Blow in hammers into Ireland

Robbo

Solair wrote: »

Clearly it doesn't take much to become a journalist for a Swiss paper.

No sources, no fact, just go on a big rant!

You are aware of continued existence of the Sunday Independent?

JONJO THE MISER

I actually think i ****ed her once then to her horror took out my false teeth to put into a class for the morning.

Fuinseog

Solair wrote: »

Clearly it doesn't take much to become a journalist for a Swiss paper.

No sources, no fact, just go on a big rant!

Thousands of banned boards.ie and banned politics.ie posters could find jobs trolling.

She must have got a bit of a shock when she realised that Irish people can speak German and use Google Translate though.

I'm guessing she never intended her neighbours in Galway to see this particular article

if it had not been mentioned in 'it says in the papers' on the radio this morning a lot of people would have missed it.
she probably did reckon that her guinea pigs/ neighbours would never hear about what she wrote about them. I wonder will she be denounced from the altar?
she has been writing about Paddy in Galway since 2008, mostly for a berlin newspaper.

muskyj

what the blob!
that article is all over the blobbing place. why is it even being discussed?
she just rambled on without substantiating any 'real' points she made.
the only part I kind of agree with is that the Irish don't trust each other and are trying to screw each other over all the time!

I see you all looking at me!

Wompa1

muskyj wrote: »

what the blob!
that article is all over the blobbing place. why is it even being discussed?
she just rambled on without substantiating any 'real' points she made.
the only part I kind of agree with is that the Irish don't trust each other and are trying to screw each other over all the time!

I see you all looking at me!

What about the drinking? Being the most obvious truth. It being equated to a character trait to be able to drink lots of booze. Girls getting f'ked on spirits and guys bragging about drinking each other under the table?

I went to a small primary school that was pretty stingy on the heating too, there was another school a ways away that had a rat infestation. She has a point there, it's crazy to think with all the money that was made and all the social welfare things like our schools and hospitals are complete ****e in favor of Universities and government buildings..a lot of influential people in politics in Ireland were at once time lecturers. I'd love to know where all the millions that go into the Universities actually end up. I find it hard to believe that glorified shed of a gym cost as much as reported.

ValerieR

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

TAs for the music comment hasn't she heard of U2 and a whole host of musicians from different genres who've made it big beyond this isle. The fact that Imelda etc hasn't done so yet surely reflects on the poor tastes of other nation,not us.

She should really really go home if living in Ireland is this untenable ! I have been living in Ireland for nearly a quarter of a century at this stage ... there are some issues that are annoying me sometimes (politicians!! :mad:) but the rest largely makes up for it and I'm still here !

I am astounded at the lack of research in this article.

A lot of artists are well recognised abroad and even Imelda May in France for example. She was all over the place on French television in May 2012 and seems to have gone down very well with the public there.

Mind you, this article was written for Die Weltwoche, a Swiss newspaper which seems to be very right-winged ... So, it probably corresponds to what their readers are expecting to read ... :rolleyes:

She runs courses on creative writing apparently ... creative all right :rolleyes:

Sponge Bob

ValerieR wrote: »

She runs courses on creative writing apparently ... creative all right :rolleyes:

Nice that people pay her to share all this pure mad of hers. Aren't people very good.

Solair

The two week period where schools closed in Ireland was probably the period where we hit close to -20ºC i.e. a freak weather system hit Ireland and Britain and buildings / heating systems as well as the roads and water infrastructure were unable to cope.

It was a freak once in 100 year event.

In German-speaking countries, those temperatures are not unusual, but in Ireland and Britain they'd constitute natural-disaster levels.

She makes a reasonable point regarding the drinking, but plays it out way too much.

Ireland's alcohol consumption in terms of litres of alcohol per person is actually roughly in line with the France and a tiny bit more than the UK (probably explainable by the age profile difference). It's less than portugal and slightly more than Denmark, Poland, Austria, Luxembourg and Germany.

In terms of price, it's probably a lot higher but, then the price of alcohol in Ireland is very high due to Government taxes. So, the money being spent on alcohol is actually generating huge amounts of tax which are ultimately being spent on things like schools.

In fact, because alcohol is taxed so highly in Ireland, you could argue that our drinkers have less of a social impact because their habit is off-set by huge tax which goes back into things like health and education. Where as in Germany, beer's cheap and not as heavily taxed, so their habit isn't paying for the costs that they dump on the state.

As for drinking on the streets etc, you see as much if not more in many parts of Germany to be perfectly honest and you certainly see plenty of down-and-out alcoholics in Germany too.

I'm not excusing Irish binge drinking, but I do not see it as being very different from Britain or even Germany. It's a general Northern European problem that seems to be a major issue in a lot of countries at the moment.

As for the other aspects of her article, they are basically just made up.

The bit about the Government advising couples to get genetic testing to ensure they're not related - That's just made up nonsense.

The bit about the teeth / dental issues - To be perfectly honest, I cannot see much difference between Ireland and Britain or Ireland and anywhere else in Europe on that one.

The bit about 70% of Irish people having no teeth - Absolute nonsense and made-up.

The bit about racism - There may well be issues, but unlike Germany and Switzerland Ireland does not have a Neo-Nazi problem nor does it have ultra-right wing parties that actually have electoral support. Not to bring up WWII or anything, but Ireland's racism problems are tiny compared to many European countries that seem to have a genuine problem with white supremacists, anti-semitism, islamophobia and various forms of extreme xenophobia etc etc etc.

I know and have also worked with several African people who moved from Germany to Ireland and actually found Ireland to be FAR more open minded and much less racist.

As for Switzerland, a Spanish friend of mine who happens to look rather dark was treated incredibly badly by police over there who decided that she was clearly North African and traveling on a false Spanish passport!!!!

Also, as for calling Ireland isolated from the rest of the world? it's one of the most open, trading economies in the world and in my experience of it anyway is FAR more exposed to international trends, debates etc than Switzerland. I found Switzerland inwards-looking and very insular.

Irish people tend to travel a lot, tend to encounter other cultures a lot, and have a massive diaspora that spreads right across the entire globe. Not only that but because of very close ties to the UK and contact with the UK, we pretty much have the same level of connection to all the former colonial ties that the UK had, but without the colonial baggage i.e. as a former-colony ourselves, we tend to have a more positive relationship with former British colonies than England tends to have had.

We are also exposed to the Irish and British media and Irish people (and this can be proven factually) consume more news and current affairs media, newspapers, books and other fairly high-brow media than most other countries.

Ireland also had one of the highest levels of population growth in the EU over the last decade and actually continues to grow, despite the recession.

To me that says it's a popular place to live and I think that's down to a lot more than just nonsense about social welfare rates or whatever.

It's an open, flexible, friendly, vibrant place that tends to give people who move there the opportunity to set themselves up, get going and have a decent life. It also speaks English which is a massive advantage in terms of international connections and ease of access. Unlike much of Europe, it's not a vast mess of red tape and bureaucracy either (nor is the UK). It has a lot going for it to be perfectly honest. We just need to get this banking/property bubble dealt with!

All in all, I think her article is nothing but a pile of vile ranting and raving filled with almost no facts.

If she hates Ireland that much, she should pack up and leave. Although, I cannot see how she'd survive Germany either with all its gritty urbanism, punks, alternative types, unstraightened teeth and fun beer fests. I suppose she'll just have to go to Switzerland (if they'll let her in, with with it being an isolationist type place with strict visa / work permit policies as opposed to Ireland which welcomed her without any issue!)

As for her ranting and raving about the weather, it's an island in the bloody North Atlantic. Was she expecting 35ºC and sunshine 364 days a year or something?
You can focus on the grey skies or you can focus on the spectacular green scenery.
Irish weather's wet, wild, and the landscape's rugged. That's just how it is and it's part of the charm of the place.
If you need a sun holiday to escape it for a while, thanks to the wonderful Irish aviation industry that has transformed intra-regional accessibility in Europe, you can be somewhere with a different climate in a couple of hours for a very reasonable price.

Apologies for the long rant, but something like that really needs responding to.

Incidentally this is not the first anti-Irish rant in a Swiss publication. There was another one a few years ago which hit the media here.

As for Switzerland and its politics, I don't have much time for being lectured at by a right wing rag from a country that only introduced votes for women on 7 February 1971 !!!!!!

Redhairedguy

biko wrote: »

I don't see any good sources on consanguinity in Germany or Switzerland but I'm sure the hills and valleys there have many secrets

Well, Austria is not a million miles off Germany, and we all know they've got some skeletons and other things in their basements. :pac:

norrie rugger

Has there been any local reaction to this?

Fuinseog

norrie rugger wrote: »

Has there been any local reaction to this?

you would think the locals with their rodent like teeth and alcoholic ways would be sharpening their pitchforks but they seem to be taking the abuse in their stride.

antoobrien

Fuinseog wrote: »

you would think the locals with their rodent like teeth and alcoholic ways would be sharpening their pitchforks but they seem to be taking the abuse in their stride.

tbh we get worse of the dubs.

Mrs OBumble

inisboffin wrote: »

JustMary, you're not getting an accurate p**sing profile!

I've seen non-white people pissing on the street. Now can I swear they are non-Irish, no, but it's probable, same logic as you could say the white Africans!
Joking aside, you definitely have a point about the amount of abandon coming from boozing. I'd say half these same young lads wouldn't piss on the street if sober.

Ahh, lads, you missed my point.

I did not say "African people do not piss in the street".

Instead, I simply said that I have never seen them do so - and left the rest to your interpretation.

Thus I am not making statements about the standards of toilet training in this fair nation, so cannot be accused of being racist.

Also, I'm demonstrating a literary style vastly different to the one used by the article author. Not being trained in literary criticism, I don't have the correct technical terms for the two styles, but you could characterise them as "understatement" and "hyperbole".

The fact that so few of you were able to recognise the genre adopted for this piece, and took it all of it (alcohol vs education spending, dental deformities, etc) at face value says more about your own education than anything else.

I am pretty confident that the intended audience won't have this difficulty, and won't be looking for inbreds with pointy teeth the next time they visit. They may be a bit more wary of crafty "Ooirish" people trying to rip them off, and that is no bad thing, IMHO.

Apanachi

JustMary wrote: »

But I will say that you're lucky she didn't go into toilet habits. All I'm going to say is that in almost five years here, I've never seen an African or an Indian person pissing in the street. I'll leave the rest of this paragraph to your imagination.

Considering the toilet habits of Germans, it's no wonder she didn't, the amount of times I've seen fellas pissing on the main streets in broad daylight here is unbelievable. I can honestly say it's worse then any Saturday night in any irish town I've ever been to.

As for what she did write well I'll leave it uncommented and I want to remain civil

beeintheknow

JustMary wrote: »

Ahh, lads, you missed my point.

I did not say "African people do not piss in the street".

Instead, I simply said that I have never seen them do so - and left the rest to your interpretation.

Thus I am not making statements about the standards of toilet training in this fair nation, so cannot be accused of being racist.

I may piss in the street when I am caught short, but if I were caught short and spotted you on fire, I certainly wouldn't piss on you.
beeintheknow banned for uncivilness.
You have demonstrated a distinctly anti Irish viewpoint on several threads, including this one. Ideally you would not hold these views at all, but if you must, please keep them to yourself.

ben.schlomo

beeintheknow wrote: »

I may piss in the street when I am caught short, but if I were caught short and spotted you on fire, I certainly wouldn't piss on you.

You have demonstrated a distinctly anti Irish viewpoint on several threads, including this one. Ideally you would not hold these views at all, but if you must, please keep them to yourself.

And maybe you would be so kind as to follow your own wonderful advice and keep things to ones self too.

beeintheknow

Who asked you?

Sponge Bob

I condemn Ballygar for addling this woman's head I does.

New addition to la lingo.

"AS HAPPY AS A GERMAN STUCK IN BALLYGAR"

desaparecidos

JustMary wrote: »

The fact that so few of you were able to recognise the genre adopted for this piece, and took it all of it (alcohol vs education spending, dental deformities, etc) at face value says more about your own education than anything else.

Oh so we're all stupid paddies now? She just can't help herself!

ValerieR

JustMary wrote: »

The fact that so few of you were able to recognise the genre adopted for this piece, and took it all of it (alcohol vs education spending, dental deformities, etc) at face value says more about your own education than anything else.

I am pretty confident that the intended audience won't have this difficulty, and won't be looking for inbreds with pointy teeth the next time they visit. They may be a bit more wary of crafty "Ooirish" people trying to rip them off, and that is no bad thing, IMHO.

Except that most people reading the original piece have probably never travelled to Ireland and wouldn't get the "humour" demonstrated in this article. I would stop digging that hole.

Wompa1

Ironically I was in Monchengladbach on a Saturday night last summer and saw two young German men urinating on the street as well as throwing a parking cone at a shop window.

I nearly dropped my monocle

Oh Oh I also have witnessed two girls urinating in public. One out in a crowd in a beer garden. I believe one was English and the other was from Iceland. I believe toilet habits are not part of one's nationality

The Dutch have urinals that pop up out of the ground in the cities. It may be into a urinal but it's still out in public. I tell ya these people are animals! Of course growing up where I did it's not that long ago that people were doing there business in a hole in the ground

kabakuyu

I have travelled to Cologne,Bonn,and Hamburg in the last couple of years(great cities BTW) and I have encountered the same level of drinking that you would see in Ireland(both in tourist bars,neighbourhood bars,and public places)fact is the Germans like their beer.:)As for racism,Germany has its own problems as does most countries in Europe.As for our teeth,our pearly whites have never looked so good IMO, remember 25 years ago:( when dentistry care was not so prevalent.More people now visit the dentist and avail of treatment.This lady intended to be insulting and controversial and I can't help thinking it's maybe some type of payback for the negative opinion and press generated in Ireland with regards to the German dominance of Europe and our opinions on German bankers.

Shakti

what a yawnfest, are we supposed to be dividing now? followed by a good conquering midweek perhaps, is the writer is as transparent as their "article" who knows and who cares.

Private Piles

Ha!! No way I used to live beside that woman for about 6/7 months!!

No wonder she hates Ireland, she lives in the middle of nowhere, near eyrecourt and banagher, (on the galway-offaly border) surrounded by people that still think it's 1952.

She has 6 kids and about 12 dogs, and few horses to boot!
She is the biggest user I ever come across. Angie the reason Irish people haven't taken to you, is nothing to do with you being a foreigner...

....it's because you expect them to look after and ferry your kids (whom you've failed to teach basic manners to) in and out of school because you decide you want to head off to Canada for two weeks at the last minute.
And when asked a simple 'how are you?', or 'where are you from?' you look at everyone as if they've just asked you 'what kind of birth control are you on?'

You're cagey and cold my dear.

dloob

The Swiss published this?
Well I suppose it distracts from their eating of cats and racism.
Nice election posters http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6980766.stm

McTigs

Private Piles wrote: »

Ha!! No way I used to live beside that woman for about 6/7 months!!

No wonder she hates Ireland, she lives in the middle of nowhere, near eyrecourt and banagher, (on the galway-offaly border) surrounded by people that still think it's 1952.

She has 6 kids and about 12 dogs, and few horses to boot!
She is the biggest user I ever come across. Angie the reason Irish people haven't taken to you, is nothing to do with you being a foreigner...

....it's because you expect them to look after and ferry your kids (whom you've failed to teach basic manners to) in and out of school because you decide you want to head off to Canada for two weeks at the last minute.
And when asked a simple 'how are you?', or 'where are you from?' you look at everyone as if they've just asked you 'what kind of birth control are you on?'

You're cagey and cold my dear.

At last, someone with personal knowledge of this crackpot. More of this please.

Wompa1

dloob wrote: »

The Swiss published this?
Well I suppose it distracts from their eating of cats and racism.
Nice election posters http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6980766.stm

Racist or just tough on crime? Ireland could do with that!

nuac

Private Piles

Tell us more please

Any local reaction to the article?

Private Piles

<snip>

Fuinseog

Private Piles wrote: »

<snip>

I should point out that she chose to live there or maybe she was sent to Ireland and instructed to live in a place where the celtic tiger never was and the people were a little like 'all creatures great and small'.