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It's a strange one. I was a child living in England when Princess Diana died, and it was exactly the same back then. Blanket media coverage, mass displays of grief, huge pomp and pageantry. Some things never change, I guess. I wonder if any of the founding fathers of this state-De Valera, Lemass, Griffith etc.- got anything like it when they passed on. Maybe Collins, at a stretch? Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 19/09/2022 13:00:58 2441190 Link 0 |
That is indeed crazy. It's the type of thing you usually see from ultra religious people who become overwhelmed when visiting the holiest shrines of their faiths for example. Or in totalitarian states when a leader dies and the population (usually forcibly so) expresses their grief. It's crazy that in these uncertain times what with inflation, cost-of-living etc that God knows how many millions are being spent on a funeral. And yet a sizable portion of the UK population are OK with it and see it as appropriate. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9136 - 19/09/2022 13:40:06 2441200 Link 1 |
Stranger still- Prince Charlie is a relatively old man to be ascending to the throne, and could conceivably shuffle off himself in a few years. And then all the funeral costs, reprinting of money, stamps etc. starts again. It's their business ultimately, but it's rather cult-like from the outside. Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 19/09/2022 14:22:13 2441210 Link 0 |
I think we're too cynical in this country to ever do this and thankfully so. Its something we would expect in third world countries or people that have been brainwashed for decades but look at the British now and Americans with Trump. Its dangerous and potentially destructive if the wrong individual taps into this adulation and we end with up a Hitler leading a country. I honestly think we ate heading for this somewhere in the developed world very shortly and all the destruction that will follow it.
updwell (Limerick) - Posts: 817 - 19/09/2022 15:54:47 2441229 Link 0 |
Ah we had similar when the Pope visited here. Most of those queuing were doing so to be part of a social media event. Look at the Gareth Brooks ffs…I reckon more than half at the shows didn't hear of him before the cancelled shows scandal a few years ago. yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11231 - 19/09/2022 21:52:26 2441264 Link 4 |
Yeah I suppose it would have been similar with the Pope alright, a fair while ago now though in fairness. Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9136 - 20/09/2022 09:30:23 2441269 Link 0 |
They seem to have lost the run of themselves a wee bit to be fair. Their business I suppose. MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 20/09/2022 10:23:40 2441271 Link 2 |
Trump was able to capitalise on a general discontent, an understandable one too, with how mainstream politicians in America were managing the country, and I enjoyed watching him make the Bushes and Clintons et al squirm. This won't happen in this country because no matter how bad it gets, and its going to get bad, ff and fg know that our populace will always give them enough votes to lead, which means that in our own way, we too must be at least a little brainwashed. Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1708 - 20/09/2022 10:44:37 2441272 Link 0 |
Trump is the biggest threat to democracy in America since the foundation of the state. He was and remains a hugely corrosive and divisive figure who wields immense power in the Republican Party. No good can come from him.
Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6031 - 20/09/2022 11:04:51 2441277 Link 2 |
I'm not so sure about your analysis of voting trends in this country, FF and FG are struggling badly in the polls amongst the millennials and that means anyone under 40 these days. They need to make some inroads into the cost of living and housing or else they will be out on their backsides come the next general election.
Gleebo (Mayo) - Posts: 2208 - 20/09/2022 11:58:24 2441283 Link 1 |
They're a well-oiled machine when it comes to elections though. They just need the electorate to believe enough spin to tick the box that day. FF and FG will be at the same grabbing old men and women in from the country that voted on party lines for generations. The unsocial media splash the week of election telling you what they 'achieved'. The local fliers telling you about the safe parking initiatives they've implemented outside schools in the constituency. A few prominent faces on the telly telling you Sinn Féin's plans are ridiculous. I think it's nearly easier to portray yourself as a credible candidate in 2022 telling half-truths on unsocial media to gullible potential voters.. In the 70s shoe leather was worn when TDs went on the campaign. Pressing the flesh going door to door. Canvassers standing on pillars outside churches on Sundays telling the after mass crowd you how many roads their man built and sure vote him back in. There's not many voters in churches any more. A nice photo for the poster, a bit of blas for Facebook and Twitter, get in a heated debate on TV and you're half way to Kildare Street. I still admire any of them that get involved. Would rather have them anyday over the man in the street that said he didn't vote because sure aren't they all corrupt.
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7345 - 20/09/2022 12:16:45 2441285 Link 4 |
He waits 73 years for his first job. Seen some highlights last night and the wealth and building they have access to is sick. The English public must be mad as to why they look up to these people.
Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2014 - 20/09/2022 13:05:02 2441294 Link 5 |
Sinn Féin started to take elections serious in the 80s. They started by dressing well and did all the minor things correct. They even won best dressed politician I think early 90s. They knew they were in business for the long haul and they chipped away and away until now, biggest in the North and South.
Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2014 - 20/09/2022 13:11:59 2441297 Link 6 |
'They started by dressing well'. Classic!
GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7345 - 20/09/2022 13:19:34 2441300 Link 4 |
Census in the North on Thursday expected to show a Nationalist/ Catholic majority for the first time. United Ireland still not in sight in the short term as a sizeable 20%-25% of those of the Nationalist/ Catholic tradition has been indoctrinated into the British state. It was always thought that a Catholic/ Nationalist majority would mean a United Ireland but that no longer holds. It is fairly ironic and laughable that these former Nationalists are now propping up the state of those in Unionism who sought to make them second class citizens. Still will be a momentous development for Unionists to find themselves a minority in a state they created for that never to be the case. The Unionist state has gone forever at least. REDANDBLACK30 (Down) - Posts: 1617 - 20/09/2022 13:47:55 2441305 Link 0 |
How long did old civil war politics influence whether people voted for Fianna Fail/ Fine Gael in the Republic?? My perception would be up until the 1990s?? Also in the 1930s clashes between the IRA and Blueshirts for a time it looked like there could be another Civil War. Sinn Fein electoral performance remarkable North and South over the last few years.
REDANDBLACK30 (Down) - Posts: 1617 - 20/09/2022 13:59:10 2441311 Link 1 |
Trump is not the greatest threat to democracy in American history ffs. Don't be so extreme. The media has had an absolute shocker throughout the course of his candidacy and presidency. The pro Clinton /Biden leanings of all but a few stations was like something you'd see in a 3rd world country,with twitter, Facebook, cnn etc suppressing stories that might hurt Biden in the run up to the 2020 election. Outrageous carry on for a so called democracy. A partial media is a far greater threat to democracy than Trump. Also, any politician outside of the centre is by their very nature divisive,he's no less divisive than Krystal Matthews (look up her speech on getting elected), except for his profile. Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1708 - 20/09/2022 14:12:30 2441313 Link 3 |
The problem with America is that it is completely polarised as a society. The divide is too extreme and there is no middle ground in any aspect of society. For me personally I thought Trump went OTT on the antics. However I have no real connection to politics but I do recognise that the Clinton's were no saints either.
roseyinthegarden (Wicklow) - Posts: 109 - 20/09/2022 14:59:01 2441325 Link 1 |
FOX is the most watched TV news station in the USA. So if all these legitimate stories were being suppressed was FOX running them? if so they were not suppressed. The US has plenty of national media outlets that have different points of view and I would find it impossible to believe that anything could be suppressed in todays US media. Facebook and Twitter are not media outlets and their challenge is to ensure that their platforms are not used to spread lies and hate.
zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 1804 - 20/09/2022 15:23:24 2441330 Link 2 |
You only make a first impression once.
Saynothing (Tyrone) - Posts: 2014 - 20/09/2022 15:37:43 2441333 Link 5 |