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Post by losleandros on Aug 10, 2011 14:10:35 GMT
Is'nt it amazing how the mighty have fallen ; I mean of course messrs. Norris & Obama. But you would'nt notice it from reading the Irish media. The latter are still very much in denial mode. Firstly, Obama & the Democrats reduce the US economy to virtual basket case status. That's a plain English translation of what Standard & Poors ( how appropriate ) really mean !. But according to Lara Marlowe in the Irish Times, it's all down to the Republicans. Then we have Eoghan Harris in the Sindo ( long after the jury of common sense has reached it's inevitable verdict ) still stoutly refusing to recognise the seedy/sinister world of David Norris, & berating all & sundry as bigoted " homophobes ", who wont put their critical faculties aside & give that nice Mr. Norris a break. Ethnic minority liberals & homophiles are beyond journalistic criticism it seems.
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Post by hibernicus on Aug 11, 2011 18:13:13 GMT
TO be fair to Obama, the policies pursued by President Bush (and President Clinton before him) certainly helped to get the US into its present plight, and there are legitimate fears that major budget cuts would damage the economy - but they have been living beyond their means for so long I don't think they have much choice at this stage. Lara Marlowe is a different kettle of fish - if you compare the US political media with what she says in her column, you will soon realise that she reproduces whatever the Democrats (and not any old Democrats - the most liberal wing of the Democrats) are saying as gospel truth and demonises everyone who disagrees with that position. For example, I must say that I do not like american neo-nativist rants about Hispanic immigration (especially when uttered by Catholics whose recent forebears were immigrants) but Marlowe takes the view that any restrictions on immigration or the enforcement of existing immigration legislation is racist, and anyone who does not take an open-borders view is just beyond the pale.
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Post by hibernicus on Aug 11, 2011 18:21:21 GMT
As regards Norris; the Sindo's position on him may be explicable by the claim in the current PHOENIX that Eoghan Harris has been acting as an unofficial adviser to the Norris campaign. What is more disconcerting than the SINDO is the way the IRISH TIMES, the so-called paper of record, held back from publishing details of the allegations for as long as they could and strove to push them under the carpet. (For example, the Helen Lucy Burke interview is a matter of public record and provoked widespread controversy at the time, yet they never referred to it until it was brought up and then shouted "smear" rather than analysing Norris's attitudes. JOhn Waters' columns on the IT's handling of the issue are very revealing.) BTW there is a clown in the IT letters column today saying that people who disapprove of Ezra Nawi's behaviour with a 15-year-old are saying that various European countries which have the age of consent at 14 or even 13 (!) in the case of Spain are wrong to do so. Yes they are wrong.
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Post by loughcrew on Aug 12, 2011 14:43:04 GMT
Re the Sindo's OTT pro Norris campaign, I was surprised to see that even Declan Lynch and Gene Kerrigan were drafted in last Sunday to keen over the loss of the 'greatest potential President this country never had' and therefore I think that the louche editor of that paper was the main instigator behind the wall to wall Norris coverage.
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Post by Los Leandros on Aug 12, 2011 15:03:43 GMT
Yes, the Sindo's ongoing love affair with David Norris is pathetic in the extreme. The Irish media ( & it has to be said a substantial number of the electorate ) would be quite willing to continue supporting David Norris if he was exposed as a serial killer ( which, of course, he is'nt ); such is there infantile obsession with electing a " gay " President. John Waters & George Weigel recently decribed large sections of Irish society as " bonkers " ; crude but apt. In many way's it's like living in a society where all the lunatic asylums have been thrown open & the inmates are running the show. Very weird. Did anyone see this lunacy coming ; & if they did, why did'nt they warn us.
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Post by loughcrew on Aug 12, 2011 15:37:55 GMT
I think it all began nearly thirty years when a load of people who were old enough to know better decided that it was time to pathetically kick off the dust of a well spent adolescence.
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Post by Los Leandros on Aug 12, 2011 15:57:24 GMT
I just read recently about a guy who worked in RTE back in the 1970's, Liam Nolan was his name. He said he got disillusioned with radio when producers started forcing their agendas down peoples throat & he was supposed to promote many of these agendas which he disagreed with. Seems to back up what you say Loughcrew. Fair enough Ireland ( like any other place - is there a nirvana out in D.4 ) was'nt a perfect society, nevertheless these people seemed to have had the idea of tearing the entire social/religious edifice down, but with no coherent alternative. Or am I being too conspiratorial ?.
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Post by shane on Aug 12, 2011 17:00:39 GMT
I agree with both of you.
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Post by hibernicus on Aug 12, 2011 19:44:52 GMT
The IRISH TIMES-RTE axis has been going for quite a while, though it has become less socialist and more openly anti-Catholic over the last 20 years. Relevant factors would include: when Teilifis Eireann was set up it brought in a lot of people who were either young or had been working in Britain; they were not influenced by the 'don't rock the boat' civil service mentality of the old Radio Eireann. 1960s Ireland was influenced by the worldwide upheavals of that decade and rejection of deference, though it took longer for it to work through. There was a significant far-left presence (notably WP) in Irish journalism in the 60s and 70s and its ramifications have yet to be fully exposed. There has been a changeover from the old Douglas Gageby/gay Byrne generation who were more subtle and in some ways more conservative than their successors from the HOT PRESS generation. It is I think fairly clear that the IRISH TIMES and significant elements in RTE saw themselves as having a mission to modernise/liberalise Ireland. Part of the difference between the two liberal generations is that the older one was brought up in a more conservative society and this meant they absorbed some of its values/assumptions to some extent. The younger generation has grown up taking the new order for granted (e.g. the idea that "husband" and "wife" are dirty words and "partner" is the only legitimate term) and are much more intolerant of those who do not conform to it - partly because it makes it safer for them to do so.
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Post by humphrey on Aug 12, 2011 20:42:48 GMT
RTE broadcast documentary about making of "The Riordans" recently. The main script writer spoke about how he explored controversial issues such as contraception with the explicit aim of changing peoples attitudes. So controversial issues are not discussed rationally but rather emotions are played in order to make viewers sympathetic to the liberal point of view. Peter Hitchens makes a similar point about British soaps being used in a similar fashion. Think Ken Loach's "Up the Junction". Television is powerful medium and is consciously used by the opponents of traditional values. Drama shows are still used in this manner. On occasion I am forced to watch "Friends"(I assure you I don't watch out of pleasure) Friends was made primarily in the 1990s. One striking feature of it is that their is no prominent gay character. Even 15 years ago the liberal TV producers of America didn't feel the need to include gay characters. I find hard to believe that a similar programme today would not include a gay character. Goes to show how quickly attitudes have changed.
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Post by hibernicus on Aug 13, 2011 11:52:56 GMT
I am not familiar with FRIENDS but i believe there was an episode where two of the female characters become "bi-curious". I imagine that the fact that none of the principal characters is gay (I suspect there were supporting characters in some episodes) is that it would complicate/restrict the possible romantic permutations between the six. I have seen the role of soap operas in liberal indoctrination compared to the sort of religious tracts distributed wholesale by nineteenth-century evangelicals, the message being equally subtle. You get the same in popular print media, cf the highly unsubtle propaganda for gay marriage in Denis Lehane's new thriller MOONLIGHT MILE or the pro-abortion feminist rants of Sara Paretsky's VI WARSHAWSKI detective series of novels.
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Post by hibernicus on Mar 16, 2012 20:00:05 GMT
www.newstatesman.com/books/2012/03/hitler-wilson-german-british You may remember the British writer AN Wilson being praised some years back for his debunking biographies of CS Lewis and Jesus (I list them in order of publication, in case you were wondering). Wilson has veered between Christianity and atheism/agnosticism, depending on his moods and various other factors, and he disgraces whichever belief he claims to adhere to by his reckless and careless inaccuracies. Now Wilson, despite knowing no German, has written a biography of Hitler which is well down to his usual standards. He was not, however, able to get away with the same rubbish that goes unchallenged when he writes on Jesus or CS Lewis. Follow the link below to see Wilson's standards of scholarship exposed in the NEW STATESMAN by a recognised expert on the Third Reich.
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