Is boards.ie a home for the middle class?

evolving_doors · 29-04-2015 08:06AM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Sarah the Nurse Tom the Garda ?

naa, the op mentioned wealthy middle class, so thats definitely private sector

tritium · 29-04-2015 08:14AM

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

One thing I've learned from AH is that if you are poor or on the dole it's your own fault for being such a lazy freeloader.

Or if you're earning a half decent wage you're a parasite who should flog yourself and wear sackcloth while paying 90%tax....

Or if you work in certain jobs its all your fault that the country is down the toilet...

Boards can often seem like a wash, rinse, repeat of the same complaints directed at whichever group is flavour of the month at present

whatismyname · 29-04-2015 08:21AM

I'm definitely working class, although less so than when I was growing up... Interesting observation OP, I don't think I ever really give any conscious thought to class etc. People yes, and what they're like, their characteristics etc, but class wouldn't even come into it for me.

Citroen2cv · 29-04-2015 08:26AM

Oh there you go, bringing class into it again.

Wang King · 29-04-2015 08:29AM

LadyAthame wrote: »

It falls from the sky and we pee it.

I'll be around for a cup of your finest morning brew!

Yuri Checkov · 29-04-2015 09:12AM

Boards.ie is the home of the rabid shinnerbot types that subsist at the public's expense.

cloud493 · 29-04-2015 09:14AM

I'm working class, but would generally have somewhat left of centre political beliefs, so to speak.

who the fug · 29-04-2015 09:15AM

porsche959 wrote: »

There are a number of very vocal posters with very right wing opinions. They are not representative of the silent (or not so silent) majority.

There are a number of very vocal posters with very left wing opinions. They are not representative of the silent (or not so silent) majority

Eugene Norman · 29-04-2015 09:22AM

who the fug wrote: »

There are a number of very vocal posters with very left wing opinions. They are not representative of the silent (or not so silent) majority

Boards is more hostile to the water charge protestors than the water charges, the reverse of real life opinion.

It also has a crazy number of libertarians. I mean if I owned a pub with the countries smallest snug and the libertarian party of Ireland wanted their annual do, I'd close down half the snug and give them the rest.

Here they dominate politics. Particularly Permabear and his permabots.

KomradeBishop · 29-04-2015 09:29AM

While I wouldn't say any one person leads with Lib posters, they do definitely have a disproportionate presence on Politics for sure - and I personally think that discourse in those forums is heavily politically skewed.

I recently privately queried if I could post in Politics Cafe, and was told that I can if I do not mention my own MMT economic/political views - so there is also indirect political censorship on Boards as well (mods/admins genuinely don't view it that way mind - I think there is a lot of groupthink behind the scenes, which skews how quality of discourse on the forum is viewed).

who the fug · 29-04-2015 09:31AM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Boards is more hostile to the water charge protestors than the water charges, the reverse of real life opinion.

It also has a crazy number of libertarians. I mean if I owned a pub with the countries smallest snug and the libertarian party of Ireland wanted their annual do, I'd close down half the snug and give them the rest.

Here they dominate politics. Particularly Permabear and his permabots.

So all them right wing nuts are voting for Labour on the UK election thread?

Huntergonzo · 29-04-2015 09:37AM

I'm certainly not middle class, I would be above that to be fair, for me it's champagne, cigars and crab claws.

julie385 · 29-04-2015 09:37AM

porsche959 wrote: »

There are a number of very vocal posters with very right wing opinions. They are not representative of the silent (or not so silent) majority.

More like horrible FF/FG opinions. Not even right wing.
I can't understand why so many people on boards want to pay more tax.

osarusan · 29-04-2015 09:38AM

Home of the re-reg class.

Neither did I · 29-04-2015 09:40AM

Is middle class a reflection of your income or your outlook?

suicide_circus · 29-04-2015 09:44AM

A lot of painfully right-on types jostling to be the most rainbow coloured.

Dr_Bill · 29-04-2015 09:44AM

Maybe the silent majority couldn't give a monkeys, so maybe they are centralists and neither left nor right. Maybe they choose not to bother to post here, we'll never know because they are well... silent!

VinLieger · 29-04-2015 09:48AM

Do the bourgeois masses even have internet or know how to work it?

Aongus Von Bismarck · 29-04-2015 09:49AM

It contains a high proportion of posters who mistake their jealousy and biases for some sort of profound insight on the human condition.

DoYouEvenLift · 29-04-2015 09:50AM

Pretty much all lower class kids have smart phones these days I would imagine so they're free to join the rest of the world on the internet and use it to educate themselves in ways they otherwise never would've been able to. That is if, of course, their A.D.D allows them to log out of Facebook or other useless social media sites and porn for a while.

Huntergonzo · 29-04-2015 09:56AM

Neither did I wrote: »

Is middle class a reflection of your income or your outlook?

Neither, it's just a fancy label they (chiefly the government) stick on you so you don't think you're working class and therefore will accept paying higher tax rates because think about it, surely everybody who's working is working class!

FactCheck · 29-04-2015 10:05AM

I think people are always inclined to notice the people who are not like them more than the people that are. There's a lot of self-selection going on too. Nobody reads every thread in every forum - indeed probably nobody manages to read every post in After Hours. So the same people with the same interest in the same topics see each other again and again and they think that's all there is to Boards.

I've said it before but one of the things I like best about Boards (indeed it's probably pretty much the only reason I read here) is seeing the opinions and background of people very different to me. I live in a bubble - tbh I think the vast majority of people do, they just don't know it or they don't want to admit to it - and it's nice to get to peek outside it.

RonanP77 · 29-04-2015 10:10AM

I never really understood how you define middle class. Is it based on how they were brought up? Does education, occupation and salary determine class? What about the type of house you live in or how many properties you own? I'm from a working class background but my wife may be middle class. Did I bring her down to my level by marrying her or did she elevate me to her level?

I'm not into politics in the slightest so I have no idea what's right wing or left wing, I couldn't tell you which one I am.

noway12345 · 29-04-2015 10:22AM

Hi. It's me. The person who started this thread.

The reason I think boards.ie is a home for the middle class is because of my reading of a number of different forums. I was looking for advice in the fitness forum and it seems a lot of people there spend a lot of money on fitness stuff. Like crossfit costs a lot but most on that forum see it as value. A couple of hundred a month?
I was in the legal discussions forum looking for advice on a minor road traffic offence I committed and 90% of replies were telling me to just pay the fine and they were defending the guard who gave me the fine. When I came up with a way of trying to get away with the fine someone told me they were going to forward the thread onto the gardaí! In other threads I seen there it seems that the authorities can do no wrong.
Also in the accomadation forum, any complaints by tenants gets bashed. People seem to be always taking the landlords side. In the dentist forum you're not allowed to discuss the price of dentistry in Ireland!!!! I could go on and this is from my limited reading of boards.ie. I haven't read the majority of this site. This could mean I've just read the parts that give the impression that this is a site for the middle class or it could mean that this really is a site for the middle class.

Huntergonzo · 29-04-2015 10:26AM

RonanP77 wrote: »

I never really understood how you define middle class. Is it based on how they were brought up? Does education, occupation and salary determine class? What about the type of house you live in or how many properties you own? I'm from a working class background but my wife may be middle class. Did I bring her down to my level by marrying her or did she elevate me to her level?

I'm not into politics in the slightest so I have no idea what's right wing or left wing, I couldn't tell you which one I am.

Again I wouldn't think too much about labels to be honest, there's no real middle class, you're either ruling class (but most of them work, so technically they're also working class), working class or unemployed as far as I can tell.

Politicians love to label people with things, it makes it easier for them to makes false promises. You should follow politics during general elections though, that's when you hear all really good stuff, pure comedy.

TwoShedsJackson · 29-04-2015 10:29AM

noway12345 wrote: »

Hi. It's me. The person who started this thread.

The reason I think boards.ie is a home for the middle class is because of my reading of a number of different forums. I was looking for advice in the fitness forum and it seems a lot of people there spend a lot of money on fitness stuff. Like crossfit costs a lot but most on that forum see it as value. A couple of hundred a month?
I was in the legal discussions forum looking for advice on a minor road traffic offence I committed and 90% of replies were telling me to just pay the fine and they were defending the guard who gave me the fine. When I came up with a way of trying to get away with the fine someone told me they were going to forward the thread onto the gardaí! In other threads I seen there it seems that the authorities can do no wrong.
Also in the accomadation forum, any complaints by tenants gets bashed. People seem to be always taking the landlords side. In the dentist forum you're not allowed to discuss the price of dentistry in Ireland!!!! I could go on and this is from my limited reading of boards.ie. I haven't read the majority of this site. This could mean I've just read the parts that give the impression that this is a site for the middle class or it could mean that this really is a site for the middle class.

There are people out there with disposable income - if I wanted to I could spend 200 a month on a hobby. I'm not middle class.

People advising you to obey the law and or/pay a fine which you should be paying doesn't make them middle class. No idea of the details but one thing that gets a lot of people's backs up is chancers trying to weasel their way out of fines for things they actually did, by coming up with some pseudo-Freeman crap about how their name was spelt wrong on the notice or the Guard didn't have his hat on.

noway12345 · 29-04-2015 10:33AM

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

There are people out there with disposable income - if I wanted to I could spend 200 a month on a hobby. I'm not middle class.

People advising you to obey the law and or/pay a fine which you should be paying doesn't make them middle class. No idea of the details but one thing that gets a lot of people's backs up is chancers trying to weasel their way out of fines for things they actually did, by coming up with some pseudo-Freeman crap about how their name was spelt wrong on the notice or the Guard didn't have his hat on.

200 a month on a hobby? Most people I know are struggling to meet bills.

I was using my case as an example. The side of the establishment is taken on nearly every forum.

osarusan · 29-04-2015 10:37AM

noway12345 wrote: »

I was in the legal discussions forum looking for advice on a minor road traffic offence I committed and 90% of replies were telling me to just pay the fine and they were defending the guard who gave me the fine. When I came up with a way of trying to get away with the fine someone told me they were going to forward the thread onto the gardaí!

Not being sympathetic when you break the law and try to avoid paying the fine is indicative of middle class (with you openly suspecting that people who disagree with you are guards or close to guards)?

noway12345 · 29-04-2015 10:41AM

osarusan wrote: »

Not being sympathetic when you break the law and try to avoid paying the fine is indicative of middle class?

I was using that as an example of where the establishment view is always held.

The guard in question was sarcastic and obnoxious, the fine was for something menial. Everyone I've talked to about it in real life have said how unfair it was and how much of a prick the guard was but not on boards.ie.

Cuban Pete · 29-04-2015 10:45AM

noway12345 wrote: »

I was using that as an example of where the establishment view is always held.

What, exactly, were you expecting from a forum titled "Legal Discussion"? Advocating people break the law and suggesting ways to do so are not allowed on the site for obvious reasons (it could get the site into a lot of trouble, legally).

Is boards.ie a home for the middle class?

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