My Letter to the Irish News about the 'Occupy' protests

[muppet]

Yes Stew we know.

We have had people like that all through history. 'Let them eat cake'......... (the Irish famine is) 'a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence' etc..

Amazing though how well some ex-pat Irish, of all people, buy into it.

[Tyrones own]

Who said anything about corner shops? Independent supermarkets can be competitive too.

What is an independent supermarket?

They're a bit of a dying breed. Curleys held out well on the Falls and even faced down a challenge from Wellworths when they opened that Westwood Centre next door.  But I hear even Curleys sold out to Sainsbury's or someone big like that in the end.

Emerson's in Armagh town, that was another independent.  Dunno if they're still about.

And you don't think Curleys and Emersons were/are incorporated 

[The Iceman]

Yes Stew we know.

We have had people like that all through history. 'Let them eat cake'......... (the Irish famine is) 'a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence' etc..

Amazing though how well some ex-pat Irish, of all people, buy into it.

Muppet I think its a bit far fetched to draw comparisons there in fairness.
Yes big business is a problem and yes the distribution of wealth is a problem. What I don't agree with is the attitude of 'the world owes me a living.'
Look around the bars in Ireland at the weekend and its the same people, in the same trendy new clothes, with the iPhones and the new cars, the holidays to Spain once a year, yet they don't have any money. Living beyond their means is the problem.
Couple that with the laziness that has crept into the country and you have a problem. People don't want to work and expect to get paid a lot of money for not working.

I work about 60-70 hours a week, God forbid if I was out of work in the morning and couldn't get work doing something similar to what I am doing I would be on a building site or behind a bar pulling pints or manual labour on a farm. You reap what you sow.

[Tyrones own]

Yes Stew we know.

We have had people like that all through history. 'Let them eat cake'......... (the Irish famine is) 'a direct stroke of an all-wise and all-merciful Providence' etc..

Amazing though how well some ex-pat Irish, of all people, buy into it.

Muppet I think its a bit far fetched to draw comparisons there in fairness.
Yes big business is a problem and yes the distribution of wealth is a problem. What I don't agree with is the attitude of 'the world owes me a living.'
Look around the bars in Ireland at the weekend and its the same people, in the same trendy new clothes, with the iPhones and the new cars, the holidays to Spain once a year, yet they don't have any money. Living beyond their means is the problem.
Couple that with the laziness that has crept into the country and you have a problem. People don't want to work and expect to get paid a lot of money for not working.

I work about 60-70 hours a week, God forbid if I was out of work in the morning and couldn't get work doing something similar to what I am doing I would be on a building site or behind a bar pulling pints or manual labour on a farm. You reap what you sow.

Nail on the head right there! Its wonderful how it's the lads drawing as many
benefits as humanly possible and or still living at home with their parents that don't see this. Amazing really!

[muppet]

Isn't it funny how the lecture about making everyone else pay for their mistakes, always includes the bit about how brilliant and hard working the one giving the lecture is?

Love thy neighbor, unless he is broke, it seems.

Iceman

I work about 60-70 hours a week, God forbid if I was out of work in the morning and couldn't get work doing something similar to what I am doing I would be on a building site or behind a bar pulling pints or manual labour on a farm.

Stew

I also got into serious credit card debt ten years ago, I ended up taking a second job to pay the fcuker off and it took three years, never again, what i did not do was blame someone else, blame Wall Street or anyone else, i blamed myself.

[Puckoon]

I don't understand your issue with the two quotes there muppet. Taking responsibility for your financial situation is a commendable attitude.

[muppet]

I don't understand your issue with the two quotes there muppet. Taking responsibility for your financial situation is a commendable attitude.

Of course it is. However lecturing everyone about extreme right wing ideology on the back of it isn't.

The mantra is always the same.

Start with name calling - bleeding heart, leftie pinko, Euro weenie etc.

Then assume a ludicrous notion that every opponent of extreme right wing ideology is broke, or heavily in debt, communists and always out of a job.

Then boast about how you yourself are unbelievably hard working.

None of the 3 tactics above form part of any debate. None are relevent to any issues. It is simply mantra, mantra, mantra.

[Tyrones own]

Then assume a ludicrous notion that every opponent of extreme right wing ideology is broke, or heavily in debt, communists and always out of a job.             

What extreme rightwing ideology would that be muppet,
Is it that damned evil "work hard, thrive, be happy and rely
on no one for free handouts" part that makes you uncomfortable?

[muppet]

Then assume a ludicrous notion that every opponent of extreme right wing ideology is broke, or heavily in debt, communists and always out of a job.             

What extreme rightwing ideology would that be muppet,
Is it that damned evil "work hard, thrive, be happy and rely
on no one for free handouts" part that makes you uncomfortable?

It is the pompous assumption that anyone that thinks different to you is lazy, deficient or somehow a lesser human.

[The Iceman]

Muppet you obviously have issues with people on the board that you can't set aside for the sake of serious conversation or debate.

Love they neighbour unless he is broke.

What does that even mean?

Am I not showing love because I don't support the protests? Am I not showing love because I'm not part of the protests? Am I not showing love because I take care of my own financial situation?

I don't understand your point.....................

[muppet]

Muppet you obviously have issues with people on the board that you can't set aside for the sake of serious conversation or debate.

Love they neighbour unless he is broke.

What does that even mean?

Am I not showing love because I don't support the protests? Am I not showing love because I'm not part of the protests? Am I not showing love because I take care of my own financial situation?

I don't understand your point.....................

A very small number of incredibly greedy people have placed financial bets that have caused the world financial system to become bankrupt. These are the people you are defending.

Your defense of these people appears to be that any people who complains is afraid of hard work, but of course people like yourself are great because you work hard.

[The Iceman]

Perhaps neither of us is representing our case too well. I will put my hands up and admit I don't understand half of the reasons behind the protests. But I do know what I see on the ground in Wall Street. I should post a video of one of the protestors we actually interviewed and asked why exactly they were protesting. The answer was "because we deserve to be heard, people deserve a voice dude" when questioned further we got nothing. Seriously. So my ignorance is partly based on a lack of supporting evidence from any sensible party.

Would you argue that everyone protesting would do whatever it takes to get their financial situation back on track? That they embrace hard work?

I didn't once state that I was "great" I implied that I wasn't lazy and that laziness is half the problem.

[muppet]

Perhaps neither of us is representing our case too well. I will put my hands up and admit I don't understand half of the reasons behind the protests. But I do know what I see on the ground in Wall Street. I should post a video of one of the protestors we actually interviewed and asked why exactly they were protesting. The answer was "because we deserve to be heard, people deserve a voice dude" when questioned further we got nothing. Seriously. So my ignorance is partly based on a lack of supporting evidence from any sensible party.

Would you argue that everyone protesting would do whatever it takes to get their financial situation back on track? That they embrace hard work?

I didn't once state that I was "great" I implied that I wasn't lazy and that laziness is half the problem.

Laziness is half of the problem, really? Let's work this through then. TARP cost $700bn. The cost of the Eurozone crisis is immeasurable at the moment but will surely top €1,000,000,000,000. Who knows what the worldwide cost will eventually be. And it is 'half' down to the laziness of poor people?

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

[The Iceman]

What about Madoff and MF Global? Was that 'half' down to the laziness of the poor as well? AIG? Bear Sterns & Lehmans and the 100 odd other banks that have closed in the States in the last 3 years?

How does all this stop anybody getting of their arse and getting a job?

[Eamonnca1]

I don't understand your issue with the two quotes there muppet. Taking responsibility for your financial situation is a commendable attitude.

Of course it is. However lecturing everyone about extreme right wing ideology on the back of it isn't.

The mantra is always the same.

Start with name calling - bleeding heart, leftie pinko, Euro weenie etc.

Then assume a ludicrous notion that every opponent of extreme right wing ideology is broke, or heavily in debt, communists and always out of a job.

Then boast about how you yourself are unbelievably hard working.

None of the 3 tactics above form part of any debate. None are relevent to any issues. It is simply mantra, mantra, mantra.

Nail on head. Hell I got into a personal debt situation years ago and spent years working to pay it off.  I'm the kind of fella who doesn't give money to beggars who I see making no effort to get themselves off the streets.  But that doesn't change the fact that a small number of corrupt people have squandered decades worth of accumulated wealth with some shady practices and suckering people into "get rich quick" schemes. A small number of people have driven the world economy into the ditch and gotten away with it. The biggest hit-and-run accident in history and there are cheerleaders out there who want to blame the poor for it all. Unbelievable.