Are Irish people too soft or just gullible?

profitius

Letting international fraudsters take billions of Euro from us without putting up a fight.

The Icelandic people said no and the banks backed down. Little Iceland of a few hundred thousand people. Enda Kenny and his friends meanwhile talked up a good game before the last general election but when it came to actions he backed down like the cowards they are.

Brian Cowen and Lenihan helped get us into this mess. Not only that but they were getting advice from the same international bankers thats robbing every country! Now we'll get loans from the same bankers and they'll charge us interest. You couldn't make this up! Its almost comical at this stage.

You also have the media saying we owe this or we owe that. No we don't. The Irish media are a bunch of gullible fools too.

David McWilliams, Irish economist, broadcaster, and writer, says of the IMF, ‘It is not here to bail us out; it is here to bail [the banks] out. The bailout is a bailout for the banks of Germany and France and the Irish taxpayer foots the bill. It is that simple. And where will the EU and IMF money come from? It will be borrowed from the very investment banks that will be bailed out. So they will get interest payments from us, in order that we pay for their mistakes.’

But to answer my own question maybe we just have to take a look at Bertie Ahern. He ran the country into the ground but... he has a nice personality! :rolleyes:

Where To

The word 'gullible' has been removed from the Oxford English Dictionary

TheZohanS

A bunch of moaners that do nothing and if anyone does try to do something or protest we moan about them too.

jonnny68

Absolutely, look at people in Greece out demonstrating in their hundreds of thousands, this country is quite possibly the most corrupt in the civilised world and it beggars belief why people have allowed this to happen, people like Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen,Sean Fitzpatrick,etc,etc,etc should be rotting in jail for what they have done to this country yet these people live a grand life while people struggle on the dole to make ends meet and people emigrate in their droves because there are no jobs,people losing their homes,etc.

What Ireland needs is a Revolution and change, real change because this poxy Government are every bit as bad as the last one.

smash

I think we just don't really give a fcuk... or we're lazy.

fedor.2.

smash wrote: »

I think we just don't really give a fcuk... or we're lazy.

This. Sure somebody else will do it.

Jimoslimos

where do i go from here wrote: »

The word 'gullible' has been removed from the Oxford English Dictionary

Has it really? I've just checked and.......oh hold on one minute, I see what you've done there!

charlemont

Both. People have too much respect here for the political financial class.

starlit

I am sorry hasn't a banker recently been arrested for having exiled himself to the states can't remember his name. He behind anglo irish bank any ways. Sean something.

mikemac

Relax OP, we've turned a corner

castletownman

Of course they are, sure they bowed to the Catholic Church and Archbishop McQuaid for far too long!

starlit

Sean McAteer is it?

Dotrel

We are a nation who expect nothing from our government and are rarely disappointed.

AnonoBoy

I think we can take Slovenia. It'll all be grand.

MungBean

People havent experienced "austerity" yet and dont give two shítes. For the people still in relative comfort who havent experience too harsh of a cutback on their disposable income its impossible to feel any real anger about it.

Nobody cares what the banks got, they only care what they have and how to protect it like pointing the finger at public expenditure in the hope its people on welfare or in the public sector who suffer and not themselves.

I am pie

There was an election, we voted for more of more or less the same. We didn't vote for left wing solutions, we didn't vote to leave the EU or the Eurozone, we didn't vote to default and we didn't vote to any of this other half baked nonsense silver bullet solutions to our problems.

We haven't had the mass protests as we haven't had anywhere near the same (international) corruption or severe austerity in this country as the have had in Greece.

Principally what a minority of people lack in this country is any degree of perspective.

Sacred_git

no, we are spineless greedy idiots, sure what can we do boy....lets go to the pub!!

hondasam

Do we really want to see riots on the street, people attacking each other, it will solve nothing.
When we had the opportunity to elect a new government we did, our choice who is in there. Next time we should all refuse to vote.

aquaman

MungBean wrote: »

People havent experienced "austerity" yet and dont give two shítes. For the people still in relative comfort who havent experience too harsh of a cutback on their disposable income its impossible to feel any real anger about it.

Nobody cares what the banks got, they only care what they have and how to protect it like pointing the finger at public expenditure in the hope its people on welfare or in the public sector who suffer and not themselves.

This^^^

We are by and large a country of me feiners who don't care about society as a whole, only about how our own lives are affected.
No social conscience in this country apart from the unhelpful remains of conservative catholic guilt.

(The author and boardsies excluded of course)

Oh_Noes

aquaman wrote: »

We are by and large a country of me feiners who don't care about society as a whole, only about how our own lives are affected.
No social conscience in this country apart from the unhelpful remains of conservative catholic guilt.

Well said.

SEPT 23 1989

I blame floridisation

Cianos

Ah sure it'll be grand.

ScumLord

TheZohan wrote: »

A bunch of moaners that do nothing and if anyone does try to do something or protest we moan about them too.

Protesters are just moaners that like moaning in public so that everyone can see them moan. They have no structure or backbone and that's why their ignored and are completely ineffective.

Protest marches are just one small part of an overall strategy that Irish people are to lazy to do properly.

ejmaztec

Sacred_git wrote: »

no, we are spineless greedy idiots, sure what can we do boy....lets go to the pub!!

Then we can come out of the pub and moan about the robbing bastards behind the bar, and not even have the guts to back in with a nail-gun and pin the feckers to the wall.:(

Alzy

MungBean wrote: »

People havent experienced "austerity" yet and dont give two shítes. For the people still in relative comfort who havent experience too harsh of a cutback on their disposable income its impossible to feel any real anger about it.

Nobody cares what the banks got, they only care what they have and how to protect it like pointing the finger at public expenditure in the hope its people on welfare or in the public sector who suffer and not themselves.

couldn't agree more . well said !!

The people who didn't get any benefit from our so called 'celtic tiger' are feeling the cuts more than a lot who enjoyed the golden days. Not that I think any less of those who made hay while the sun shone but it is time to make our voices heard. Banks and the rich keep getting bail outs or hand outs while the ordinary Joe suffers .. eventually that will extended to those who are relatively comfortable now. Just my opinion

Alzy

Alzy wrote: »

couldn't agree more . well said !!

The people who didn't get any benefit from our so called 'celtic tiger' are feeling the cuts more than a lot who enjoyed the golden days. Not that I think any less of those who made hay while the sun shone but it is time to make our voices heard. Banks and the rich keep getting bail outs or hand outs while the ordinary Joe suffers .. eventually that will extended to those who are relatively comfortable now. Just my opinion

Who are these people who didn't get any benefit from our "so-called 'celtic tiger'"?

Elmer Blooker

smash wrote: »

I think we just don't really give a fcuk... or we're lazy.

mentally lazy!
When the British left in 1922 the Catholic church ruled the country from Maynooth. It's no coincidence that bishops called the people the "flock"
end of...
Oh, I've just noticed post no. 11. I never read page 1 cos I was too ........... lazy.

Alzy

Rojomcdojo wrote: »

Who are these people who didn't get any benefit from our "so-called 'celtic tiger'"?

I was referring to people who were poor then and still are , people who have been homeless (with little upgrade in funding during the boom and it being cut even more in the recession) etc people like that .

AeoNGriM

hondasam wrote: »

Do we really want to see riots on the street, people attacking each other, it will solve nothing.
When we had the opportunity to elect a new government we did, our choice who is in there. Next time we should all refuse to vote.

That's part of the problem. Ok, so we all hate FF. Let's vote in FG! Who will make grand sweeping promises and then do fcukall about it. So what's the alternative? Every single political party in this country only cares about themselves at the end of the day and we bloody well know it, so who do we vote in when we know they are all the same weak, spineless, greedy ****?

Presidential election is the same, 7 candidates no-one wants in office but ya hafta vote for one of them if you do vote.

How is this a free democracy when every choice is the same, and the result is the cnuts at the top merely exchange places for a few years?

Somebody should have run a None of the Above campaign for the General and Presidential elections. That or a killing spree...........yeah, definitely a killing spree.

AeoNGriM

AeoNGriM wrote: »

How is this a free democracy when every choice is the same, and the result is the cnuts at the top merely exchange places for a few years?

It is free. People make free choices to elect corrupt scumbags. You are also free to run for election and change things for the better. I, for one, would be in favour of establishing a new political party, since none of the current ones actually represent the interests of the people.

K-9

The opposition doesn't really have a plan, take the Shinners who want us to default and then moan about a few Billion of cuts. If we defaulted we'd have to cut by 20 Billion!

Similar to the Occupy protests. There's a reason they want to keep things simple and vague.

profitius

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YC5XjFHoMA

Domo230 wrote: »

If I can ever afford to get into college I would like to study economics so I can get a real picture as to whether we are being shafted or if we are just dont know what were talking about and every suggestion the public has made is being ignored because it is a load of crap.

Somebody recently said they were shocked after learning how banks and the monetary system really works. He was shocked because he studied economics and it was never explained to him or any others there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tllkrJT5yi8

Biggins

TheZohan wrote: »

A bunch of moaners that do nothing and if anyone does try to do something or protest we moan about them too.

Yep. Spot on.

df1985

"ah sure itll be grand"



Sums up Ireland for me.

saywhatyousee

Deleted User wrote: »

It is free. People make free choices to elect corrupt scumbags. You are also free to run for election and change things for the better. I, for one, would be in favour of establishing a new political party, since none of the current ones actually represent the interests of the people.

I believe in a true democracy political parties should not exist.All political parties are good for is to unify candidates so they can me easily manipulated and be controlled into implementing the will of the establishment.Also politicians should only be allowed to serve one 4 year term and never be able to seek re-election that i think would stamp out a lot of corruption.

bradlente

Threads like this sum it up really,Lots of complaining from keyboards.Most people that are affected by this have higher priorities than protesting such as feeding,Clothing and housing their families.

I wouldn't say people are that gullible.I haven't heard someone say "it'll be grand" in years,More like the widespread rhetoric of statements like "de countries ****ed" and "it'll only get worse".We're definitely naive as a nation though imo.

Mungbean has it spot on I think,Everyone is out for themselves and I might even add that the majority of people in this country haven't really suffered that badly since the bust.In places like Iceland the people were more unified whereas in this country it seems like everyones turned on each other.The public service,SW and ordinary working men and women aren't unified by the problems the country is in,Then the mainstream media further increases the apathy by generally just being a bit ****.

pragmatic1

The difference between us and Iceland is that they had legislation in place which allowed them to create a good bank almost immediately. As a result they could keep personal saving safe. We didnt have that tool.

Blisterman

I have yet to see any protest relating to the current financial crisis, where any reasonable alternative solution was articulated.

Most of the protester's views on the situation seem to be extremely simplified, and based mainly around the idea that the money spent on bankers bonuses would be sufficient to maintain current public spending levels.

John Doe1

The problem is after years of being ruled over we are a very deferent society, its why we let the church take over where the brits left off.

sgb

Blisterman wrote: »

around the idea that the money spent on bankers bonuses would be sufficient to maintain current public spending levels.

Don't know anyone who has this point of view, bankers bonuses are highlighted because it shows how the country has been run

bradlente

Blisterman wrote: »

I have yet to see any protest relating to the current financial crisis, where any reasonable alternative solution was articulated.

Most of the protester's views on the situation seem to be extremely simplified, and based mainly around the idea that the money spent on bankers bonuses would be sufficient to maintain current public spending levels.

Thats true.

A bit of accountability for the people who caused some of the big problems would go a long way to satisfy people I think.The relationships some executives and politicians have had over the years is very unsettling.Whilst its a bit silly to argue that people can't be friends with other people,The vested interests many had when taking government positions in the US is truly shocking.

As far as our country is concerned,I would say many might be afraid of change and/or reform,Combine that with being naive or gullible or deferent as someone mentioned,The result is to vote in the same crowd in a different suit to try and maintain the status quo.

cosmicfart

TheZohan wrote: »

A bunch of moaners that do nothing and if anyone does try to do something or protest we moan about them too.

ha ha nail on head its a shame you could not sum it up in one word though

Jopari87

hondasam wrote: »

Do we really want to see riots on the street, people attacking each other, it will solve nothing.
When we had the opportunity to elect a new government we did, our choice who is in there. Next time we should all refuse to vote.

There seems to be this idea that if we just go out and protest our problem's will be solved. I'd prefer Irish people to come up with genuine alternative's rather than protest for protest's sake.

Greece's 50% discount did not come about because of protests, it's because the euro will fail unless something was done. That protests were happening was just coincidental.

K-9

cosmicfart wrote: »

ha ha nail on head its a shame you could not sum it up in one word though

There is a word, it's been used for decades, begrudgers.

Blisterman

I have to say, reading the British press, Ireland is held by many as a positive example of how to deal with the situation. Rather than rioting or protesting, which isn't going to achieve much, and instead just causes problems, people are just getting on with things. That's the only way this can be resolved. There's no magic bullet.

MungBean

K-9 wrote: »

The opposition doesn't really have a plan, take the Shinners who want us to default and then moan about a few Billion of cuts. If we defaulted we'd have to cut by 20 Billion!

Similar to the Occupy protests. There's a reason they want to keep things simple and vague.

^^
This is the answer to your question OP. People would rather moan about the opposition than the people who created/continue the policies that are the problem.

Its not about the oppositions plan as they arent in flippin government, its about what the government are doing to sort this mess. Which so happens is the exact same thing the last one did to create it.

cosmicfart

K-9 wrote: »

There is a word, it's been used for decades, begrudgers.

thats doesnt encapsulate the Irish sense of humour though. Please try again.

bradlente

MungBean wrote: »

^^
This is the answer to your question OP. People would rather moan about the opposition than the people who created/continue the policies that are the problem.

Its not about the oppositions plan as they arent in flippin government, its about what the government are doing to sort this mess. Which so happens is the exact same thing the last one did to create it.

What was Labours motto in the election again?

"our way not Frankfurts way" or something?:D

MungBean

bradlente wrote: »

What was Labours motto in the election again?

"our way not Frankfurts way" or something?:D

When it should have been "Party for sale, will swap votes for outrageous salaries/pensions"

Jopari87

Blisterman wrote: »

I have to say, reading the British press, Ireland is held by many as a positive example of how to deal with the situation. Rather than rioting or protesting, which isn't going to achieve much, and instead just causes problems, people are just getting on with things. That's the only way this can be resolved. There's no magic bullet.

Also we have just been ranked the 7th most developed country in the world by the UN.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1103/1224306978325.html

That's not to say Ireland doesn't have lots of problems but it's not all doom and gloom.

kincsem

profitius wrote: »

Now we'll get loans from the same bankers and they'll charge us interest. You couldn't make this up! Its almost comical at this stage.

Yeah, that's wrong. We should get free money.