How accurate is AH as a reflection of Irish society?

HughWotMVIII · 05-07-2016 01:16PM #1

I lived in Dublin for three years when I was in college and I have been planning on coming back for a bit more schooling but now I am not so sure. I was super excited too because I had such a wonderful time before but now, with the rise of anti-immigration sentiment all over Europe, I wonder if I wouldn't be better off staying closer to home.

I am a little apprehensive for a number of reasons, one of which is the worry that the anti-immigrant/multiculturalism sentiment expressed in recent AH threads is an accurate reflection of Irish society at large. The one thread I am talking about had a poll where a statistically relevant number of people voted - 63% I think it was - against multiculturalism.

As a foreigner, it's a little disheartening to read some of the stuff said on here. I've been on boards and AH for a while - I closed my old account and re-regged - so I know not to take everything quite so seriously but even then, it's hard not to wonder if it is actually how people IRL feel but can only say under the guise of anonymity.

So tell me AH, how accurate would you say AH is as a reflection of Irish society?

me_irl · 05-07-2016 01:17PM

Poll.

muddypaws · 05-07-2016 01:18PM

Go to the UK, they are much more welcoming and open to multiculturalism and immigrants.

The flying mouse · 05-07-2016 01:21PM

I don't know.

seamus · 05-07-2016 01:21PM

Nah, not very.

The internet as a whole tends to be more reflective of extreme views, the moderates tend to be largely underrepresented because they're not militant in their views.

The militant include the kind of pathetic individuals who'll continually re-register accounts after having been banned, or register multiple account in order to shout out anyone else within a discussion.

So threads on contentious topics - like immigration - often see an influx of shouty and angry new accounts who mysteriously disappear shortly afterwards.

Dublin, and Ireland, is more open to other cultures than at any other time in my opinion. But then I am Irish, I'm not going to encounter negative comments or looks.

HughWotMVIII · 05-07-2016 01:26PM

Sorry for all the reposts. Trying to delete them.

Skylinehead · 05-07-2016 01:26PM

HughWotMVIII wrote: »

Sorry for all the reposts. Trying to delete them.

It should be ok now.

HughWotMVIII · 05-07-2016 01:28PM

Skylinehead wrote: »

HughWotMVIII wrote: »

Sorry for all the reposts. Trying to delete them.

It should be ok now.

Thank you.

coffeepls · 05-07-2016 01:36PM

I think AH is like being in the nearest pub to a uni - well - it reminds me of the local pub nearest uni when I was in college. Loads of people with loads of opinions, not necessarily correct ones, often just pure argumentative for the sake of it. Enjoyable to listen to (or read in this case), and you can take it or leave it if you want to contribute. Best of all is you can just walk off if you don't like it.

Don't take AH seriously. It's banter.

beach_walker · 05-07-2016 01:37PM

How accurate is AH as a reflection of Irish society?

Not in the least bit.

PARlance · 05-07-2016 01:37PM

me_irl wrote: »

Poll.

Not another damn Poll, the country's full of them.

timmyntc · 05-07-2016 01:40PM

Multiculturalism is multiple cultures living side by side - which often leads to many insular groups and tense relations between them
If you integrate or at least engage with Irish values and Irish society I don't think anyone has any issue - and rightly so. If they still have a problem with you then perhaps the problem is theirs not yours.

If you were here for 3 years and enjoyed yourself then theres really no cause for worry.

Also yes, AH is in no way representative of Ireland at large. The internet is full of people shouting loudest, those with neutral opinions don't bother shouting because their opinions are, well, neutral/not strong.

The Moldy Gowl · 05-07-2016 01:42PM

After hours is the window lickers of Ireland.

No sane person would go into political threads and argue all day long.
Dublin is packed full of foreigners. No one really cares apart from 1 or 2 gowls.

How would I fare in your town?

HughWotMVIII · 05-07-2016 01:47PM

The Moldy Gowl wrote: »

After hours is the window lickers of Ireland.

No sane person would go into political threads and argue all day long.
Dublin is packed full of foreigners. No one really cares apart from 1 or 2 gowls.

How would I fare in your town?

Quite well actually. I live with two Italians, one Singaporean, and a Danish guy. Kigali is pretty good to foreigners. The numbers have quadrupled over the last five years.

recylingbin · 05-07-2016 01:51PM

HughWotMVIII wrote: »

Quite well actually. I live with two Italians, one Singaporean, and a Danish guy. Kigali is pretty good to foreigners. The numbers have quadrupled over the last five years.

Perhaps there should be a contraception awareness campaign.

s4uv3 · 05-07-2016 01:52PM

Nah Hugh, don't mind the hype. I'd bet it's no different to when you were last in Ireland.
The sound people are still sound

osarusan · 05-07-2016 01:54PM

Not at all.

It's full of anonymous blowhards and chronic moaners who love feeling persecuted, but in real life virtually everybody just gets on with things.

The Moldy Gowl · 05-07-2016 02:00PM

HughWotMVIII wrote: »

Quite well actually. I live with two Italians, one Singaporean, and a Danish guy. Kigali is pretty good to foreigners. The numbers have quadrupled over the last five years.

Mon over and we get a bag O cans, a spice bag, and chicken rolls and I'll show you some real Irish culture.

Get the bus to limerick, sit at the back drinking cans and go to costellos. Then to chicken Hut and we start some fights with some gowls for looking at you.

Sh1tbag OToole · 05-07-2016 02:02PM

HughWotMVIII wrote: »

I am a little apprehensive for a number of reasons, one of which is the worry that the anti-immigrant/multiculturalism sentiment expressed in recent AH threads is an accurate reflection of Irish society at large. The one thread I am talking about had a poll where a statistically relevant number of people voted - 63% I think it was - against multiculturalism.

As a foreigner, it's a little disheartening to read some of the stuff said on here. I've been on boards and AH for a while - I closed my old account and re-regged - so I know not to take everything quite so seriously but even then, it's hard not to wonder if it is actually how people IRL feel but can only say under the guise of anonymity.

So tell me AH, how accurate would you say AH is as a reflection of Irish society?

Be grand sure. The anti-immigrant crowd might be against the idea letting in hordes of people from Syria or whatever but I don't ever remember someone having a problem with a lad deciding to move over here from some far flung place and saying "feck it you don't belong here at all and you should get out"

The lib'rul anti-Brexit media in England are bitter now because they didn't get their way and are publishing every racism story they can get their hands on to help denounce the Brexit crowd as a bunch of racists but that doesnt mean things are getting worse

Mr. CooL ICE · 05-07-2016 02:05PM

It isn't accurate.

I have no powers over Irish society.

Fleawuss · 05-07-2016 02:12PM

AH isn't meant to be taken seriously most of the time. I don't even know what common definition there is for multiculturalism: most people I know in Ireland don't give a fcuk about what your culture is as long as you get on with people and you're not going around trying to make them live according to some rules handed down by some god or other years ago. Enjoy the rain. It has got worse.

Tombi! · 05-07-2016 02:14PM

I like the comparison of AH is like a pub.
Because in a pub you'll have the history buffs talking about if Stalin really was that mad of tyrant or if he a hero. You'll have the lads talking about the match that's coming up. You'll have the barman who's seen and heard it all.
But imagine in the pub, each group is divided. Say a group talking about soccer, a group talking about MMA, a group talking about films and then you have the big group that each of those groups get people from. That big group is AH.

So to sum up: AH is a pile of lunatics and sometimes the people here wander out into the wild. It's representative in about as far as 100 people are representative of Ireland which is based purely on luck.

Fleawuss · 05-07-2016 02:17PM

Tombi! wrote: »

So to sum up: AH is a pile of lunatics and sometimes the people here wander out into the wild.

AH is the wild: occasionally we break into the carefully tended gardens of the rest of Boards to cause trouble enlighten them.

The Moldy Gowl · 05-07-2016 02:21PM

And in this pub you have bouncers throw you out for saying a rude word.

Ah is not a pub at all. It's a school class with the students having a free class and are closely watching eachothers behaviour to tell the teacher.

HughWotMVIII · 05-07-2016 02:22PM

Nicolas Cage wrote: »

It isn't accurate.

I have no powers over Irish society.

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

HughWotMVIII wrote: »

I am a little apprehensive for a number of reasons, one of which is the worry that the anti-immigrant/multiculturalism sentiment expressed in recent AH threads is an accurate reflection of Irish society at large. The one thread I am talking about had a poll where a statistically relevant number of people voted - 63% I think it was - against multiculturalism.

As a foreigner, it's a little disheartening to read some of the stuff said on here. I've been on boards and AH for a while - I closed my old account and re-regged - so I know not to take everything quite so seriously but even then, it's hard not to wonder if it is actually how people IRL feel but can only say under the guise of anonymity.

So tell me AH, how accurate would you say AH is as a reflection of Irish society?

Be grand sure. The anti-immigrant crowd might be against the idea letting in hordes of people from Syria or whatever but I don't ever remember someone having a problem with a lad deciding to move over here from some far flung place and saying "feck it you don't belong here at all and you should get out"

The lib'rul anti-Brexit media in England are bitter now because they didn't get their way and are publishing every racism story they can get their hands on to help denounce the Brexit crowd as a bunch of racists but that doesnt mean things are getting worse

I've seen those stories floating around and heard of some from people I know - it's not just fear mongering. While it's unfair to say that all Brexiters are racist, Brexit definitely empowered the racists among them. I hope Ireland doesn't go that way in the future.

The Backwards Man · 05-07-2016 02:30PM

Unless you plan to spend a lot of time in the parental boxroom bedrooms of socially awkward and pathetically twisted keyboard warriors who blame all their failings on a word they can barely spell, let alone understand what it actually means, then you'll be grand.

Samaris · 05-07-2016 02:30PM

Tombi! wrote: »

I like the comparison of AH is like a pub.
Because in a pub you'll have the history buffs talking about if Stalin really was that mad of tyrant or if he a hero. You'll have the lads talking about the match that's coming up. You'll have the barman who's seen and heard it all.
But imagine in the pub, each group is divided. Say a group talking about soccer, a group talking about MMA, a group talking about films and then you have the big group that each of those groups get people from. That big group is AH.

So to sum up: AH is a pile of lunatics and sometimes the people here wander out into the wild. It's representative in about as far as 100 people are representative of Ireland which is based purely on luck.

I've always liked the pub comparison too, although it's like poking your nose into various different tables to stick in a post/comment, and then wandering off to the next one, and coming back when someone replies, so you can have several conversations at once. And there's some tables you're just not interested by and some that sound like they're about to become a riot at any moment, so you stay out of it.

The Moldy Gowl wrote: »

And in this pub you have bouncers throw you out for saying a rude word.

Ah is not a pub at all. It's a school class with the students having a free class and are closely watching eachothers behaviour to tell the teacher.

Eh, I think the bouncers are more watching to kick out anyone being a deliberate ass to anyone else so the majority can drink in peace :P

And not get sued. Since anyone can stick their head into the pub and take notes!

05-07-2016 02:31PM

Sh1tbag OToole wrote: »

The lib'rul anti-Brexit media in England are bitter now because they didn't get their way and are publishing every racism story they can get their hands on to help denounce the Brexit crowd as a bunch of racists but that doesnt mean things are getting worse

I'd love that to be true, but it's not.

Not all Brexiters are racists, but there has been a huge upsurge in racist incidents that can't be explained away by increased reportage.

steddyeddy · 05-07-2016 02:32PM

Not all Brexiters are racists but you can be sure most racists are Brexiters.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 05-07-2016 02:38PM

I wouldn't say it's accurate. Unless you're a traveller you'll be grand :P

Actually I think with the economic upturn it'd be less of an issue than it was five years ago. You'll always get your hardy perennial racists/xenophobes of course, but you'll have that anywhere

Arghus · 05-07-2016 02:44PM

I wouldn't say it's accurate even as far as a representation of the rest of Boards.

How accurate is AH as a reflection of Irish society?

So how accurate is it? 18 votes

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