Louise O Neill on rape culture.

mzungu · 15-01-2017 12:52AM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

But there you go - older family members have, in our society, a natural authority over younger ones, and this is instilled into everyone from a young age. So in fact, you're proving my point - if the two are the same, then being taught that girls go first as well instills the idea that as well as older people having a natural authority over younger people, girls have a natural authority over boys and are higher in the societal pecking order - all other factors being equal.

Two very different dynamics though. The adult (usually) has full authority over the child. For example, if a boy is asked to clean their room, wash the dishes or come in for dinner by an adult they will usually comply. If he was asked to do the same by a girl, there would not be a hope in hell of him complying with those commands. This is because he knows the adult is the authority figure to obey, whereas he would not have to comply with the girls command because there is no authority there.

So, even if he acts in a chivalrous fashion (opening doors etc) it is most likely that it is a case of fulfilling his role in the social contract, but this would not extend to viewing himself as inferior. If men had been brought up thinking that chivalry meant that women were better and an authority over them, then women would presumably have had positions of significant power in society as they would be the ones with authority over men? But this was not the case.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I can only speak for myself, but for me it caused profound resentment and a feeling that as a boy, I just mattered less. It didn't matter as much if someone physically hurt me, and girls were just to be treated like superiors just because they were girls. Messed me up for years. I don't mind admitting this now because I'm well over it, but I worry about other young lads having to go through this, particularly now in a world which is far more openly hostile to males in general.

From what you have described above, it sounds to me that it was more a supremacist mindset that you are talking about, rather than any kind of chivalry. Most chivalry (that I am aware of) is simply extending a few basic courtesies, but there was never any inference for one to feel inferior, or that they were of any less worthy as a person because of it. Put another way, it was just a nice thing to do. I am not discounting your experience of it BTW, just giving my 2c on how I viewed chivalry from my perspective.

That said, I do agree that nowadays it is a toxic environment towards young males (a lot of it coming from media) and I can definitely see how that would impact of them negatively.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

My experiences are purely anecdotal, but if you look at the rising number of guys subscribing to things like the MRM and in worst cases MGTOW etc, I think it's pretty obvious that there's a lot of resentment out there.

As the amount of men subscribing to MGOTW (and its related movements) increased over the previous two decades or thereabouts, chivalry (as we know it) was mostly becoming a thing of the past around the same time (possibly before). Why men are joining highly questionable groups like MGOTW is down to a myriad of reasons and could be a separate thread in itself.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

How are you supposed to justify or reconcile telling a child "men and women are equal and should be treated equally" but also that "women should always be allowed to go before men through doors, etc"? There's a fundamental contradiction there.

Assuming that these days most are raised with the egalitarian approach, then the contradictions have been ironed out (mostly). If you are referring to times gone past then I agree that there was a contradiction there, but it was more the idea that it had a negative impact on men that I disagreed with.

RabbleRouser2k · 15-01-2017 06:22AM

ivytwine wrote: »

Harry Potter is an interesting example in that it was written by a woman, but the most potent villain in the whole thing is a woman- Umbridge. She's far nastier and realistic than Voldemort. Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl, got stick for creating horrible female characters. More of it I say. More proper female villains!

This is one of the annoying things I see with villains in movies, at the moment. Well, with female villains, not male villains, though some really cool and complicated villains do often have to struggle with their feelings.

Anyhoo-there's been a real irritating spate of villainesses, in recent times where whoevers writing them has decided-'the reason she's a villain is cos of men...' and it's so lazy. IT's like, come on, write a better villain, for crying out loud. Like, the film Maleficent-made by Disney. They take one of Disneys' classiest, coolest villains...and give her a backstory, and now she's kind of a good guy, but not really...and it is ssooooo annoying. Maleficent is one of the most bad@$$ villains ever....to give her such a lazy backstory, and then rob her of that evil...with a 'rape' metaphor? It's lazy. It's sort of a corruption of the feminist ideology, that now it's 'all men' are evil. And its dumb.
Especially the fairy godmothers, who are just...they go from these caring, bumbling individuals...to just borderline single digit IQ.

The repeat of Oz the great and Powerful Wizard was on today, and I noticed that has the same laziness...'ooooh, the wicked witch became evil-cos...men'.

Or we get the 'she's angry and evil cos rape...no more writing needed, don't need to write anything any more-done' and that's the entire character motivation. A number of writers, male and female, have called out that story trope for the lazy hack job it is-it shows a writer's weaknesses where they stick out like a sore thumb. Lazy.

Sometimes there isn't a need to give a backstory to a villain-it's much better to just say 'they are evil, born that way'. It's why Michael Myers from Halloween (the original) was so cool-just born evil.

ivytwine wrote: »

Poor beautiful Brandon

And poor Michael Massee-always the footnote in that story, no matter the films he made, he never escaped it. Passed away last year from cancer.

ivytwine wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. It seemed to be a ****ty year for everyone! Hope you're feeling a bit better, or more level, now.

I'm taking it day by day-I'm just taking the medication, and trying to focus. It's been tough, but my mental health has always been an issue. Couple that with losing a pet, one we had bought before my father's passing-and what felt like a connection to him had been lost. Plus losing a pet is always devastating...and yeah, tough. Just wanted to see it end-the year and the problems. But I did need to just take some time off work and other commitments. It's improving-decided to take some time out, visit people, friends and so on.

ivytwine wrote: »

And you're right, outside of the Twittersphere, many women struggle with the balance between confidence and coming across as a bitch- largely created in our own heads, it must be said.

I find that those who don't realise they are coming across as bitches are never going to consider confidence or coming across negatively. And then when you talk to them, they don't realise why one is practically gnawing their arm off to get away. On the other hand, the considerate one...they could read the phone book and never lose your interest.
Like, for me, as a male, I do consider how I approach a subject or topic if I want to talk about it. If it's esoteric, I want it to sound interesting. If it's interesting, I don't wanna bore people. I'll even ask for advice, like, make sure I'm not going on and on. The one's who consider how they talk don't really know how interesting they are.

ivytwine wrote: »

Sinead is an example of that "messy" thing I was getting at. People do often lose patience with her but she is an example of what someone with a long-term condition can actually be like, and unfortunately that can mean self-destructive and not pleasant to be around. Some of the stick she gets though is very cruel and often comes out of the mouth of people who will then turn around and praise Bressie. (Not a criticism of him, but he does fit what maybe some would like to think as a "perfect" mentally-ill person; articulate, sensitive, and above all, not a "mess" in public).

Normally, well, with anyone else, I would agree-but the problem I have with Sinead is she is her own worst enemy. She's 50 years old, a mother, a grandmother, and she behaves incredibly immature. She snaps at media, people calling out her crud-I mean, starting a twitter spat with Miley Cyrus a few years back-only to call attention to herself and then make bizarre claims about legal action... no, I think many folks have quietly given up on her due to her attitude.
She's had so many chances to have an amazing career, and she's thrown em all away. It's insulting, to be honest, to not challenge her on her opinions-especially when so many others have asked for help and had to struggle to get it. She has all this opportunity-and just throws it away.
Even last year, when Prince died-she jumped on his death to make heinous allegations claiming certain individuals had supplied him with drugs-claims they were quick to deny and thus launched a lawsuit against her. It just seems like she's never learned-this kind of behaviour from a teenager would be frowned upon. From an adult its just unforgivable.
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ivytwine wrote: »

I didn't know about either Simon Young or Nikki Hayes. It's hard to know but I don't think Al Porter has faced much stick about speaking out about his issues, apart from the usual people who will call it attention seeking etc.

IT's not an easy interview to watch-anyone who has seen Simon throughout his career...it's hard to see him suffering from depression.

I remember seeing the actor Ian Puleston-Davies on the Late Late show. And it was quite a shock to see him outside of playing Owen in Corrie. He suffers immensely with OCD, has this Obsession about breaking his coccyx in his back-has spoken about having to walk around and check the set, before filming a scene (the Compulsion) to make sure he doesn't break his coccyx, with some actors having to reassure him. He would not even take a sip of water because of his OCD.

RabbleRouser2k · 15-01-2017 07:00AM

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/louise-oneill/louise-oneillmaybe-our-outrage-is-the-attention-trolls-so-desperately-crave-439045.html'

So LoN has a new article...

(On behalf of Millennials everywhere, I would like to apologise for the fact that you don’t feel able to continue to make racist, sexist remarks. Life is hard. We all have to make sacrifices.)

What is interesting to me is that the behaviour that Millennials are so frequently criticised for has its roots in a sense of empathy and kindness.

Really? Really? Kindness? Empathy? Like accusing an entire group of male individuals of creating a facebook page talking about girls and sharing images with zero evidence? Where is the empathy or caring in that?

For example, the concept of ‘safe spaces’ is often ridiculed, and these environments are seen as the refuge of those who are unable to cope with the rigours of the real world or those who refuse to acknowledge dissenting opinions to their own.

Writing for The New York Times, the journalist Judith Shulevitz said that “once you designate some spaces as safe, you imply that the rest are unsafe. It follows that they should be safer,” as if the hope of creating a safer world was utterly absurd, another idiotic pipe dream of those damn Millennials.

The lack of compassion that it takes to dismiss a person who has been so traumatised that they require a space in which they feel protected is astounding to me.
But these 'safe' spaces are just another way of avoiding the harsh, ugly reality of life-it makes things far worse. Remember the students who 'went home early' from college cos Trump won? That was just ridiculous.
That's the product of a 'safe space' fiasco.

In doing so, we have been called ‘dangerously repressive’. The irony of calling the people who are fighting against the oppression of minorities the repressive ones!

Imagine for a moment being a young, transgender woman and someone who is notoriously trans-phobic has been invited to speak at your university campus.

This speaker will address your peers and your lecturers, people whom you see on a daily basis, people you believe to be your friends, and this speaker will describe your very existence as an abomination against nature.

Does anyone really believe that it would be ‘repressive’ for that woman to stand up for herself and protest?

“But what about free speech,” I hear you muttering down the back of the classroom.

“Free speech must be protected at all costs!”

There is a huge difference between free speech and hate speech and those who have decided to use the mantle of Free Speech as their catch all response appear to fundamentally misunderstand the concept of censorship.

Minorities? Cis gender? She does know this is Ireland, right?

She also does not seem to understand that the downside of 'free speech' is hate speech, but one cannot, essentially police hate speech. Because what one person sees as hate speech someone else will just see as 'so what?'. Talking about genuine biological differences and issues affecting both genders is a good example, as you will see a lot of 'white privilege' thrown around as an argument.

Simon & Schuster’s giving Milo Yiannopoulos, the notorious peddler of hate-speech, a $250,000 publishing deal, The Late Late Show’s invitation of Katie Hopkins on stage to discuss the American election, the Irish Times’ publication of an article entitled ‘The Alt-Right movement: everything you need to know’; none of these were decisions made in the public’s best interest.

Let’s be honest here — they were all cynical ploys to increase ratings and online clicks.
See, this is where the term 'hate speech' is so liberally used it loses it's meaning. Milo Y has had his twitter account shut down, but no legal cases have come his way. Hopkins, yes, she's lost a recent daily mail case where she had to issue an apology.

And there she is, policing free speech. 'The publics best interest?' Seriously? Why claim to speak for the people? Let everyone make up their own mind on this lunacy. Free speech, my dear.

The last line tho-irony, LoN-she's done quite a bit of that herself, tbh. Shouldergate, anyone?

We have seen the damage that this kind of irresponsible journalism has wreaked in the UK and the US, resulting in the victory of the Brexit campaign and the election of Donald Trump, and the devastating normalisation of casual racism and misogyny that has ensued.

The Irish media has a real opportunity to ensure that the same does not happen here and it seems to be Millennials that are fighting to remind them of the magnitude of that duty.

It was not the peddlers of hate who messed up, it was the so-called 'Trump is evil, worse than Hitler' people who messed up in the US. Even actors such as Zoe Saldana have said that Hollywood, and the media, became bullies, peddling this 'vote for Hillary, she's so amazing' and attacking Trump so much, they created empathy for him. Dave Chapelle seemed to be the only reasonable person who spoke up and said 'lets see what happens, okay?'.That's why Trump won.

In the UK-well, a completely inept David Cameron practically handed the Brexit to Britain.

So considering those two failures, wouldn't won say that, like the beginning of her article, Millenials might just be that lazy and useless? Since they practically allowed Trump and Brexit to happen.

Maybe our outrage is the attention they so desperately crave, the attention that is as essential as oxygen to their very survival. But I would rather be outraged than apathetic.

I would rather be the sort of person who is horrified by injustice and who is determined to challenge bigotry at all costs than simply shrug my shoulders and ignore it because it doesn’t directly impact me or my life.

Isn’t it funny that Generation Me, the very ones who are accused of constant naval-gazing and self obsession, seems to be the ones who are more concerned with helping those around them?

Attention-oh Lon, you thrive on it dear.

And please, don't start on about your shoulders. Not again...

Again, no. When folks in college may very well have their careers ruined cos of a completely made up UCD scandal-no, that's not helping at all. When young men are being left behind, when suicides are on the rise and one is told to 'embrace feminism' to cure your ills. No, no, no. Not helpful at all.

suicide_circus · 15-01-2017 07:32AM

Stop giving this whingebag the oxygen of publicity for her badly written clickbait.

The Rape of Lucretia · 15-01-2017 08:10AM

Anyone else think that this hyper sensitive Generation Snowflake is actually harming itself with its safe spaces, trigger words, extreme political correctness, mental help support services obsession, etc ? That it is all counter productive, and the cause rather than the solution to much of their stress and feelings of victimhood ?

Is the sense of distress caused by the prominence of all these discussions, counsellors, support groups, and change actions ?

What happened to the school of hard knocks, or the university of life ?
Would this oppressed syndrome, self obsessed, eating disorder, discrimination paranoid, persecution complex, self educated mental health 'experts' generation, be better off if the whole discussion just disappeared. There is almost an expectation that if you havent got an eating disorder and are seeing a shrink about it, you arent facing up to the reality of your life, arent normal, and not a full person.
Better off instead if someone told them - hey, life doesnt always go the way you would like it to. Suck it up and get on with it.
I think many or most would benefit from it.

(and yes, quite aside from the message, LON's writing style is very very poor. Trinity grad ? Pheque sake).

ivytwine · 15-01-2017 08:39AM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

one of the annoying things I see with villains in movies, at the moment. Well, with female villains, not male villains, though some really cool and complicated villains do often have to struggle with their feelings.

Anyhoo-there's been a real irritating spate of villainesses, in recent times where whoevers writing them has decided-'the reason she's a villain is cos of men...' and it's so lazy. IT's like, come on, write a better villain, for crying out loud. Like, the film Maleficent-made by Disney. They take one of Disneys' classiest, coolest villains...and give her a backstory, and now she's kind of a good guy, but not really...and it is ssooooo annoying. Maleficent is one of the most bad@$$ villains ever....to give her such a lazy backstory, and then rob her of that evil...with a 'rape' metaphor? It's lazy. It's sort of a corruption of the feminist ideology, that now it's 'all men' are evil. And its dumb.
Especially the fairy godmothers, who are just...they go from these caring, bumbling individuals...to just borderline single digit IQ.

The repeat of Oz the great and Powerful Wizard was on today, and I noticed that has the same laziness...'ooooh, the wicked witch became evil-cos...men'.

Or we get the 'she's angry and evil cos rape...no more writing needed, don't need to write anything any more-done' and that's the entire character motivation. A number of writers, male and female, have called out that story trope for the lazy hack job it is-it shows a writer's weaknesses where they stick out like a sore thumb. Lazy.

Sometimes there isn't a need to give a backstory to a villain-it's much better to just say 'they are evil, born that way'. It's why Michael Myers from Halloween (the original) was so cool-just born evil.

I'm with you times a thousand on this. Plenty of writers have spoken out on this as you say, and I think that Maleficient and Oz The Great and Powerful will be long forgotten while the source movies will live forever.

There's that great Simpsons line that sums it up:
"Animals are a lot like people. Some of them act badly because they've had a hard life or they've been mistreated. And like people, some of them are just jerks."

And, far from rape as motivation, it's also been speculated that Rowling gives rape as punishment for Umbridge.
She gets dragged off by centaurs. In the classics centaurs rape women. And Rowling knows her classics.

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

I'm taking it day by day-I'm just taking the medication, and trying to focus. It's been tough, but my mental health has always been an issue. Couple that with losing a pet, one we had bought before my father's passing-and what felt like a connection to him had been lost. Plus losing a pet is always devastating...and yeah, tough. Just wanted to see it end-the year and the problems. But I did need to just take some time off work and other commitments. It's improving-decided to take some time out, visit people, friends and so on.

I find that those who don't realise they are coming across as bitches are never going to consider confidence or coming across negatively. And then when you talk to them, they don't realise why one is practically gnawing their arm off to get away. On the other hand, the considerate one...they could read the phone book and never lose your interest.
Like, for me, as a male, I do consider how I approach a subject or topic if I want to talk about it. If it's esoteric, I want it to sound interesting. If it's interesting, I don't wanna bore people. I'll even ask for advice, like, make sure I'm not going on and on. The one's who consider how they talk don't really know how interesting they are.

Agree with that, it all comes down to self awareness and if you're worried about how you come across you're probably coming across as ok.

I hope you continue to progress, it's never easy. Sorry to hear about your dad, and it's awful losing a pet, along with the expectation that you should get over it quickly. I've a friend who lost a cat her late dad named and that just brought back that another connection with him had been severed. It must be really tough.

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Normally, well, with anyone else, I would agree-but the problem I have with Sinead is she is her own worst enemy. She's 50 years old, a mother, a grandmother, and she behaves incredibly immature. She snaps at media, people calling out her crud-I mean, starting a twitter spat with Miley Cyrus a few years back-only to call attention to herself and then make bizarre claims about legal action... no, I think many folks have quietly given up on her due to her attitude.
She's had so many chances to have an amazing career, and she's thrown em all away. It's insulting, to be honest, to not challenge her on her opinions-especially when so many others have asked for help and had to struggle to get it. She has all this opportunity-and just throws it away.
Even last year, when Prince died-she jumped on his death to make heinous allegations claiming certain individuals had supplied him with drugs-claims they were quick to deny and thus launched a lawsuit against her. It just seems like she's never learned-this kind of behaviour from a teenager would be frowned upon. From an adult its just unforgivable.

I agree to a certain extent but that can be the reality of mental illness for some people; they don't have the self awareness to really recover. I guess it's similar to the smoker puffing away through a tracheotomy.

It doesn't excuse some of the really cruel comments she's gotten. I mean if you're fed up with her just don't comment or tweet her, leave her alone.

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

IT's not an easy interview to watch-anyone who has seen Simon throughout his career...it's hard to see him suffering from depression.

I remember seeing the actor Ian Puleston-Davies on the Late Late show. And it was quite a shock to see him outside of playing Owen in Corrie. He suffers immensely with OCD, has this Obsession about breaking his coccyx in his back-has spoken about having to walk around and check the set, before filming a scene (the Compulsion) to make sure he doesn't break his coccyx, with some actors having to reassure him. He would not even take a sip of water because of his OCD.

I remember reading about Ian Puleston-Davies and being really shocked, as he came across as such a tough guy on the show. But there you go. Must watch the Simon Young vid later. I was a little young for him on the Den but remember my mother saying how sad it was.

ivytwine · 15-01-2017 09:23AM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Isn’t it funny that Generation Me, the very ones who are accused of constant naval-gazing and self obsession, seems to be the ones who are more concerned with helping those around them?

Lol. I do like a man in uniform :P

The simplistic view of Brexit and Trump from some on the left is wearying. As you say Cameron handed it to them, but as a half Brit let's just say nobody who knows anything about England and the way the English view themselves could possibly be surprised at the result. (The Scots are more like ourselves, and voted remain).

I'm not as familiar with the US but Hillary did win the popular vote. Harsh as it may seem, an awful lot of people just don't care about these issues as much as some on the left wish they would; they're more concerned with their own welfare. I would never deny a trans person their rights, but I don't think I've ever actually met a trans person. And I'm a uni grad who had lots of gay friends in college. I mean Joe from West Virginia almost definitely hasn't. He just wants a job and that's what Trump promised him.

Safe spaces are a nice idea and all but unfortunately no space is safe.
60% of murders in America are committed by a person known to the victim and 60% of those happen in the home.

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/domestic-violence-murder-stats

I think why I have a problem with safe spaces and, by extension, trigger warnings, is that they play on stranger danger (the threat is "out there") and they also assume that there's one size fits all way to deal with trauma. Anyone who has PTSD will tell you it might not necessarily be the event, or talking about the subject, that sets them off, it could be anything. A soldier might be happy to watch a war movie, but if he was eating sausages on the morning he saw his best friend get blown up, the smell of those might set off his trauma.

It again paints everyone with broad strokes.

Wibbs · 15-01-2017 10:01AM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Let’s be honest here — they were all cynical ploys to increase ratings and online clicks.

She actually wrote that? Fcuk me, the lack of self awareness and irony at that extreme must surely be a syndrome or something? The article title alone would be diagnostic. Then again atomic powered narcissism is most definitely diagnostic of Chick Think(™). It's probably its defining characteristic and with that level of narcissism self awareness never finds fertile soil to grow in. Fcuk me. TBH I hope this is an act to get clicks, because if it's in earnest….

suicide_circus wrote: »

Stop giving this whingebag the oxygen of publicity for her badly written clickbait.

Aye, pay her the same heed as the Milo Snuffleupagus' of this world and leave the twitterexic to her coterie of equally addled supporters.

JRant · 15-01-2017 10:21AM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/louise-oneill/louise-oneillmaybe-our-outrage-is-the-attention-trolls-so-desperately-crave-439045.html'

So LoN has a new article...

(On behalf of Millennials everywhere, I would like to apologise for the fact that you don’t feel able to continue to make racist, sexist remarks. Life is hard. We all have to make sacrifices.)

Oh the irony is strong in this one. Articles like this just show how morally bankrupt they are. She is so busy fighting the "good" fight that her hypocrisy just doesn't register with her.

Nuance seems to have no place in her ideal world. It's like a completely foreign concept. Everything is so cut and dry. You're either with her or a bigot/sexist/racist/transphob (tick box as required).

That's the problem with ideologues, they see themselves as the guardians of the truth and everyone and everything else is wrong.

It's also abundant clear that she uses a hit list of words for every article and must squeeze every single one of them into her articles. Also composing entire paragraphs of one single sentence is really difficult on the reader.

deaddonkey15 · 15-01-2017 10:58AM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

Simon & Schuster’s giving Milo Yiannopoulos, the notorious peddler of hate-speech, a $250,000 publishing deal, The Late Late Show’s invitation of Katie Hopkins on stage to discuss the American election, the Irish Times’ publication of an article entitled ‘The Alt-Right movement: everything you need to know’; none of these were decisions made in the public’s best interest.

Who is she to decide what's in the public's best interest? I think the opinions and views of others shouldn't be censored to the general public. People should be able to take everyone's point of view on board and make their own decisions rather than be forced into this suffocating, sterilized, liberal view of the world being pushed by LON and the like under the guise of equality and free speech, where any opinions that deviate from the status quo are considered racist/sexist/misogynistic/islamophobic and so on. No wonder people decided to buck the trend and vote for Brexit/Trump.

If I recall correctly, that article on the alt right movement was an unbiased explanation of what it is and it's terminology. I thought Hopkins made some very valid points on the late late show too, but then again I'm a straight white male so what the f*ck do I know.

Call Me Jimmy · 15-01-2017 01:09PM

I had never actually read a paragraph of what she wrote until ye posted it. I'm trying to process that it was worse than imagined but the cynic in me says at this stage, she's doing reverse katie hopkins so i cant even be mad

Widdershins · 15-01-2017 07:42PM

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Better off instead if someone told them - hey, life doesnt always go the way you would like it to. Suck it up and get on with it.
I think many or most would benefit from it.

Yes. Some people need someone to tell them this.

Ulysses Gaze · 15-01-2017 08:17PM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/columnists/louise-oneill/louise-oneillmaybe-our-outrage-is-the-attention-trolls-so-desperately-crave-439045.html'

So LoN has a new article...

(On behalf of Millennials everywhere, I would like to apologise for the fact that you don’t feel able to continue to make racist, sexist remarks. Life is hard. We all have to make sacrifices.)

What is interesting to me is that the behaviour that Millennials are so frequently criticised for has its roots in a sense of empathy and kindness.

Really? Really? Kindness? Empathy? Like accusing an entire group of male individuals of creating a facebook page talking about girls and sharing images with zero evidence? Where is the empathy or caring in that?

For example, the concept of ‘safe spaces’ is often ridiculed, and these environments are seen as the refuge of those who are unable to cope with the rigours of the real world or those who refuse to acknowledge dissenting opinions to their own.

Writing for The New York Times, the journalist Judith Shulevitz said that “once you designate some spaces as safe, you imply that the rest are unsafe. It follows that they should be safer,” as if the hope of creating a safer world was utterly absurd, another idiotic pipe dream of those damn Millennials.

The lack of compassion that it takes to dismiss a person who has been so traumatised that they require a space in which they feel protected is astounding to me.
But these 'safe' spaces are just another way of avoiding the harsh, ugly reality of life-it makes things far worse. Remember the students who 'went home early' from college cos Trump won? That was just ridiculous.
That's the product of a 'safe space' fiasco.

In doing so, we have been called ‘dangerously repressive’. The irony of calling the people who are fighting against the oppression of minorities the repressive ones!

Imagine for a moment being a young, transgender woman and someone who is notoriously trans-phobic has been invited to speak at your university campus.

This speaker will address your peers and your lecturers, people whom you see on a daily basis, people you believe to be your friends, and this speaker will describe your very existence as an abomination against nature.

Does anyone really believe that it would be ‘repressive’ for that woman to stand up for herself and protest?

“But what about free speech,” I hear you muttering down the back of the classroom.

“Free speech must be protected at all costs!”

There is a huge difference between free speech and hate speech and those who have decided to use the mantle of Free Speech as their catch all response appear to fundamentally misunderstand the concept of censorship.

Minorities? Cis gender? She does know this is Ireland, right?

She also does not seem to understand that the downside of 'free speech' is hate speech, but one cannot, essentially police hate speech. Because what one person sees as hate speech someone else will just see as 'so what?'. Talking about genuine biological differences and issues affecting both genders is a good example, as you will see a lot of 'white privilege' thrown around as an argument.

Simon & Schuster’s giving Milo Yiannopoulos, the notorious peddler of hate-speech, a $250,000 publishing deal, The Late Late Show’s invitation of Katie Hopkins on stage to discuss the American election, the Irish Times’ publication of an article entitled ‘The Alt-Right movement: everything you need to know’; none of these were decisions made in the public’s best interest.

Let’s be honest here — they were all cynical ploys to increase ratings and online clicks.
See, this is where the term 'hate speech' is so liberally used it loses it's meaning. Milo Y has had his twitter account shut down, but no legal cases have come his way. Hopkins, yes, she's lost a recent daily mail case where she had to issue an apology.

And there she is, policing free speech. 'The publics best interest?' Seriously? Why claim to speak for the people? Let everyone make up their own mind on this lunacy. Free speech, my dear.

The last line tho-irony, LoN-she's done quite a bit of that herself, tbh. Shouldergate, anyone?

We have seen the damage that this kind of irresponsible journalism has wreaked in the UK and the US, resulting in the victory of the Brexit campaign and the election of Donald Trump, and the devastating normalisation of casual racism and misogyny that has ensued.

The Irish media has a real opportunity to ensure that the same does not happen here and it seems to be Millennials that are fighting to remind them of the magnitude of that duty.

It was not the peddlers of hate who messed up, it was the so-called 'Trump is evil, worse than Hitler' people who messed up in the US. Even actors such as Zoe Saldana have said that Hollywood, and the media, became bullies, peddling this 'vote for Hillary, she's so amazing' and attacking Trump so much, they created empathy for him. Dave Chapelle seemed to be the only reasonable person who spoke up and said 'lets see what happens, okay?'.That's why Trump won.

In the UK-well, a completely inept David Cameron practically handed the Brexit to Britain.

So considering those two failures, wouldn't won say that, like the beginning of her article, Millenials might just be that lazy and useless? Since they practically allowed Trump and Brexit to happen.

Maybe our outrage is the attention they so desperately crave, the attention that is as essential as oxygen to their very survival. But I would rather be outraged than apathetic.

I would rather be the sort of person who is horrified by injustice and who is determined to challenge bigotry at all costs than simply shrug my shoulders and ignore it because it doesn’t directly impact me or my life.

Isn’t it funny that Generation Me, the very ones who are accused of constant naval-gazing and self obsession, seems to be the ones who are more concerned with helping those around them?

Attention-oh Lon, you thrive on it dear.

And please, don't start on about your shoulders. Not again...

Again, no. When folks in college may very well have their careers ruined cos of a completely made up UCD scandal-no, that's not helping at all. When young men are being left behind, when suicides are on the rise and one is told to 'embrace feminism' to cure your ills. No, no, no. Not helpful at all.

Venom · 15-01-2017 08:40PM

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Anyone else think that this hyper sensitive Generation Snowflake is actually harming itself with its safe spaces, trigger words, extreme political correctness, mental help support services obsession, etc ? That it is all counter productive, and the cause rather than the solution to much of their stress and feelings of victimhood ?

Is the sense of distress caused by the prominence of all these discussions, counsellors, support groups, and change actions ?

What happened to the school of hard knocks, or the university of life ?
Would this oppressed syndrome, self obsessed, eating disorder, discrimination paranoid, persecution complex, self educated mental health 'experts' generation, be better off if the whole discussion just disappeared. There is almost an expectation that if you havent got an eating disorder and are seeing a shrink about it, you arent facing up to the reality of your life, arent normal, and not a full person.
Better off instead if someone told them - hey, life doesnt always go the way you would like it to. Suck it up and get on with it.
I think many or most would benefit from it.

(and yes, quite aside from the message, LON's writing style is very very poor. Trinity grad ? Pheque sake).

What I find most curious is how these most gentle of souls are ever going to mange to cope when they leave collage and enter the real world? The over the top and very public meltdowns so many have shared with us thanks to social media over some rather trivial matters for the most part, gives me good reason to believe they will experience similar events in every day aspects of adult life and the workplace when they have a bad day dealing with customers, work colleges and life in general.

The way some of these people lose all sense of perspective and rage like spoiled children make me wonder if the suicide rate is going to take a huge upturn in the next few decades!

Wibbs wrote: »

She actually wrote that? Fcuk me, the lack of self awareness and irony at that extreme must surely be a syndrome or something? The article title alone would be diagnostic. Then again atomic powered narcissism is most definitely diagnostic of Chick Think(™). It's probably its defining characteristic and with that level of narcissism self awareness never finds fertile soil to grow in. Fcuk me. TBH I hope this is an act to get clicks, because if it's in earnest….

Aye, pay her the same heed as the Milo Snuffleupagus' of this world and leave the twitterexic to her coterie of equally addled supporters.

The far left has the amazing ability to not only act in the exact manner it accuses its vile opponents of doing without the slightest concept of hypocrisy or self awareness of their actions but believes their fully justified in doing so.

RabbleRouser2k · 15-01-2017 09:38PM

Venom wrote: »

What I find most curious is how these most gentle of souls are ever going to mange to cope when they leave collage and enter the real world? The over the top and very public meltdowns so many have shared with us thanks to social media over some rather trivial matters for the most part, gives me good reason to believe they will experience similar events in every day aspects of adult life and the workplace when they have a bad day dealing with customers, work colleges and life in general.

The way some of these people lose all sense of perspective and rage like spoiled children make me wonder if the suicide rate is going to take a huge upturn in the next few decades!

The far left has the amazing ability to not only act in the exact manner it accuses its vile opponents of doing without the slightest concept of hypocrisy or self awareness of their actions but believes their fully justified in doing so.

'College'-a collage is a collection of images or torn up paper used to make an image. Well doesn't have to be paper-can be pretty much anything stuck to a canvas.

I'm probably being a hyper-sensitive snowflake, but it really does bug me when I see folks who are in college who cannot spell 'college'. And yes, I have seen this for myself, first hand. IT's darn tragic when the correct spelling is on the sign outside the door, and they cannot even get that right.

ivytwine · 15-01-2017 10:04PM

Venom wrote: »

What I find most curious is how these most gentle of souls are ever going to mange to cope when they leave collage and enter the real world? The over the top and very public meltdowns so many have shared with us thanks to social media over some rather trivial matters for the most part, gives me good reason to believe they will experience similar events in every day aspects of adult life and the workplace when they have a bad day dealing with customers, work colleges and life in general.

The way some of these people lose all sense of perspective and rage like spoiled children make me wonder if the suicide rate is going to take a huge upturn in the next few decades!
.

Not everyone goes to college though, which seems to be something that many on the left forget, for all the talk of privilege.

This stuff isn't necessarily widespread. A few people have made careers out of it, but I wouldn't say that people of millennial age are really less resilient than previous generations. Different times, but you do have plenty of under 30s who have found themselves in pretty awful financial and career situations who have just gotten on with it. And one thing I'm conscious of is that- for the likes of the Irish Times- it's very easy to lump legitimate criticism of how the under 30s have been screwed over by the crash in with "snowflake-ism". Might sound a bit conspiracy theory-esque but I don't think the constant pushing of "millennials, such whingers" ties in nicely with certain media promotion of a new property bubble. Basically, everything's grand now, so shut up.

Of course, people like LON really do make it easy for them.

OH! And EVERYONE should work retail. That toughens you up like nothing else.

RabbleRouser2k · 15-01-2017 10:54PM

ivytwine wrote: »

Lol. I do like a man in uniform :P

And that was a copy and paste job, by me-no typos on my part. All LoN's deal. Amazing she went to Trinity...I have to question her CV.

The simplistic view of Brexit and Trump from some on the left is wearying. As you say Cameron handed it to them, but as a half Brit let's just say nobody who knows anything about England and the way the English view themselves could possibly be surprised at the result. (The Scots are more like ourselves, and voted remain).

Yes, and yet, as soon as the remain side lost, or the Hillary camp lost-they quickly turned on one another. Even Obama was like 'well, she failed'. Now her loss is a lesson for the next candidate.

I'm not as familiar with the US but Hillary did win the popular vote. Harsh as it may seem, an awful lot of people just don't care about these issues as much as some on the left wish they would; they're more concerned with their own welfare. I would never deny a trans person their rights, but I don't think I've ever actually met a trans person. And I'm a uni grad who had lots of gay friends in college. I mean Joe from West Virginia almost definitely hasn't. He just wants a job and that's what Trump promised him.

Yeah, I think I may have met one or two, trans individuals I mean. As for gay individuals, yeah, met quite a few. Shared a flat with an openly gay person who was genuinely one of the soundest people I've ever met. I was pro gay marriage before the marriage ref, but there was no doubt in my mind that I was voting yes after meeting him and his partner. If I ever meet a woman where I have half of that kind of relationship, I'll count myself a very lucky guy.

Safe spaces are a nice idea and all but unfortunately no space is safe.
60% of murders in America are committed by a person known to the victim and 60% of those happen in the home.

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/domestic-violence-murder-stats

Yeah, safe spaces are little more than a place for one to go and not have their opinion challenged-and yet humanity has evolved because all of our opinions are challenged. Daily. Nothing would change in society if everywhere had a safe space. You'd just have a ton of LoN's who don't understand that not everything they say is sacrisanct.

In my college, there was a 'quiet' room-aka the prayer room. I often went in there and just sat down for a good 10 minutes or so when I was tired or just needed a break. Can't say that it was a Safe space, so to speak. But much better than one.

I think why I have a problem with safe spaces and, by extension, trigger warnings, is that they play on stranger danger (the threat is "out there") and they also assume that there's one size fits all way to deal with trauma. Anyone who has PTSD will tell you it might not necessarily be the event, or talking about the subject, that sets them off, it could be anything. A soldier might be happy to watch a war movie, but if he was eating sausages on the morning he saw his best friend get blown up, the smell of those might set off his trauma.

It again paints everyone with broad strokes.

Yes, most definitely. And the problem there is that there can often be this element of 'thought policing'. That trying to say someone is wrong for having a balanced, albeit different, opinion to someone is dangerous. I don't mean folks who are anti-vaccine, for example. Much of their info can be debunked fairly easily. I am referring, instead, to things like views on abortion, or education. Bot sides of the repeal argument could be accused of trying to distort facts on both sides of the argument.

I know warning someone that a film may have content they find upsetting is one thing, but then censoring it entirely is another.
And many of LoN and her ilk often want to do the latter. There are certainly films that I have seen that are very upsetting, for obvious reasons (The Accused and Deliverance, for example) but I wouldn't want to see those removed from netflix cues or dvd shelves.

RabbleRouser2k · 15-01-2017 11:49PM

JRant wrote: »

Oh the irony is strong in this one. Articles like this just show how morally bankrupt they are. She is so busy fighting the "good" fight that her hypocrisy just doesn't register with her.

Nuance seems to have no place in her ideal world. It's like a completely foreign concept. Everything is so cut and dry. You're either with her or a bigot/sexist/racist/transphob (tick box as required).

The hilarious thing is that when she wrote the article for the economist-the 'nuanced' feminism-she used nuanced so often you would swear it was the only word in her thesaurus.

I would imagine that she probably sees everyone as all the above. Darn tragic how blinkered she is.

That's the problem with ideologues, they see themselves as the guardians of the truth and everyone and everything else is wrong.

It's also abundant clear that she uses a hit list of words for every article and must squeeze every single one of them into her articles. Also composing entire paragraphs of one single sentence is really difficult on the reader.

I really question her motives-most of it seems self serving, the rest is fascistic.

Connacht2KXX · 16-01-2017 01:16AM

I try my best to avoid LON's articles for fear of suffering a brain haemorrhage, but I quite enjoy reading them every now and again. They're hilarious in their irony. I know I've said this ad nauseum, but every sentence that comes out of her is clearly plagiarised. No authenticity at all.

What is hilarious is her analogy about the transgender person (as if she actually cares about people in the trans community -> again, the only reason she voices this concern is due to her overhearing someone else speak about it). Anyway, she claims that trans people will have a mental breakdown if they hear a speaker put forward the argument that gender and sex have a strong, positive correlation and that gender identity disorder should be classed as a mental disorder. If someone does have a breakdown over someone challenging their beliefs, that points to 2 major things, 1. they have a mental illness, 2. they aren't secure in their beliefs at all and that there is some truth to what the speaker is saying which upsets them. I wouldnt get upset if a Bible thumping moron came to a college, say that agnostics and atheists will burn in hell, evolution is a myth, the big bang is a hoax etc etc because they have little to no evidence to back up their claims. My beliefs are founded on reason and logic and it will take a rational argument to change my beliefs. If someone presents an irrational argument, I will laugh. Freaking out over a supposed irrational argument indicates that your own argument has no strong, evidence based foundation.

Sorry for ranting and being very incoherent (didnt get my point across at all), but people like LON can't see irony when it's staring them right in the face.

RabbleRouser2k · 16-01-2017 01:21AM

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Anyone else think that this hyper sensitive Generation Snowflake is actually harming itself with its safe spaces, trigger words, extreme political correctness, mental help support services obsession, etc ? That it is all counter productive, and the cause rather than the solution to much of their stress and feelings of victimhood ?

Is the sense of distress caused by the prominence of all these discussions, counsellors, support groups, and change actions ?

Oh completely. And the tragedy is that when individuals who are suffering from mental health issues, like, genuine clinical depression, try to get counselling, they have to wait in line, because someone is finding it tough that Trump won, or that someone disagreed with them.
I know people who get genuinely distraught at crud they read on Tumblr or facebook. Not like LoN, for example, but its one thing to be upset by a disagreement with a friend, it's another to be triggered by Tumblr.
[/QUOTE]

What happened to the school of hard knocks, or the university of life ?
Would this oppressed syndrome, self obsessed, eating disorder, discrimination paranoid, persecution complex, self educated mental health 'experts' generation, be better off if the whole discussion just disappeared. There is almost an expectation that if you havent got an eating disorder and are seeing a shrink about it, you arent facing up to the reality of your life, arent normal, and not a full person.
Better off instead if someone told them - hey, life doesnt always go the way you would like it to. Suck it up and get on with it.
I think many or most would benefit from it.

(and yes, quite aside from the message, LON's writing style is very very poor. Trinity grad ? Pheque sake).

Tbh, most of us are accustomed to the school of hard knocks. Many grow out of the stuff they learn in college-mainly because they experience 'life'. So when one has to read 'the female Eunuch' or 'the male gaze'...they gradually realise it's all BS.

My own struggles with mental health taught me a lot about myself and certain issues, as well as noticing how it is depicted in mainstream media. Quite often, one develops mental illness the same way one develops diabetes-it just happens. Nobody's fault. But at times, folks 'want' a reason.

For anorexia, it's not about 'oh, I wanna be as thin as that person' it's more about control, something they can control within themselves. It can be a reaction to something (a sexual assault, or even being a loner), but not to a 'this is perfection' more along the lines of 'I'm not happy in the body I am in, I want to change it therefore I'll be happy'. But it's often more along the lines of wanting to not exist in that 'specific' shell. A soul transplant, if you will.

You cannot blame it on anything or anyone, since instances of it are recorded in times where there was no 'mass media' to influence body dysmorphia. It just happened.

On the other hand, you get the sheltered individual-the Una's and LoN's of this world. And when I say 'sheltered' I don't mean 'havent travelled' I mean they have not had their opinions challenged. I have and hold many opinions on many things, but I like to be challenged on them, as it forces me to research and discover new information. We already know the sites LoN reads-but I imagine she would turn to a pillar of stone if she was forced to read something like Christopher Hitchens, or Hoff Summers views on feminism. (I imagine she would burn the books, as one third waver did with H. Summers book).
Hitchens himself often referred to feminism as "A regression to infantilism"-and he was well versed in the movement.

We have invented terms like 'manspaining' (ugh) or 'reverse sexism'...seriously, the reverse of sexism is tolerance. So complaining about 'tolerance' is literally defeating the entire argument. Sexism covers all the bases, there is no 'reverse' of it. At least, not in the way they advocate.

RabbleRouser2k · 16-01-2017 02:26AM

ivytwine wrote: »

I'm with you times a thousand on this. Plenty of writers have spoken out on this as you say, and I think that Maleficient and Oz The Great and Powerful will be long forgotten while the source movies will live forever.

There's that great Simpsons line that sums it up:
"Animals are a lot like people. Some of them act badly because they've had a hard life or they've been mistreated. And like people, some of them are just jerks."

And, far from rape as motivation, it's also been speculated that Rowling gives rape as punishment for Umbridge.
She gets dragged off by centaurs. In the classics centaurs rape women. And Rowling knows her classics.

That's pretty ballsy too-like, it's essentially a kids book (no offense adults, I say this as someone who's got a massive Disney dvd collection).
To include an element of rape within the book aimed at a young audience. And a revenge rape too. Major credits.

Yeah, I'm a massive fan of mythology. Chiron the Centaur was the exception to the rule. He was calm, collected, and often an educator.

Agree with that, it all comes down to self awareness and if you're worried about how you come across you're probably coming across as ok.

I hope you continue to progress, it's never easy. Sorry to hear about your dad, and it's awful losing a pet, along with the expectation that you should get over it quickly. I've a friend who lost a cat her late dad named and that just brought back that another connection with him had been severed. It must be really tough.

Agreed.

Yeah, my dad's passing was almost ten years ago-but losing the dog, well, I dunno. Any loss, really, brings that all rushing back, again.
Even celebrity deaths, out of the blue, reminds me of all the loss and the hopelessness you feel in that moment.
But I've always been an animal person-when they are ill, I worry. And
And I felt I didn't really get a chance to mourn her passing (the dog) as work, and other commitments were happening, and I had to turn around and make excuses as to why something was late or I couldn't go to certain places, or even on a night out at the pub.
It felt disrespectful to my pet, and it also felt, at times, when I was mourning, that I was the only one who was. Especially considering how she'd been there through so much of the family problems. (Old age, so it was a good life lived).
And that made me feel isolated and at odds. But then my other family members opened up, weeks later, on their loss. Grief is a weird thing for many people. Hits at different times.

I agree to a certain extent but that can be the reality of mental illness for some people; they don't have the self awareness to really recover. I guess it's similar to the smoker puffing away through a tracheotomy.

It doesn't excuse some of the really cruel comments she's gotten. I mean if you're fed up with her just don't comment or tweet her, leave her alone.

Sadly, that's the media. Biased, opinionated, and quick to report lies months before the truth. The UCD 5000 (cos the number kept growing, so might as well exaggerate it) incident shows that.

Sinead has often been seen as our 'Michael JAckson'-the media forget that she has friends and family, and are quick to report stories that don't make her look good.

I know someone who experienced that-months before their case was cleared in court (not guilty, something to do with property), and they were found not guilty, when they tried to speak on radio, a week after a pretty heinous show went out with vile accusations hurled at them, they were told 'it's not popular now'. But people were still saying horrible things about them on the streets a week later.
Months later, apology issued, but that didn't take away the suffering and health problems that resulted from it. Even the kids got it.
[/QUOTE]

I remember reading about Ian Puleston-Davies and being really shocked, as he came across as such a tough guy on the show. But there you go. Must watch the Simon Young vid later. I was a little young for him on the Den but remember my mother saying how sad it was.

Yeah, he's been very vocal about his OCD-it was really bad for decades, like, affected his work. But he's survived it. Luckily. He's had some real struggles with it mind.

RabbleRouser2k · 16-01-2017 02:46AM

Connacht2KXX wrote: »

I try my best to avoid LON's articles for fear of suffering a brain haemorrhage, but I quite enjoy reading them every now and again. They're hilarious in their irony. I know I've said this ad nauseum, but every sentence that comes out of her is clearly plagiarised. No authenticity at all.

What is hilarious is her analogy about the transgender person (as if she actually cares about people in the trans community -> again, the only reason she voices this concern is due to her overhearing someone else speak about it). Anyway, she claims that trans people will have a mental breakdown if they hear a speaker put forward the argument that gender and sex have a strong, positive correlation and that gender identity disorder should be classed as a mental disorder. If someone does have a breakdown over someone challenging their beliefs, that points to 2 major things, 1. they have a mental illness, 2. they aren't secure in their beliefs at all and that there is some truth to what the speaker is saying which upsets them. I wouldnt get upset if a Bible thumping moron came to a college, say that agnostics and atheists will burn in hell, evolution is a myth, the big bang is a hoax etc etc because they have little to no evidence to back up their claims. My beliefs are founded on reason and logic and it will take a rational argument to change my beliefs. If someone presents an irrational argument, I will laugh. Freaking out over a supposed irrational argument indicates that your own argument has no strong, evidence based foundation.

Sorry for ranting and being very incoherent (didnt get my point across at all), but people like LON can't see irony when it's staring them right in the face.

No, I think I get you. Sometimes reading her articles gives you the equivalent of feeling your IQ slowly dying.
Physically feeling the brain cells die.

I think that reference to the trans person is to do with Milo calling out a rather histrionic trans student. Like, this said person was often being a victim for the sake of being a victim. Wanted to use the girls showers, but hadn't begun transitioning or taking hormones-then began making all sorts of claims when she didn't get her way.

There is often a third reason-they don't have the research that can actually debunk or refute even an iota of the persons argument. It's amazing that some people won't even read a book on anything that doesn't strengthen their sheltered ideology.

Anyone who comes to a place with an argument that states 'your opinion is wrong' loses me. It can be the bible thumper, as you mention, or it could be the atheist stating 'you're all idiots'. Dawkins, for example, has often been called out for pushing people away from his cause for mocking individuals beliefs, with folks like Neil Degrasse Tyson stating he could bring more people in if he changed how he presented his argument.
But the atheist movement, including Pharyngula, lost a great deal of momentum in a short span of time. The loss of Hitchens was a massive blow as well.
My own spiritual beliefs are opposite to Dawkins and Hitchens, but I had a great deal of respect for the latter.

LoN would absolutely despise them tho. As would Una. They have often been very vocal on their opinions of gender and feminism.
Most trans folks don't want to make a fuss, they do it for themselves. It's about feeling comfortable in one's body. But statements made against them...I have a problem with that.

RabbleRouser2k · 17-01-2017 01:28AM

The Irish Examiner, the gift that keeps on giving-poor Gwen Loughman had a freudian slip here.

"Blindboy Boatclub of the Rubberbandits, never backward in coming forward, attracted a lot of positive feedback on Twitter and other social media platforms following his appearance on The Late Late Show.

His thoughts on the social issues that modern day Ireland is experiencing along with his views on mental health and feminism, led to many suggesting he run for Taoiseach.

“The fact of the matter is that it (feminism) is a patriarchal attitude which is no longer relevant to us in the 21st century.”

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/meet-eight-irish-heroes-who-stood-out-in-2016-439247.html

It's sad that they listed BBBC as 'one of the eight Irish heroes' especially in comparison to the others on the list.

orubiru · 17-01-2017 10:12AM

RabbleRouser2k wrote: »

The Irish Examiner, the gift that keeps on giving-poor Gwen Loughman had a freudian slip here.

"Blindboy Boatclub of the Rubberbandits, never backward in coming forward, attracted a lot of positive feedback on Twitter and other social media platforms following his appearance on The Late Late Show.

His thoughts on the social issues that modern day Ireland is experiencing along with his views on mental health and feminism, led to many suggesting he run for Taoiseach.

“The fact of the matter is that it (feminism) is a patriarchal attitude which is no longer relevant to us in the 21st century.”

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/features/meet-eight-irish-heroes-who-stood-out-in-2016-439247.html

It's sad that they listed BBBC as 'one of the eight Irish heroes' especially in comparison to the others on the list.

Wow. 8 Irish Heroes listed and only 1 of them is a woman.

Hahahaha. The Irish Examiner publishes all these articles where Louise O'Neill gets into her opinions on Feminism, and how it can benefit society BUT puts a man on their "Irish Heroes" list for basically saying "Feminism is good for everyone".

Can we assume that 87.5% of Irish Heroes are male?

I think we need equality there. I think we need Feminism. Am I on the list now?

“A lot of the mental health issues…are happening with young men. I personally think that what these young men need is feminism.”

Riiiiight... how can we deal with mental health issues for young men? What's that Blindboy? Just apply Feminism and it's all be grand. Why didn't we think of this logical and totally scientifically supported solution before? That's it! He solved it!

Guys just accept Jesus Feminism into your hearts and all your troubles will just melt away. Depressed? You just need Feminism. Suicidal? Feminism will fix you right up. Broke? Unemployed? Neglected? Unappreciated? Abused? Don't underestimate the power of prayer Feminism.

A true Irish Hero. Spreading the new gospel.

It's kind of embarrassing.

Hero 1 : Saved 8 kids from drowning.
Hero 2 : Gave free taxi rides to raise money for suicide prevention.
Hero 3 : Saved a 5 month old baby from a sinking car.
Hero 4 : Established a treatment center for those struggling with addiction (the only female hero on the list).
Hero 5 : Won Olympic medals for Ireland.
Hero 6 : Made some music and got a record deal (wtf? why is this heroic)
Hero 7 : 11 year old kid raising a large amount of money for charity.

And finally...

Hero 8 : Some guy in a mask who said Feminism is for everyone.

I think what we really need is an article by LON criticizing the Irish Examiner for...

1. Having an Irish Heroes list that has a 7 to 1 male to female ratio.

2. Rushing to jerk off a guy who basically just said "feminism is good" on TV once while there are women who work all day everyday to spread the good word about feminism.

I don't see how she could NOT write that article.

py2006 · 17-01-2017 11:04AM

orubiru wrote: »

I don't see how she could NOT write that article.[/B]

Patience

The_Captain · 17-01-2017 12:37PM

I don't take life advice from a man wearing a Spar bag on his head.

It doesn't help that his actual advice is like something a 14 year old would come up with.

deaddonkey15 · 17-01-2017 06:22PM

The_Captain wrote: »

I don't take life advice from a man wearing a Spar bag on his head.

It doesn't help that his actual advice is like something a 14 year old would come up with.

They stopped being funny years ago. Then they sold out to RTE and now that clown is a self appointed voice for the youth of Ireland to try and stay relevant.

donkeykong5 · 17-01-2017 06:27PM

They were in uk last year. People thought they were nutters.

RabbleRouser2k · 18-01-2017 12:45AM

It's been some time since 'Horse Outside' tbf...

The problem with the RB's is that comedy often doesn't travel. And the RB's are, essentially, localized to Ireland, and even more so, localized to Limerick.
You plonk that down in Britain, they'll be like 'you 'avin a laugh mate?'.

Fr Ted travelled well because everyone knows that society and the eejity stuff they got themselves stuck in. I hate Mrs Browns Boys, but the success of it in the UK means it connects with audiences and people in the UK. So it travels well.

RB have a short success span, to be quite honest. Times change, things move on. Roddy Doyle was everywhere in the 90s, but by the time the 00's came along, he wasn't garnering the same attention any more.

RabbleRouser2k · 19-01-2017 01:51AM

http://www.independent.ie/style/voices/jedwards-john-was-sexually-assaulted-on-a-national-tv-show-so-why-does-no-one-care-35377587.html

I would very much wonder if LoN would even attempt to defend this 'CBB' assault. As Brian O'Reilly noted, if a man had done something similar, he would have been thrown off the show-career in ruins. This 'ladette' has no career, mind, but it's equally disturbing. So a casual sexual assault gets broadcast on live TV (apparently, according to comments on the article, there was another incident of a woman grabbing Calum Best's junk) and also we have a friend of hers 'egging her on'...coupled with this Chloe idiot saying 'This is what you call a real girl, that's a real woman's bum.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4131552/Chloe-Ferry-s-ample-assets-pop-dress-CBB.html#ixzz4WATQbltn

Now reverse the genders here-say that a man began rubbing his uncovered (as in not covered by a towel) penis on the back of an unsuspecting woman, then proceeded to say 'This is what you call a real man, this is is a real man's c***', while his friend was like 'get her Jimmy' (Jimmy is just a name I picked, don't exist), would the news be so quiet? Hell no!!! All hellfire would rain down upon him, he would have quickly shoved out of the show, apologies would be made, compensation would be paid, Heads would roll, and the house of Lords would get involved. And righly so.

Then we'd have the 'get her Jimmy' guy making apologies, apologising to the woman, and so on'.

But that would be if it were a man doing it to a woman...nothing is said if the genders are reversed. Says it all really.

Louise O Neill on rape culture.

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