Off Topic Thread 4.0

Deleted User wrote: »

Newstalk is a real mongrel channel. Seems to be courting the right now but would have been one of the more liberal channels much of the last decade.

I think it's a terrible idea. The guy is a spoofer. He took a situation with a lot of anger between two distinctive communities and tried to drag it into the gutter for the sake of an already failed presidential bid. It takes a wicked kind of vanity to consciously stir and then stoke an issue just to make you look slightly better than your rich acquaintances that are also competing for the same prize.

There was a contempt to his comments after the campaign and a sincere bitterness that I'm convinced has lost him a lot of that 23% he pissed on the curtains to earn.

I reckon this has a decent chance of alienating a lot of Newstalk listeners, it certainly has for me. Worse though, it gives Casey a platform from which to launch a legitimate political career in the lead up to the next general. For Newstalk this fills the grumpy, older, tell it like it is, right wing, white male advocate, George Hook spot.

Hook was just too toxic for the station to stand by and in his attempts to alienate and offend large parts of society (for the amusement of a few) he ended up burning his wings and crashing out of media with a permanently tarnished reputation. I'd say he gets filthy looks in public, probably a fair bit of support at times too sadly enough.

Newstalk obviously feel there is still a market for that type of personality - but much like George, I suspect that they are flying too close to the sun for their own good with Casey. My hope is that this fails quickly, but lasts just long enough to similarly tarnish Casey's reputation.

Deleted User wrote: »

What he said about rape wasn't silly, it was abhorrent. Yes, we all need to be mindful of dangers - but that in no way mitigates or excuses a rapist, nor is rape in anyway a justifiable punishment for a women trusting a man she shouldn't. Regardless of the case it was about, it's an awful toxic mindset and far worse than 'silly'.

His comments on cyclists are similarly ridiculous and do nothing to reduce tension and dangers on the road. I read somewhere that the week after he called cyclists nazi's - there were two cyclists killed on the roads. The defence counsel representing one of those drivers a few months back made similar comments trying to blame the cycling - albeit the enquiry rested the entire blame on the driver.

He may say things in belief that there are no consequences, but he is very much responsible for spreading a lot of negativity which reinforces attitudes that blame women for wearing frilly knickers.

My comment on skin colour was a bit of an Americanisation, but young to middle aged somewhat angry white men are typically the target audience for right wing media personalities.

I obviously don't have your insights from travelling around Ireland talking to people about their opinions of George, but my circle of friends and acquaintances would be very familiar with him from rugby and Newstalk (some were coached by him in rugby) and each and every one of them have gone from tolerating him a few years ago, to dismissing him as his rugby commentary soured on certain personalities to actively disliking him over his rhetoric towards women and other groups.

I don't know a single person who isn't glad he is off the air.