“Bricklayer needed ASAP. $250 a day, no part-time workers and NO IRISH”
Classified ad, Gumtree, Perth, Australia. 2012. (Irish Independent, March 12th)
"Diversity is another euphemism for submission to an occupying force."
(Hippocampus, Irish Taxi Drivers' Forum, 2012.)
You can’t have it every way can you? Some can’t have it any way at all, especially where brain cells are in question.
There was some – rightful - consternation here in Ireland about an ad that appeared in the Australian version of Gumtree, specifying that no Irish need apply for a bricklaying job.
Here at home, it was soon superseded by claims that Irish taxi drivers are using green lights to advertise their Irishness, and hopefully gain an advantage over their foreign competitors.
This is a trend that has been growing over the past few years. First we had “Tacsai” signs. A cod-Gaelic bastardisation of the international word “TAXI” to denote real Irishness.
Then we had taxis infected by green-white-and-orange stickers as though by a rash; well in advance of the 2012 European Football Championship – claimed as a defence by one taxi driver in the video above. I recall this started long before the qualifying games even began.
Pause for reflection
Pause for reflection
Now. Many people go off the deep end when taxi drivers are mentioned. The soundings: “they are all ignorant bigots”.
Can I suggest that is an ignorant assertion in itself?
My own oul’fella was a taximan way back when a plate cost a few bob-and-a-bit. I have been seated in many taxis where the driver – doing a bloody difficult and sometimes dangerous job – has been a perfectly sane, balanced individual, devoid of any racist ramblings.
My own oul’fella was a taximan way back when a plate cost a few bob-and-a-bit. I have been seated in many taxis where the driver – doing a bloody difficult and sometimes dangerous job – has been a perfectly sane, balanced individual, devoid of any racist ramblings.
I was captive once, however, to an ignorant individual who did not grasp that the best way to promote his xenophobic views was to keep his mouth shut.
But you get them in all walks of life. And from all nationalities.
But as far as the professed innocence of this green light thing goes, let’s concentrate on the quote from one particular taxi driver on the newsreel above.
“I’ve only heard about this thing about racism, that a green light is racism. Guaranteed Irish on a package of sausages. Is that racist?”
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11 comments:
So on the one hand a green light is not a covert sign to advertise an "Irish" driver - yet on the other he wonders is it racist to buy sausages that have the guaranteed Irish logo - really really missing the point.
I heard a driver on the radio yesterday saying the green light originated in Spain & indicated a taxi was available for hire. That's true in Spain they do have these green lights - but on every taxi.
To be honest I wouldn't rush into any taxi in Ireland because of the lack of regulation - remember the scumbag involved in the X case, well afterwards he became a taxi driver - and guess what he's Irish. That would never have happened in London. There the drivers pass stringent vetting procedures and do the knowledge before they are allowed behind the wheel of a black cab. Bring it on.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/xcase-rapist-guilty-of-sexually-assaulting-girl-15-312106.html
Yes Ella. "Guaranteed Irish" means little in terms of quality control where this service is concerned...
Amazed how quiet this one is, comments-wise.
Well thank god, most of the times, one has his own choice. And if enough people ignore the cabs with the green lights, they will hopefully soon disappear. I was in an incident once a couple of years ago, when an irish taxi driver complained about all the foreigners driving his routes for less money, with no insurance and blablabla.
He did not really notice (or care) that he was complaining to another foreigner ...
But in saying that - thank god the number of those green lights is little, at least at the moment. About 50, they say. So not really a big deal right now.
They have a point. It's about time these (assumed) illegal workers/imiigrants get kicked out!
....I mean the tens of thousand illegal Irish, oops, "un-documented" Irish in the USA.
:-)
Wolf
It's a grand Island really? Ney, it's a psychologically damaged Island actually! You see this puerile stupidity with green lights and tri colour flags on the rear end of taxis tells you all need to know. It's the psychological thing again. Cowardly, infantile, actions, which do not intrinsically require a remedy to the stimulus. Such actions are intended to psychologically hurt, and if possible damage. Think of it as one toddler bullying another.
If they have issues - which maybe valid, or not, I'm not a taxi driver - why not have the courage to actually stand up and take a stand one way or the other. If as a group they are to labeled racist, then so be it. At least they may provide genuine and sincere grounding for their problems.
WEASEL words and action; always was that way in the BOG. BEYOND CREEPY.
@ Harald. Yes, it's always the foreigners that are ethically, as well as ethically, questionable as far as these gobshites see it. Despite Ella's obvervation that that the "X-case" child rapist was "guaranteed Irish".
@ Wolf. True.. the very same eejits would have a lot to say on the poor Irish illegals in the USA, I'd say.
@ Dakota. And nothing ever changes in our green unpleasant land, D.
Your a nasty bunch of sectarian twats on this pathetic blog .Ireland and Irish people are bad 24/7 ,i guess sharing power with the evil taigs must be just too much for you delicate flowers in the far north east of Eire to handle .LOL .Sad morons ...
Twats, is it? Speaking of which, read the blog before you criticise it. It is an Irish blog. This post is about racism in the Dublin taxi industry.
It's no wonder the country is in such a state with people like you sounding off through their arses as soon as anyone makes a critical observation about their own country.
Must we all share your Lemming-like outlook?
Sure its a "Irish" blog that hates the Irish language and all things Irish and then links to such informative websites as "Irish cunts", is it any wonder after all these years all you can muster is 3 or 4 comments who i suspect is really just yourself GM .Your an Irish blog yet you cant even use RTE or Irish met office for the weather but use the BBC ,Irish blog me hole !!.Saoirse
All the comments on the blog are genuine, even the ones from half-wits like you. I don't publish many, as they aren't all as inadvertently entertaining as gems like this.
The majority of Irish people do not speak Gaelic. It is a legacy of the cultural revivalism of Paddy Pee, Dev and other shysters. Outside the education system and other government areas, it is spoken by less people than speak Cantonese or Polish.
RTE don't have an embed facility in their weather pages. That's why I use the BBC. Contact RTE and complain... your licence fee money is funding it - assuming you're not on the dole or are a student, or are paying tax to HRH - along with all the official Irish bollocksology you hold dear.
Soairse? Don't make me laugh.
The freedom to shafted red raw by our gombeen class? The freedom to have priests run our schools and bugger our children. The freedom to bankrupt generations due to government sponsored stupidity and greed?
Holy fuck, will you ever learn?
What kind of freedom have uncritical/accept all-your-told people like you got in mind for us? You, and those like you, have been fucking the country up for 90 years.
I wish you'd all just emigrate and give dear old Ireland a chance. And you might have to yet.
It is the most patriotic thing yis could ever do.
Anon @02:47 You and your type have made Dublin such a heaven. NOT.
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