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Are we obsessed with American politics and current affairs?

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  • 20-11-2013 2:10pm
    #1
    Augmerson
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,162 ✭✭✭


    If you were to use After Hours as an example, there are many threads each week on events in America, be it shootings and firearms (in fairness there are a lot of shootings in the US) or race issues. Many of my peers have formed opinions on Republican vs Democrat, problems facing the US currently or can talk in-depth about JFK's assassination.

    I don't have anything at all against anybody having an opinion, it's your head and you can do what you like with it and to it, but I just think sometimes it goes a little too far. I think sometimes we are a bit obsessed. I couldn't see the Americans having opinions about problems facing Ireland or Europe. And I do understand that some people will have opinions because they care about the US, have American relations, live there or spent time there, and that's ok too.

    Or is it all just a product of 24 news channels, a controlled media and the US continuing role as superpower?

    Are we obsessed with American politics and current affairs? 42 votes

    Yes
    0% 0 votes
    Nay dawg it's cool
    100% 42 votes


«1

Comments

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    #2
    hansfrei
    Registered Users Posts: 915 ✭✭✭hansfrei


    I don't read them or post on them. Problem solved.


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    #3
    Specialun
    Registered Users Posts: 3,068 ✭✭✭Specialun


    No


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    #4
    WilyCoyote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,059 ✭✭✭WilyCoyote


    Infantile stuff ........ just as a two week old baby is obsessed with mater's melons.


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    #5
    Holsten
    Registered Users Posts: 4,971 ✭✭✭Holsten


    I think so to a degree.

    Everything about the country is like a tv show.


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    #6
    Karl Stein
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,689 ✭✭✭Karl Stein


    Augmerson wrote: »
    Or is it all just a product of 24 news channels, a controlled media and the US continuing role as superpower?

    Bingo.


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    #7
    Augmerson
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,162 ✭✭✭Augmerson


    WilyCoyote wrote: »
    Infantile stuff ........ just as a two week old baby is obsessed with mater's melons.

    Watermelons do be nice though. At the moment they're are at least 2 active threads on US politics and current affairs.


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    #8
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    The season finale of the Obama administration will bore us all to tears.


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    #9
    MRnotlob606
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,642 ✭✭✭MRnotlob606


    practical norwegian women


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    #10
    iDave
    Registered Users Posts: 3,750 ✭✭✭iDave


    I've always believed if NFL was a Soviet sport not American and our only footage of it was of games on frozen pitches in Russia no one in Ireland would ever watch it.


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    #11
    dr.bollocko
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 35,943 Mod ✭✭✭✭dr.bollocko


    Wait..
    George Zimmerman pulled a gun on his girlfriend now?

    What will that crazy cat get up to next.


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    #12
    I am pie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,652 ✭✭✭I am pie


    Obsessed, no, however the 20th century was certainly the American century in terms of politics, business, science, art etc...it is hardly surprising we are heavily influenced by them.

    It's the same in other parts of the world which are relatively "westernised" so don't feel too guilty.


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    #13
    MadsL
    Registered Users Posts: 20,299 ✭✭✭✭MadsL


    Holsten wrote: »
    I think so to a degree.

    Everything about the country is like a tv show.

    I think you mean everything you have experienced about America is via a TV...


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    #14
    Sir Humphrey Appleby
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,465 ✭✭✭Sir Humphrey Appleby


    dr.bollocko wrote: »
    Wait..
    George Zimmerman pulled a gun on his girlfriend now?

    What will that crazy cat get up to next.

    In fairness, she was stalking him and he felt threatened, the poor lickle mite!:rolleyes:


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    #15
    Yorky
    Registered Users Posts: 1,485 ✭✭✭Yorky


    Does anyone find the Irish adoration of JFK vaguely bizarre? Vietnam, Bay of Pigs, Nuclear brink- a few aspects of his term in office.

    Also how the Kennedy plutocracy came about: bootlegging, decimation of Irish Whiskey industry by Joe's distribution rights of Scotch, stock market short selling which arguably caused the collapse etc

    Also how the Kennedy plutocracy came about: bootlegging, decimation of Irish Whiskey industry by Joe's distribution rights of Scotch, stock market short selling which arguably caused the collapse etc

    Then there's the serial adultery / philandering malarky; Not a mention of this by the adoring masses on RTE radio 1 this week, most of whom would be from a traditional conservative RC background - the most bizarre part of all.

    He didn't deserve to die but he was far from his portrayal in Ireland.

    Inexplicably, all gushing tributes went unchallenged by the RTE 1 presenters..


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    #16
    Daveysil15
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,301 ✭✭✭Daveysil15


    The problem is that Irish politics is incredibly boring.


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    #17
    LeinsterDub
    Registered Users Posts: 8,229 ✭✭✭LeinsterDub


    Quite you I'm watching the colbert report!


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    #18
    Hazys
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,510 ✭✭✭Hazys


    Nah, American Politics is sooo 2012.

    Get with the times, its all aboot Canadian politics these days

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFloKq0FP9o


    #TeamFord


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    #19
    April O Neill II
    Closed Accounts Posts: 536 ✭✭✭April O Neill II


    Augmerson wrote: »
    If you were to use After Hours as an example, there are many threads each week on events in America, be it shootings and firearms (in fairness there are a lot of shootings in the US) or race issues. Many of my peers have formed opinions on Republican vs Democrat, problems facing the US currently or can talk in-depth about JFK's assassination.

    I don't have anything at all against anybody having an opinion, it's your head and you can do what you like with it and to it, but I just think sometimes it goes a little too far. I think sometimes we are a bit obsessed. I couldn't see the Americans having opinions about problems facing Ireland or Europe. And I do understand that some people will have opinions because they care about the US, have American relations, live there or spent time there, and that's ok too.

    Or is it all just a product of 24 news channels, a controlled media and the US continuing role as superpower?

    It's because the USA is a cultural hegemony - we can't help but be fascinated by it.


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    #20
    April O Neill II
    Closed Accounts Posts: 536 ✭✭✭April O Neill II


    Yorky wrote: »
    Does anyone find the Irish adoration of JFK vaguely bizarre?

    Yes, I don't get the fascination with him in general. He was a sleazebag. I know that shouldn't matter, but he brought it to ridiculous levels.


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    #21
    Wompa1
    Registered Users Posts: 8,166 ✭✭✭Wompa1


    The US is one of the most fascinating social studies in the world. A country that just over 200 years ago was inhabited by 'Indians', was colonized by a European power, The occupiers took over, basically after fighting with the natives, brought over slaves from other colonies then fought between themselves, South loses and free the slaves, country moves on with a divide between the people and building tensions. Then came an influx of immigrants from all over the world, multiple large wars and today the country is the end result of all of that.

    Are there many other countries which experienced such levels of immigration and multi-culturism for as long? For such a young country it has seen huge change


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    #22
    Sam Kade
    Registered Users Posts: 12,313 ✭✭✭✭Sam Kade


    April O Neill II wrote: »
    Yes, I don't get the fascination with him in general. He was a sleazebag. I know that shouldn't matter, but he brought it to ridiculous levels.
    A lot of Irish households back then had a picture of JFK over the mantelpiece, maybe it was something to do with all the Irish that immigrated to the US and that his visit was so fresh in their memories when he was assassinated. I heard a man on the radio yesterday saying that he met Bobby Kennedy and he broke down while talking about him :rolleyes:


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    #23
    czx
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭czx


    Carlos Roca wrote: »
    Bingo.


    dry season


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    #24
    czx
    Registered Users Posts: 544 ✭✭✭czx


    April O Neill II wrote: »
    Yes, I don't get the fascination with him in general. He was a sleazebag. I know that shouldn't matter, but he brought it to ridiculous levels.

    i know that shouldn't matter but....but?!?


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    #25
    NIMAN
    Registered Users Posts: 33,106 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Unfortunately we hear a lot of stuff about the US now because he have 24hr worth of news to fill.

    I mean, remember the guy whose house fell down a hole? That was all over our news for a few days. One single guy died out of 350million in a strange/freak accident, yet the world had to know about it.

    I always think, if that had happened in some other part of the world, would we ever have heard about it?

    For me it all started with the OJ case. Live television coverage for about a month on the UK channels of some guy who no-one in the UK knew. After that, we all became US obsessed.


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    #26
    Irish Guitarist
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,736 ✭✭✭Irish Guitarist


    I'm not. I find it ridiculous how the likes of Barack Obama are lauded simply for making speeches they didn't even write.

    There was a thread here about Zimmerman a while ago and when I read it I was disappointed that it wasn't about Bob Dylan releasing a new album.


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    #27
    Augmerson
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 6,162 ✭✭✭Augmerson


    Daveysil15 wrote: »
    The problem is that Irish politics is incredibly boring.

    We need some more crack smoking to liven things up.


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    #28
    DEFTLEFTHAND
    Registered Users Posts: 16,500 ✭✭✭✭DEFTLEFTHAND


    Sam Kade wrote: »
    A lot of Irish households back then had a picture of JFK over the mantelpiece, maybe it was something to do with all the Irish that immigrated to the US and that his visit was so fresh in their memories when he was assassinated. I heard a man on the radio yesterday saying that he met Bobby Kennedy and he broke down while talking about him :rolleyes:

    The family were an immigrant success story, remember many Irish left here dirt poor and were treated badly when they arrived in North America, they weren't wanted by anyone, they were viewed as the slumdogs of Europe. Even the other poor Catholic immigrants like the Italians looked down on them.

    So an Irish family rising from the streets to that level of power was a source of pride and inspiration to those back home. The story is romanticised of course and little details like Joe Kennedy being involved in organised crime and corruption and JFK being a philanderer were overlooked at the time.


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    #29
    April O Neill II
    Closed Accounts Posts: 536 ✭✭✭April O Neill II


    czx wrote: »
    i know that shouldn't matter but....but?!?

    Are you OK? You sound a little constipated. Get thee to a bathroom, put in the necessary graft, then have the Sudocreem at the ready. You're welcome.


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    #30
    clairefontaine
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,390 ✭✭✭clairefontaine


    DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »
    The family were an immigrant success story, remember many Irish left here dirt poor and were treated badly when they arrived in North America, they weren't wanted by anyone, they were viewed as the slumdogs of Europe. Even the other poor Catholic immigrants like the Italians looked down on them.

    So an Irish family rising from the streets to that level of power was a source of pride and inspiration to those back home. The story is romanticised of course and little details like Joe Kennedy being involved in organised crime and corruption and JFK being a philanderer were overlooked at the time.

    The Kennedys descended from famine survivors and they showed the Irish they too could be American.

    You are absolutely right, the Irish were viewed as trash.


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    #31
    Sunglasses Ron
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,180 ✭✭✭Sunglasses Ron


    The Irish have always loved the US cowboy presidents. I remember when Clinton visited years ago, the PA at one of the towns he was giving a speech at (Armagh was it?) was playing this before he came on stage at the height of his sex scandals, I swear the elderly church going aul wans just give the likes of him and JFK a pass



    A lil bit of Monica, wha :pac: Only in Ireland.


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