Wallace and Daly

Did not hear it but I find the whole thing very depressing and disheartening.

edit: Thinking about the issue generally...(far left reluctance to condemn Russia unconditionally + fully support Ukraine here)

It's like these movements have not changed since the 60s or even earlier and people who were glints in their father's/mother's eyes back then are making the exact same "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type mistake today. Frozen in aspic.

I wasn't around then myself but my understanding is there was a coterie on the far left that was always willing to, in a sense, excuse the Soviet Union any enormity because it was against Western capitalism and there was a higher goal. IMO these people have the same blindness about what Russia under Putin has been fully exposed to be now, and what the invasion of Ukraine represents (distilled evil, pretty much) because Russia opposes the US/NATO/the West generally.

Either that or they really are all paid off by Russia or have been compromised in a different way somehow. I don't believe that though. In some ways it would be more understandable and comforting (as conspiracy theories sometimes can be)!

🙄

This is where the conversation has been going for a while, but someone has finally said it out loud. Using Wallace and Daly to make a case that anyone left of centre should be doubted is silly (edit: should really say utterly disingenuous). They and their followers don't represent one entire half of the political spectrum, but it's useful to some to promote the false reality that they do, and it's not like it's the first time in history that it's been done either. Let them and their opposites shout on the wings while those closer to the centre have an actual dialog and get things done.

To be clear, I am talking of the outright left and not centre left like SF and Labour.

However, don't be fooled into thinking the loonier lefties won't bandwagon off the more moderate SF/Labour. Calling for markets to crash, bigger government and spouting anti-capitalist sentiment are all views which threaten our Western prosperity and there is a disturbing trend for these types of views to be almost acceptable or normal in our Western societies.

Exactly, even the United States has a dangerous loony-left wing of the Democrat party - the likes of AOC and 'the squad', not to mention billionaire-hater Bernie Sanders.

Last thing we need is to be importing the American Overton window. That country has sat right of the European centre for quite a long time indeed. There's a good reason for Sanders and AOC to be vilified in the USA and it is in no small part because they have the absolute gall to suggest that pharmaceutical companies shouldn't be allowed to profiteer, that health insurance companies shouldn't just treat their policy holders as a number on a spreadsheet and that billionaires should pay their fair share. I mean, won't someone please think of the billionaires? With their billions of dollars, will they ever catch a break?

I know, imagine how embarrassing it would be if the world found out that you were riding Mick Wallace 😮

A small number of journalists in this here country of ours, primarily freelancers I suspect, are permanently trying to embed themselves in the media with utter trip like today's indo story about 'romance Wallace' [I did not read more than the first few lines] Similar stories are constantly popping up. Wallace and Daily seem to have their cheerleader as do certain other supposed politicians. Such politicians need to be ignored full stop. Not a word about them till they bugger off.

Being on the left is not compatible with social democracy, human rights, welfare systems & public healthcare?

Every major left wing organisation is anti Putin. The parties that are pro putin are groups like Marine Le Pen, Orban or AfD in Germany. Left leaning groups that support human rights, are pro LGBT right are the ones shouting the loudest about how bad Putin has been. It's right wing

Every major political group has spoken out against Daly and Wallace. They are nutjobs. If you want to say there's a problem with the left, then go get some stats that show this, rather than using two outliers to make your point. Find polls that show that left leaning groups support the fringe views that Wallace and Daly espouse

The difference is that Irish left-wing politicians are in the main, not left-wing in a European sense.

Wallace and Daly support Putin, Sinn Fein did up until the invasion. Ditto with support for creatures like Maduro. However, it is not just about that kind of nauseating support for dictators, it is also about policies.

All of the left-wing parties oppose the LPT, which would be a key policy for European left-wing parties. Similarly, we had PBP opposing water charges which would be standard for left-wing European parties. Irish left-wing parties focus on free everything for a minority of people, whereas in Europe the left-wing parties focus on equality of access for all. So while we have 40% of the population with access to free medical care, in France, there is a small charge for everyone.

So getting back to the main point, all of the support for Putin over the last five years in Ireland has come from those who claim to be left-wing.

Don't forget that Gemma is also a massive racist, homophobe and transphobe... her supporters kneel outside Google and say the rosary.

Whataboutery example #131 from BB