Stop addressing Politicians by their first name.

buried

Seriously, it's time to stop this craic.

These people are not our friends, they are not even our acquaintance's, they don't know us or our first name's so why do some of us insist on addressing them by theirs?

This whole modern trend of calling politicians and high ranked civil servants by their first names is a media spun PR gimmick, that is fair enough for the media crowd to call these people by their first names, at least they know each other. But the rest of us need to stop doing this ridiculous moronic gimmick. It does us no favour whatsoever. It feeds the politicians ego for doing absolutely nothing, and IMO helps them get away with the dubious $hit they get up to. You personalise these people down to a level of an acquaintance who you don't even know, they are going to have about as much respect for you as a piece of dirt on their shoe.

Stop doing this. If we all stop doing it, the politicians that feed off it will get a collective fright that will turn their brown paper bags white.

boombang

You've over thought that a lot in my view.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892012#Comment_117892012

Fair enough, but I think it needs to be thought about, and addressed. Its endemic in this country, and it is absurd.

seenitall

Yeah, I would have thought this practice more in the vein of “Paddy me aul flower, I’ve known the likes of you and your sihtebaggery so long and so well, I reserve the right to express this familiarity by calling you by your first name”, rather than “Paddy dearest, you have my utmost respect and admiration and that’s why I allow myself dare calling you by your first name”.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892051#Comment_117892051

Nah, this whole craic started with Haughey, and back in the day when nobody had a clue about his $hitebaggery, everybody was calling him by his first name. It's a media spun PR gimmick, and a lot of people have fallen for it. And make no mistake, the ones that utilise it, they love it.

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892041#Comment_117892041

I give them cutesy nicknames that I use to refer to them instead of their first names.

seenitall

Hmmm, going by the way people discuss Irish politicians in general, including what I’ve seen here on boards, I would very much doubt the above… if you look at it objectively, any reverence or positivity regarding them seem to be in short enough supply. But fair enough, you’d know more about the historical context.

alchemist33

You address me by my proper title, ye little bollox!

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892159#Comment_117892159

Would that be Mr or Mrs thirty three?

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892123#Comment_117892123

Well you could disregard the historical context, but it did start at that timeline, including 'Maggie' over in the UK, the most successful dodgeball to utilise this gimmick in the modern age before the current UK PM was Blair.

But disregard the whole historical political angle for two seconds, imagine somebody who you didn't know or even meet before came up to you and addressed you by your first name, seriously, what would you think? I'd be thinking "who is this dodgy gadge?" and I'd immediately be running away from the idiotic dodgeball. Modern Politicians view it no different. We need to stop doing it.

Annasopra

I dont get why "we" need to stop doing it to be honest. Its not a big deal really - of course some use it to their advantage but politicians use lots of things to their advantage.

Its not just a political thing really. Upto about the 1990s there was a much more formal way of addressing people generally - e.g. My neighbours used to be Mr and Mrs Murphy - now its Gerry and Mary.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892214#Comment_117892214

Thats odd to be honest.

If someone that I didnt know came up and said hello - I would find it very strange if they addressed me by my surname e.g. - Hello Mr X and I find it weird that you think its weird to use first names.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892257#Comment_117892257

Well if its not a "big deal" then just go back to addressing them how they were always addressed, no? What have you got to lose? "Tanaiste Varadkar" has a nice ring to it. At least give it a try and see what happens.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892268#Comment_117892268

Id be looked at like I had 2 heads!!!

That stuff is only for formal parliamentarians.

And seriously how many people in Ireland went around saying "Hello Taoiseach Lynch" or "Hello Tanaiste Lemass"

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892266#Comment_117892266

I work in a business where a great many people would know my second name, and address me such, its a professional courtesy and shows a level of mutual respect and professionalism.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892282#Comment_117892282

Thirty years ago that is how everybody addressed them, including the media.

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892303#Comment_117892303

Well thank **** we have moved on from then.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892436#Comment_117892436

Yeah because we are in a great f**king shape now aren't we? Politicians apologizing to their cult parties for making holy shows of themselves instead of apologizing to the likes of us who pay their wages.

growleaves

OP you are you overall correct it is a deliberate PR gimmick. However when James O'Callaghan was Prime Minister of Britain in the 1970s the press called him 'Sunny Jim'. He would have only gone by James. Culture in general has become more casual than it used be.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892558#Comment_117892558

Yeah I have no doubt it was deliberate PR gimmick. I used to work in media/communications departments in the late late 90's and this whole shtick was in full knowledge of what was happening at that particular time. This was all happening well into the eighties, that is when it really took off, you only have to look at the timeline, "Ronnie" Reagan, "Maggie" Thatcher, even Jimmy Carter had the namesake of "Jimmy" before Reagan, but Carter was and always will be remembered as "Carter". It was the eighties all this shtick took off, P.J Mara even utislised it for his boss Haughey. Alastair Campbell knew all about it's success as a political editor for British newspapers in the eighties before he spectacularly weaponised it for "Tony" in the late nineties. Culture has become more casual, you are totally correct, but this gimmick helped it. Because beforehand, no major nation leader was addressed as such, and leaders and politicians in general have a far more wider cultural importance and responsibility than we currently give them. This is why I feel this is important.

Strumms

Stop addressing politicians by their first name hmmm ? They are not our friends or acquaintances true.

but in a democracy we can choose to call them by whichever we like... fist name, second name, Mr, Mrs, Miss, horse, pet... the beauty of a democracy.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892646#Comment_117892646

That's fair enough, but democracy is also at its ultimate end, a total game. And you are ultimately part of that game, and you should play it to your advantage, not the politicians.

Gregor Samsa

I don't know, when I see people refer to public figures by their first name, it appears to me to be done in a negative, dismissive context.

When you see people referring to "Leo", "Simon" or "Tony", I don't think they're doing it in the context of regarding them as friends.

[Deleted User]

Is this a bit like when I buy or capture animals with the intent to turn them into food - that while I let my children interact with them and feed them and enjoy their presence for days or even months - I do suggest that they never actually give the animals a name?

While naming an animal does not guarantee a higher emotional connection - nor does refusing to name one preclude it - it has certainly been my anecdotal experience that naming them simply makes the eventual processing of the meat a moderately more emotional experience.

So I would not be surprised if PR tap into this tendency and try to humanise their charges more by using cutsie first names for them - Bartholomew Patrick Ahern springs to mind instantly - but I have no idea how deep or influential the effect actually is at the end of the day.

More and more I start to wonder if the joke in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy was actually on to something. There the citizens of the universe not only did not know who the actual leader of the universe was - the leader of the universe himself did not even know he was. :)

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892294#Comment_117892294

In a professional business context fair enough. The entire country isnt a professional business though.

But again I think this is VERY odd. A lot of businesses nowadays have moved away from formalities of the past in how people are addressed and what people wear.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892294#Comment_117892294

Sounds a bit dry and pre WW2 tbh but each to their own.

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117892214#Comment_117892214

I’d say “hello”.

buried

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117896608#Comment_117896608

Exactly, being casual in corporate business is a far different beast in the actual governance of a nation. It is far more serious and needs to be seen and addressed as such. A lot of the biggest corporate businesses today can afford to be totally casual in every single aspect as a lot of them produce nothing and also continuously turn a blind eye to any sort of societal responsibility that they may have. You can't adhere to that sort of casual lacksadaisy mindset when your business has the ultimate responsibility for the management of a nation and the tax paying citizens that exist within it. I mean, I see it as no coincidence that since this PR gimmick of casual acquaintance towards politicians came in over 30 years ago, a lot of the responsibilities and duties that these politicians have to answer for such as housing and health, these responsibilities have become so casual, they have been ultimately ignored and in turn gone completely to pot.

B.A._Baracus

So we should address them as Mr whatever or Mrs whatever? Feck that. That's showing them more respect than what they deserve lol.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117898554#Comment_117898554

The country isnt a corporate business

mikemac2

Rise up and follow Charlie! There haven't been any election songs in decades.

Oh OP, if anything using first names and nicknames was more common in the past than it is now.