Nelson's Pillar

Duckworth_Luas · 05-03-2016 11:31PM

diomed wrote: »

He was a great lad. Jackeens worship him.
Why should terrorists from a foreign country (Northern Ireland) have a right to blow up our monuments?

During its 150 or so years of existence the average "Jackeen" had no idea who the guy on the top of the monument was. They simply referred to it as "the pillar".

It was only when the IRA destroyed the monument that Dubliners had any reference to the significance of the guy at the top.

The tallest obelisk in Europe stands in the Phoenix Park in memory of the Duke of Wellington. Good luck trying to find anyone who even knows it exists.

maryishere · 05-03-2016 11:32PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Dun Laoghaire pier serves a purpose, as does the GPO and Customs House

Tis funny how all the nicest built things in our capital - such as the GPO, College Green, Trinity, Customs house etc were built by the British (or when Ireland was united with Britain).

05-03-2016 11:33PM

maryishere wrote: »

Tis funny how all the nicest built things in our capital - such as the GPO, College Green, Trinity, Customs house etc were built by the British (or when Ireland was united with Britain).

That's what tends to happen in colonies :rolleyes:

maryishere · 05-03-2016 11:35PM

colossus-x wrote: »

I think we should replace the spire with a massive big male dildo in honour of the recent gay marriage referendum results.

naw, the needle (spire) reminds / symbolises Dublins drug culture / ghow awful O'Connell St has become in the past 50 years, with its tacky fast food places etc. It was a fine st until they blew up the pillar.;)

Iwasfrozen · 05-03-2016 11:37PM

riffmongous wrote: »

That's what tends to happen in colonies :rolleyes:

Sounds sweet to be a colony so!

P.S. Ireland was a home country. No more a colony than Brittany, Galacia or Cornwall.

steddyeddy · 05-03-2016 11:38PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Nelson was a colonist? I thought he lived in England? Whose land did he colonize?

He represented a colonial power. Do you think Jersey should have kept the Nazi decorations following their occupation during WW2?

jayo26 · 05-03-2016 11:38PM

I think we should replace the spire with a statue of a woman pushing a buggy attacking a man down in a hole installing a water meter in honour of the protesters that spent 5 working days a week out on the streets induring working hours. Fair play to them troupers.

05-03-2016 11:39PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Sounds sweet to be a colony so!

P.S. Ireland was a home country. No more a colony than Brittany, Galacia or Cornwall.

You must have missed the part when they sent over all the colonists

Iwasfrozen · 05-03-2016 11:39PM

steddyeddy wrote: »

He represented a colonial power. Do you think Jersey should have kept the Nazi decorations following their occupation during WW2?

Not quite the same thing there buddy.

My name is URL · 05-03-2016 11:40PM

Shur anyway, old Horatio's head had a great run of life after it was blown off

Spent time in a shop front in London after a load of students robbed it and leased it to a guy there. It even appeared in a commercial or two, and on stage with the Dubliners.

Beats getting shit on by pigeons, no?

Smidge · 05-03-2016 11:41PM

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

50 years a go next week, March 8th, Nelson's Pillar was blown up on O'Connell Street by a bunch of nuts.

Was this ok in hindsight? They could have kept the pillar and replaced Nelson with a better person like Charles Haughey for example where we have yet to have a fitting memorial or Bertie Ahern when he dies.

We would have had the views over the city that the spire does not offer. Or even just kept Nelson who by some accounts was a good looking fella.

What say you?

http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2561871.1457182980!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg

Bwahahahahahaha

buried · 05-03-2016 11:41PM

My name is URL wrote: »

Shur anyway, old Horatio's head had a great run of life after it was blown off

Spent time in a shop front in London after a load of students robbed it and leased it to a guy there. It even appeared in a commercial or two, and on stage with the Dubliners.

Beats getting shit on by pigeons, no?

Sadly, he's still caked in bird$hit over in London

steddyeddy · 05-03-2016 11:42PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Not quite the same thing there buddy.

Just in your eyes dude

. Cognitive dissonance.

Iwasfrozen · 05-03-2016 11:46PM

riffmongous wrote: »

You must have missed the part when they sent over all the colonists

For a king to replace unloyal with loyal land owners is feudalism, not colonialism.

Iwasfrozen · 05-03-2016 11:49PM

steddyeddy wrote: »

Just in your eyes dude . Cognitive dissonance.

How long did the Germans hold Jersey? Five years? Not quite the same thing as the 800 year British presence in Ireland.

A more accurate comparison would be German possesions in Eastern Europe for almost a thousand years where the local Slavs took on the German language, culture and traditions.

maryishere · 05-03-2016 11:50PM

One of the things Nelson was / is most remembered for is the battle of Trafalgar. Many of Dublin's population had a direct personal involvement with the battle, : up to one-third of the sailors in Nelson's fleet were from Ireland, including around 400 from Dublin itself. As a famous writer one noted: "It would be rash to assume, that even the most politically aware Catholics, particularly those from among the rising middle and professional classes ... would have regarded Nelson as other than a hero".[

The_Valeyard · 05-03-2016 11:51PM

We should put a giant harp there or ancient monument from Gaelic legends and myths.

steddyeddy · 05-03-2016 11:51PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

For a king to replace unloyal with loyal land owners is feudalism, not colonialism.

Actually it's plantation, then the replacement of the planters which all in all is a type of colonialism.

The_Valeyard · 05-03-2016 11:53PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

For a king to replace unloyal with loyal land owners is feudalism, not colonialism.

You get your own people and 'plant' them in other people's land. Hope they grow and breed and remain loyal. It's a plantation.

MacauDragon · 05-03-2016 11:53PM

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

50 years a go next week, March 8th, Nelson's Pillar was blown up on O'Connell Street by a bunch of nuts.

Was this ok in hindsight? They could have kept the pillar and replaced Nelson with a better person like Charles Haughey for example where we have yet to have a fitting memorial or Bertie Ahern when he dies.

We would have had the views over the city that the spire does not offer. Or even just kept Nelson who by some accounts was a good looking fella.

What say you?

I say blow it te fvck.

And they did. Good call.

Should have took a shyte on its head and sent it by post to Lizzy Saxe-Coburg.

Marked for attention of Mountbatten.

05-03-2016 11:56PM

maryishere wrote: »

One of the things Nelson was / is most remembered for is the battle of Trafalgar. Many of Dublin's population had a direct personal involvement with the battle, : up to one-third of the sailors in Nelson's fleet were from Ireland, including around 400 from Dublin itself. As a famous writer one noted: "It would be rash to assume, that even the most politically aware Catholics, particularly those from among the rising middle and professional classes ... would have regarded Nelson as other than a hero".[

Which is strange considering the French had been our allies only a few years before when the British and their Irish subjects had been responsible for tens of thousands of Irish deaths

maryishere · 05-03-2016 11:57PM

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

50 years a go next week, March 8th, Nelson's Pillar was blown up on O'Connell Street by a bunch of nuts.

Was this ok in hindsight? They could have kept the pillar and replaced Nelson with a better person like Charles Haughey for example where we have yet to have a fitting memorial or Bertie Ahern when he dies.

We would have had the views over the city that the spire does not offer. Or even just kept Nelson who by some accounts was a good looking fella.

What say you?

OP, did you know that when the Pillar opened to the public on 21 October 1809, the fourth anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, for a charge of ten pre-decimal pence (4p),[36][n 5] visitors could climb the steps to the viewing platform and enjoy what an early report describes as "a superb panoramic view of the city, the country and the fine bay".

Think of what a fine tourist attraction the capital could have had for free, and the enjoyment it would have brought to tourists this past fifty years who could have climbed it and admired "a superb panoramic view of the city, the country and the fine bay".

Ever see the queue of people wanting to climb the inside of the statue of liberty in New York?

About 15 million euro a year could be made from tourists climbing Nelsons pillar now. That is money which could do a lot for Dublins homeless, for example.

Iwasfrozen · 05-03-2016 11:58PM

The_Valeyard wrote: »

You get your own people and 'plant' them in other people's land. Hope they grow and breed and remain loyal. It's a plantation.

By that definition Brittany is a colony of France, Galicia a colony of Spain, Cornwall a colony of England, California a colony of the US, Yakaterinburg a colony of Russia. You see how silly it sounds when applied to a single landmass?

But people who don't think about it instinctively think what happened to Ireland is different because we're an island.

Duckworth_Luas · 05-03-2016 11:59PM

maryishere wrote: »

One of the things Nelson was / is most remembered for is the battle of Trafalgar. Many of Dublin's population had a direct personal involvement with the battle, : up to one-third of the sailors in Nelson's fleet were from Ireland, including around 400 from Dublin itself. As a famous writer one noted: "It would be rash to assume, that even the most politically aware Catholics, particularly those from among the rising middle and professional classes ... would have regarded Nelson as other than a hero".[

What famous writer is this?

maryishere · 06-03-2016 12:07AM

Even Yeats wanted it preserved. He said"The life and work of the people who erected it is a part of our tradition. I think we should accept the whole past of this nation, and not pick and choose"

Hugo Stiglitz · 06-03-2016 12:10AM

Seeing photograph's of Nelson's Pillar from back in the day, it actually looked stunning and gave the area a classy look. Shame what happened to it.

Beanntraigheach · 06-03-2016 12:13AM

maryishere wrote: »

Tis funny how all the nicest built things in our capital - such as the GPO, College Green, Trinity, Customs house etc were built by the British (or when Ireland was united with Britain).

The aesthetic qualities of the buildings you mention are due to the architectural styles and construction techniques of the era in which they were built.
Similar structures from that time are found throughout Europe.

(That this, apparently, isn't completely obvious to some is astonishing.)

OldMrBrennan83 · 06-03-2016 12:13AM

This post has been deleted.

sheesh · 06-03-2016 12:16AM

diomed wrote: »

Dun Laoghaire pier was also built during the "occupation". Why not blow that up? I see it every day. It reminds me of the Victorians (and Queen Victoria). Why not cleanse the whole country of any reminder of our oppressors?

I don't think you actually get to decide what they blow up Dougal.

I imagine its more of a selected commitee Structure made up of people whole have experience in blowing up. Symbols of oppression

06-03-2016 12:17AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__3v0eKHB_s

Nelson's Pillar

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