest state in Europe when calculated as government spending percentage of GDP. It's actually the second smallest in the OECD ahead of only Chile. This is a right wing country.

See, thats where your maths are shown up...right there

Dial Hard

troyzer wrote: »

I detest Paul Murphy and I agree that most of the Irish left has an awful approach to economics.

There was a by-election in my constituency back in 2016, Paul Murphy was one of the candidates and it was when water charges were pretty much his only raison d'etre. One of his pre-canvassers called to the door one day and we had the following exchange:

Me: Sorry, I don't vote for single-issue candidates.

Him: Paul isn't a single-issue candidate.

Me: What's next on his list if he manages to get water-charges abolished, then? And by the way, I actually support metered water charges.

Him (sneering): Oh you're a neo-liberal then, are you?

Me: I'm socially left but economically right, so whatever you want to call that.

Him: Ok, bye (walks off)

How to win hearts and change minds, folks!

jimgoose

Dial Hard wrote: »

There was a by-election in my constituency back in 2016, Paul Murphy was one of the candidates and it was when water charges were pretty much his only raison d'etre. One of his pre-canvassers called to the door one day and we had the following exchange:

Me: Sorry, I don't vote for single-issue candidates.

Him: Paul isn't a single-issue candidate.

Me: What's next on his list if he manages to get water-charges abolished, then? And by the way, I actually support metered water charges.

Him (sneering): Oh you're a neo-liberal then, are you?

Me: I'm socially left but economically right, so whatever you want to call that.

Him: Ok, bye (walks off)

How to win hearts and change minds, folks!

That reminds me of the time a few years back one of the local Sinn Féin boot-boys turned up on my doorstep warbling about taxing "the Rich". One interesting conversation later about who exactly "the Rich" were according to his modus operandum, and I advised him to get THE FUCK off my land before I fetched the constabulary. :pac::pac::pac:

CrankyHaus

Actually the left right thing in Ireland is so thoroughly confused that even our left wing parties cannot get a handle on it.

Taxes on property would seem like a very basic left wing principle.
Yet in Ireland they were forced on us by the troika of the IMF, EC and ECB (which is hardly the Comintern), pushed through and championed by the centre right FG and vociferously opposed by the "left wing" SF, AAA and PBP.

troyzer

CrankyHaus wrote: »

Actually the left right thing in Ireland is so thoroughly confused that even our left wing parties cannot get a handle on it.

Taxes on property would seem like a very basic left wing principal.
Yet in Ireland they were forced on us by the troika of the IMF, EC and ECB (which is hardly the Comintern), pushed through and championed by the centre right FG and vociferously opposed by the "left wing" SF, AAA and PBP.

Agree. I'm ashamed of my lefty brethren sometimes....

Most of the time actually. ****ing idiots.

Wheeliebin30

The journal is full of wasters and spongers who done nothing with their lives but have to blame someone.

The gubberment.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Wheeliebin30 wrote: »

The journal is full of wasters and spongers who done nothing with their lives but have to blame someone.

The gubberment.

It's always easier to blame others for failures than to look in the mirror.

It's human nature.