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The Professionals

Submitted by Ciarán on Thu, 11/09/2008 - 08:38

Thanks to Pete Baker for synopsising the results of the research (pdf) on the motivations of no voters in the Lisbon referendum. If the research is sound, it seems that 42% of no voters and 48% of abstentions were motivated by a feeling of ignorance about the treaty. Now, this has motivated some bizarre commentary on Slugger, with some twat arguing that the complexity of the treaty was itself a plot by 'the EU' to baboozle voters into a yes vote (a wonderful mix of paranoia and Irish narcisism there).

Now, I'm exposing myself to accusations sour grapes, since I advocated a yes vote, butI would have thought that voting no or abstaining because the treaty is too complex is not somehow a vote against complex law or something (consolidated laws, which is what Lisbon largely is, tend to be very very complex). Are the electorate really sending a message that law should be simpler?

Voting no or abstaining because of ignorance is voting against being asked (at least in the one-off referendum). So we should either stop asking and leave it to the professionals or should ask in a very different way.  read the rest of this post »

Deliberative Spaces and the Internet

Submitted by Ciarán on Mon, 29/10/2007 - 19:15

Mick Fealty has posted a reminder (for me anyway) that we're talking tomorrow as part of QUB's Institute of Irish Studies seminar series.1 Although I'm going to be more of a respondent to Mick than a substantive speaker, I have been enjoying a quick read of some good scholarly pieces out there on deliberation. read the rest of this post »

Two Poems on the Shipping Forecast...

Submitted by Ciarán on Fri, 28/09/2007 - 20:36

...can be found over on Malcolm Redfellow's site (with a tip of the cap to Slugger).

Here, a third, is my favourite: read the rest of this post »

Butcher Boys

Submitted by Ciarán on Thu, 02/08/2007 - 23:37

Slugger's been having a fine old day of it today. What with the 132 comments on the new cross-border road thread (and counting of course), discussing such central issues as 'how my culture is threatened by road signs' and 'where are tourists when they're in a border town?', the place is a bundle of giggling toddlery joy.

And then there's some people's responses to Darren Graham's allegations of sectarian abuse while playing hurling for Fermanagh... read the rest of this post »

On the Other Foot

Submitted by Ciarán on Wed, 04/07/2007 - 10:45

Well you learn something new every day! I hadn't really thought about it, but didn't realise that there was a controversy over why Ian Paisley left the Orange Order. I think I just presumed that he regarded the order as too soft, or too not-led-by-Paisley, for his tastes.

It seems, however, that this story is a source of some controversy. Cutting through the jibes, there's a fascinating conversation in a comments thread over on Slugger between Michael Shilliday and others as to the roots of the split.

By the way, I'd never actually thought of Orange Arches as being owned, which was a little naive of me. Interesting stuff.

Our Legacy Today

Submitted by Ciarán on Thu, 15/02/2007 - 19:38

There's a small, and somewhat justifiable piece of irritation by Pete Baker over on Slugger regarding Peter Hain's apology on behalf of Northern Ireland and Wales for the slave trade (much irritation in the comments here also and Hugh Green's preemptive irritation over his next apology here).

Somewhat justifiable, but not totally. read the rest of this post »

Slugging Empey?

Submitted by Ciarán on Thu, 15/02/2007 - 10:33

Fair dues to Mick Fealty for getting Sir Reg Empey onto his latest BlogRadio broadcast. It's an excellent interview and it's refreshing to hear a clear and sensible message being delivered on his main competitors in the DUP from a very impressive Empey.

At the same time, it's fascinating to hear the old dominant faction pitching as the small party competing with the giant.

I should also say that I'd go even further than Empey (who only mentions it in passing) on the God Save the Queen in Ravenhill issue: both anthems ought to be played wherever the international match is taking place. Why is it that people think that only their symbols matter?

Cúpla Focail Amhain

Submitted by Ciarán on Sat, 06/01/2007 - 15:02

Good to see an interesting discussion over on Slugger about this article in the Guardian and (behind the wall) in the Irish Times.

Manchán Magan reports meeting quite a bit of resistance when he wandered around Ireland trying to speak exclusively in Irish. He describes intimidation, rudeness and, as Sinéad Gleeson puts it, weird hostility, especially in Dublin.1

This is all presented as an unfortunate reflection of the attitudes of Irish people to their language, borne of a variety of factors. I'm a little suspicious about this though. As a veteran of the Gaeilgeor movement, I've known many people to expect arrogance and sneering attitudes from Irish speakers towards their own lack of fluency.

I'm sure that Magan was entirely polite, but I wonder if what he was meeting was an impression that his behaviour was borne from supercillious attitudes about people who don't speak the language.

Here's what I think was going on: a man walks into my shop. I knows he speaks English perfectly well. He knows that I know this. He also knows that I don't speak Irish well at all (because I tell him). And yet he insists on continuing to speak to me in Irish.

Not very nice.

1 Let's put aside the fact that the Irish Times carries an apology today because an exchange reported as taking place in the Ordnance Survey Office, where Magan tells of being roundly abused, didn't take place there at all.

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