You've been looking in the wrong direction, the dangers are coming from the right.

Absolutely, categorically, zero evidence that this statement is true.

Incredible that you would write this and follow it up with the statement below.

Like they've done in the UK? How's that going?

Well done on using the word Globalist 6 times in one post, I'm sure you've hit your quota. If you replaced it with the word 'Capitalist' then at least some of what you've written would bear some relation to the real world.

Let's talk about this, I didn't suggest Ireland needed to be ashamed about anything, I'm not sure why you are brining it up. But given that you did, can I ask do you think the recent history of examples of Irish institutions and how they treated people in their control over several decades? I'm willing to bet that there are many Irish people who view that as something that we should look back on with shame. And you might argue that that's different that it was Irish people who suffered in those cases but that makes no difference. It was the subjugation and abuse of people who were vulnerable or in a position where they were viewed as inferior and treated in this manner, that's neither here nor there.

Another poster argued yesterday that no one every left Ireland because they felt they were treated unfairly or targeted in any particular way, I'm willing to bet that there's plenty people who got on a plane or boat in order to avoid people in power in Ireland or the groups which they controlled and how they might have been able to make that person suffer. I know of two instances within my own families history where people had to, in one instance leave the country, and in another had to live a lie for a good portion of their life because of the prevailing viewpoints in the society they lived in at that the time. That that poster had no concept of that version of Ireland existing is indeed a privilege that I'm sure they would be apoplectic to be told they have. I don't know why people get so offended to be reminded to if not be thankful for the life they have, but at least to not be ignorant what they might have had to experience.

At least we now agree that no one is calling for open borders so that lie can be put to bed.

You're right, I know exactly what it is people are complaining about. Something practically entirely meaningless that has been passed in a Chinese Whispers style through Facebook, the Daily Mail, Piers Morgan and Niall Boylan generating clicks and annoyance every step of the way. And I know how massively inconsequential all of these types of topics are in the real world versus the amount of coverage they get. And meanwhile, people continue to struggle with medical bills, access to housing, education costs etc etc etc and jumping to the beat of those who point at immigrants and scream that they are the problem. Hence the thread title.

You really think the people protesting against statues of long dead people who have been associated with unpleasant if not outright criminal acts are the ones who are demanding censorship and supporting government overreach rather than the above real world, happening right now, examples of censorship and government overreach?

I have no issue with Governments taking medical advice to propose and enact legislation designed to limit the impact of the most dangerous pandemic any of us have lived through.

It was annoying, frustrating and by no means perfect in every way, but it was intended for the greater good and the flip side is the tens to hundreds of thousands of additional excess deaths that countries who didn't do everything they could to keep people safe (such as the UK and Brazil or Red States in the US).

Isn't that what a government should do, aim to keep as much of the people in its country safe as possible? Again, I repeat, it wasn't perfect, but when I am sick, I go to a medical professional and take their advice, not a barber or taxi driver or whoever else might be uneducated on the matter but not afraid of expressing an opinion.

Come on man, those people who are walking around on picket lines are absent from the work environment behind them. They are having a very obvious impact.

If the extent of government overreach you experience in your life is limited to not going to outdoor events for a period then that has to go in the category of 'Privileged but doesn't realize it' I was referring to earlier.

Link to Bill Gates interview/comments please so we can see what exactly he said and in what context.

This is what the World Health Organization say on the numbers.

And if you want to talk about the removal of civil liberties, then lets go back to the US after 911 and the introduction of the Patriot Act and then the 2 decades of war that decimated at least 2 countries. All as a consequence of the deaths of 3000 people. Or about the same number that are dying a week from it 30 months after the outbreak started.

It's not all about you.

Don't think anyone can argue otherwise. Complaining about restrictions when they actually helped limit the spread as vaccines were developed would be like complaining about seatbelts and only using data from accidents in which they were worn to say they weren't really necessary.

There's no doubting but that there some things that grab societies attention more than others, we've already spoken about how much of an influence the US is on world affairs and given the brutality of that event, and the fact that it was another in a long line of events where it was clear the the behaviour of the police was excessive and disproportionate, then it motivated people to add their voice to those saying it is/was unacceptable.

That aside, you'll find plenty people who suggest that there is systemic racism is in Ireland. I'm not saying there is, I don't know, I suspect that there definitely is clusters of it but because you or I might not be affected by it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. What would you think a member of the travelling community would say to that question?

Pretty sure most people understood that in that analogy that such an option wasn't available. Are you saying that if you had only 2 choices, let your child suffer and possibly become seriously unwell/die, or drive while being over the limit, you would choose the former?

I do live there. And have lived most of my life in Ireland and also for a period in the UK.

And the US is the exact same as those places, some good things about it, some bad. There are very few countries that have no redeeming features and things I dislike about the US, are some of the things I'm alluding to in the thread title.

Do you understand the concept of reducing risk while not removing it entirely?

Some people wearing seat belts die in car accidents, do you think there should be no law saying that they have to be worn?