A Woke Society? **Mod Warning In Post #435**

It's populism again.

Populists like Jack calling woke "hypocritical" is like far right calling far left "extremists. Same ****, different side.

Sorry, but have you linked to the correct article here? The introduction is nothing to do with content (the subject of the article never said anthing about promotion or integration) and you refer to Nihal Arthanayake as "her" twice despite being male...?

Also, you can't really complain about someone playing their role in media created culture wars, when you use false reporting to portray trans regrets as way more commo nthat it is, as you did last time you were here.

To be fair then what do you think would happen if a similar invite went out to just the whites on the council?

What do you think would happen if a gay orgy excluded straight people? Or if a womens lingerie night exlcuded men? Or a left-wing political party excluded Nazis?

There's a difference between bigotry and exclusion.

Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork: "White people in Ireland need to understand that we have an unearned privilege simply being white."...

Yes. And.....?

A very neckbeardy article in today's Irish Independent by Tanya Sweeney

Tanya Sweeney: It’s never too early to teach children about physical boundaries — even with Santa

"There’s some things you can always rely on this time of year: running out of batteries; a relative who makes dodgy Irish coffees yet swears it’s their ‘specialty’; and, among the most time-honoured of them all, a visit with Santa.

The latter can go one of several ways.

If you have really little kids, they can be starstruck by the big guy and effectively rendered mute. They can refuse point blank to have anything to do with him once he’s there in the flesh. Or they can scream the grotto down.

Brian Dowling and his husband Arthur Gourounlian were no doubt banking on the beginning of a lovely family tradition with their one-year-old daughter Blake when they took her to see Santa at Palmerstown House.

Yet their photo opp went a little awry when Blake realised she was “not 100pc sure of Santa”.

“Evidence will show from picture number 3 that when Santa got too close, Blake was HAVING NONE OF IT. Quoting her daddy, Blake was like BYEEEEEEEE,” they joked on Instagram later.

I get where Blake is coming from. He may be the person that brings everyone presents and festive cheer, but equally, Santa is a stranger and can often be a scary looking one at that when you’re a year old.

Luckily, Dowling, Gourounlian and their social media followers saw the light side. And look, no doubt Blake will look back at these photos in later years and laugh about the time she wriggled free from Santa.

But at the risk of sounding like the Grinch here, there’s probably a bigger conversation to be had about little kids and their own personal boundaries, Santa or not.

How many children have been told to sit on Santa’s lap, despite being clearly uncomfortable about it? And how many parents disregarded that discomfort, determined instead to make the most of a photo opportunity? It can’t be fun for Santa either, the poor overworked sod.

Earlier this week, when Santa took a visit to a Florida shopping centre, three-year-old Adley, the daughter of influencer Katie Love, told Santa ‘no’ when he asked if she wanted to sit on his lap. When Adley firmly set her boundaries with Santa, he praised her ability to communicate exactly what she wished.

What Irish family doesn’t have a picture of a smallie visiting Santa and, instead of enjoying the opportunity to get a word in ahead of the 25th, looks pretty spooked and upset instead?

And, after witnessing the moment in person, Love asked Santa to repeat his expert response on camera.

“This is her body and she’s in control of her body,” he told the camera.

“I asked if she wanted to sit on my lap and she said no, and I said: ‘Way to stand up for yourself and way to say what you believe is true.’”

We should be teaching small kids who are old enough to say it, to say no. Not just when it comes to Santa, but any situation in which they feel physically uncomfortable or compromised.

They need to learn that it’s not rude or impolite to look after their own physical boundaries.

’Tis the season to visit Santa, but ’tis also the season to catch up with extended family, which means every house in the country will hear some variation on the ‘give your auntie Breda a kiss there’ refrain.

Parents often mean well, but I’ve lost count of the times I’ve told a young niece or cousin or friend’s child that they don’t need to give me a hug or kiss just because their mum told them to.

Many’s the Christmas in which I was told, as a young child, to hug this uncle that I never saw, or kiss that great-aunt that I didn’t know.

My parents meant well, of course, and kids were not really encouraged at the time to opt out, but I wish I’d been given the permission to say no or least do things on my own terms."

You imagine that twitter/x is representative of anyone but the loony fringe. Most people have never been on either as they have to much sense. Twitter represents nothing real.

As opposed to Irish identity politics which have been reguritated by various national bodies for the clapping seals to lap up since 1921 (and probably before)...?

Ignore these posters. All they do is leave snarky responses to anything posted in this thread.

The thing is you never actually made a point. You just called it "a neckbeardy article". I mean: so what...?

Make a point relevant to the thread title and then use the article to back up your point. But without an opinion or point, there's really nothing for us to debate.

I think comparing Ireland now to counties historically isn't really an equal playing field, and nor is it equal to compare it to non-democratic countries, but I would agree with you - the claim is a bit hysterical.

Bigotry mych more so than racism is definitely on the rise though. Its one of those things that could lead to the statement being true if it's not nipped in the bud, but it doesn't have to woke OR racist - the vast majority of Irish people are neither.

So asking someone to make a poin we can devate and not linkdump is 'snarky' now, eh?!

Jack made a very good point above and I replied to it two posts above this, so that blows your theory out of the water. If you disagree with either him or me, feel free to reply. If you don't, don't. Simple.

In trms of racism, yes, i'd agree with you. But in terms of iverall bigotry we're probsbly about average. Certaunly mot the worst one way or the other.

Not sure how you'd go about empiricaly measureing it though.