tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post3254010705346779387..comments2023-10-02T10:31:13.350+01:00Comments on Gombeen Nation: Guests of the Nation, by Frank O'ConnorThe Gombeen Manhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05024662128072120489noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-2256831342096458622013-06-04T04:19:01.269+01:002013-06-04T04:19:01.269+01:00From time to time I wonder about how raising my ki...From time to time I wonder about how raising my kids in Ireland might work out. It's usually right before my meds get adjusted and reality comes flooding back in great gales of laughter. <br /><br />Sod.That.<br /><br />Grim,grey,poverty stricken,kleptocracy that stumbles from one embarrassing episode to the next. Can some adults please take over there sometime soon? <br /><br />We'll stay in the US and keep on enjoying a decent life. It's far from perfect in our little corner of it but responsibility is taken, action occurs and shit gets sorted. My lads are American and I'm so happy that all they know of Ireland are the semi coherent mumblings that escape me when I twitch and spill my tea. HQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17347195702584132634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-46415326628603841702013-06-04T01:07:34.234+01:002013-06-04T01:07:34.234+01:00Anna I'm pretty sure corporal punishment has n...Anna I'm pretty sure corporal punishment has nothing to do with the current state of Ireland. Most of us here got smacked around thoroughly while growing up (and mostly deserved it). It's only a recent event (in the West anyway) that teachers can't physically discipline their pupils. I don't think it's as simply explained as with one custom in country.<br /><br />Take for example our man "pp" (I wonder how long he thought about a nickname that, when pronounced, sounds like a slang word for a type of malodorous bodily waste fluid). His posts are a mixture of extreme carelessness with regards to the use of his so-called native language (clocking in at 7.4 words per spelling error, even with due charity and not double-counting instances of multiple errors in a single word), numerous appeals to "irishness" and the defense of Eire at all costs, the obvious ignorance of his own national history, and the appeal to violence directed to those who disagree with him. Such is a prime example of what we're talking about. Do you think the sheer idiocy of his remarks -- and the incompetence of its delivery -- are the result of corporal punishment? <br /><br />I can't explain who is behind it or why (though I have a few theories) but I do think it's far more consistent with systematic brainwashing. It's like trying to debate history with Klansmen, you're just not going to get anywhere with them. People like "pp" think that defending their country is virulently attacking anyone who dares criticise any aspect of it, even if those people he attacks might be doing it out of a sense of democratic duty. Like the fact that it's a really dumb idea to spend a billion euro on two *tramway* lines that didn't connect. Or that it's dumb to finally build ten years later said connection on-grade through the city centre of one of the most congested cities in Europe, along its most congested street (especially when strange non-Irish people already found a solution for that way back in the 19th century and it's been applied dozens of times since then all over the world). Or to finish building a ring highway only to demolish it on completion to add an extra lane. And this barely even touches the sheer lunacy of the transport policy in Dublin. This is Ireland. The concept makes no sense, someone connected but utterly incompetent will be hired to build it, it will cost more than anywhere else to build it, and when complete it will barely function, after which an inquiry will be called and a 1700 page report will be issued that nobody important will ever read, thus allowing the cycle to continue, but anyone daring to say a word about this needs to be attacked. And we're the traitors apparently.<br /><br />Attacking any and all is a learned mental sickness, and a contagious one at that, but I'm sure some day someone with a passion for sociology and train wrecks will find an answer to the question as to why things are the way they are in Ireland. Though I will say that breeding an army of worker bees to attack anyone who dares speak out certainly plays right into the hands of certain interests here. Sure even 100 years later it's still always the fault of the English, even though the only things that will still be standing in 2113 Dublin will be what the English had built... and maybe also Anglo's skeleton.Bulwarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-3149603864526571852013-06-03T21:34:45.533+01:002013-06-03T21:34:45.533+01:00@ Dirty Bertie. That's right... can't be ...@ Dirty Bertie. That's right... can't be wrong.<br /><br />@ PP. Spoken like the thick gobshite you are. The kind that has this country in the state it's in. "Common sense and decency" indeed. Another great product of our educational system.<br /><br />It's "corporal" by the way.<br /><br />Now go away. The Gombeen Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05024662128072120489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-49682283114061319332013-06-03T20:21:48.777+01:002013-06-03T20:21:48.777+01:00its great to see a few decent real irishmen standi...its great to see a few decent real irishmen standing up for common sense and decency. well done mick for your comments about corporel punishment, theirs a few boyos on this so called blog that a few digs woudent do any harm to.ppnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-19188159414336574202013-06-03T20:04:40.950+01:002013-06-03T20:04:40.950+01:00im pretty sure tne bible sez somewhere its ok to b...im pretty sure tne bible sez somewhere its ok to beat kids,and ye cant have a higher authority than that.dirtybertienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-71314397923877935672013-06-03T11:37:31.718+01:002013-06-03T11:37:31.718+01:00@ Anna. No, not too good at taking responsibility ...@ Anna. No, not too good at taking responsibility here. Always someone else's fault. The Normans, the Tudors, the 800 years, the bank manager who forced them to take mortgages on 20 investment properties, the famine. <br /><br />@ Mick. No, never harmed me either. <br /><br />Now, where I can I hide the latest body?...The Gombeen Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05024662128072120489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-41838119644015954602013-06-03T09:06:37.181+01:002013-06-03T09:06:37.181+01:00sure, a few slaps never hurt anyone. it knocked so...sure, a few slaps never hurt anyone. it knocked some sense into me anyway.colamicknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-87856280198468679522013-06-02T21:31:37.792+01:002013-06-02T21:31:37.792+01:00Yes – this was rated one of the best stories ever ...Yes – this was rated one of the best stories ever written in English- a powerful punch in the last few lines. <br />Speaking of West Brits and identity; in the last month a English paper reported that the Irish ( even after generations) assimilate LESS than other people s of the former empire , IE 2nd generation Indian /Pakistani people will say they are British, but 3rd generation Irish descendants Won’t. <br />Why- because Irish culture and language is so ‘distinctive’?? Well I don't know any Asian people in Britain directly- but from what I see in the media, culture wise, often they don’t Totally assimilate: IE they don’t totally switch to western food/ religions/ language etc- 2nd generation often still understanding some of their language, they Don’t totally switch to chipper food but will still have preference for halal or vegetarian food. Even without arranged marriages they will often marry within their culture without changing to western traditions of Christianity/ Atheism. IE- still carrying on with broad strands of a Distinctive culture, still clinging to their roots-and No problem with the dichotomy of also being British. I have met many English in NI who say they don’t find the North much different from England culture wise, i.e. food, pubs, TV, etc. But many English who live down here in ROI say to me, they are amazed when things go wrong, no one takes responsibility to put them right- and that seem s to be what most people see as different between ROI and NI& UK.<br />SIGH- all the above news item made me feel was that a lot of brain washing had to have gone on- if 3rd generation Irish in England can't also believe they are British. After all why would they feel antagonism towards Britain- the country that helped their families so often when this one let them down?annanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-54218261523480229132013-06-02T21:08:23.489+01:002013-06-02T21:08:23.489+01:00I am just responding to this and few comments Bulw...I am just responding to this and few comments Bulwark made on a previous post: I am from NI- still Ireland you think- but yet people down here are very different: I am always amazed by the back stabbing- IE if faced with a bully and victim- as in many workplaces, the correct etiquette OF course is toady to the bully- and stab the victim in the back- NO I never saw this in all the yrs I lived in NI, channel islands and England. <br />NO One complains if they are badly treated at work- and god awful managers get away with it- especially in public service. I see national characteristics of toadyism, cowardice, and back stabbing and lying –WHY? It almost seems like a former Eastern Europe state- where people feared imprisonment- for speaking out- or worse. YET that didn’t happen here- BUT people behave as though they were under a dictatorship- WHY???? I often ask. Answer ( partly) is although I am 52 I meet lot of people even in their mid 40’s who were Battered at school- in way I Never heard of in NI.( I was slapped Once at primary and Never at secondary school- in fact I Never knew a girl who was slapped at secondary school- though that was common here) <br />Recently my workmate, Jim (age 32) said he saw a child Walloped across the Face at primary school in a way that frightened him!!- something I’d Never seen in 1960’s NI.( we had 2 teachers at my tiny primary school- one lovely- the other could be nasty. The nasty one hit the local gentle giant’s son so hard his hand was bleeding. My neighbour ( who resembled Finn Mc Cools grandson) went to the school, confronted Mrs Ruler, said he was taking his son to another little country school, how dare she hit him like that- and if she’d been a man he’d have thrown her into the nearby by lake. And that was in 1964, in NI- a courageous attitude that is sadly lacking in this country even today<br />annanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-18916435774061206322013-06-01T23:20:41.198+01:002013-06-01T23:20:41.198+01:00@ Mick. You're a wind-up merchant, I hope! D...@ Mick. You're a wind-up merchant, I hope! Delaney for president!<br /><br />@ HQ. Yes, great story.<br /><br />@ Bulwark. I was thinking the same thing...The Gombeen Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05024662128072120489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-33180942516810563082013-06-01T21:46:39.750+01:002013-06-01T21:46:39.750+01:00"(...) we would now be living in a republican..."(...) we would now be living in a republican socialist utopia"<br /><br />Dealing with some people in Ireland means never quite knowing whether it's sarcasm or it's genuinely meant to be serious.Bulwarknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-64468749290126743872013-06-01T04:06:43.250+01:002013-06-01T04:06:43.250+01:00Remember this story (and the book) very well. It l...Remember this story (and the book) very well. It leapt off the page for me the very first time I read it. Even as a sprog I knew I was 'learning something' with this tale. Brilliant choice and thanks for the reminder that school wasn't entirely awful. HQhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17347195702584132634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-22104804076238491092013-05-28T20:33:53.558+01:002013-05-28T20:33:53.558+01:00hang on a minute, i think "pp" may have ...hang on a minute, i think "pp" may have a point in his own twisted way, if the proper ira had won the civil war... (and obviously people like o'connors heart was'nt really in it) we would now be living in a republican socialist utopia!, just look at what the free state bastards have done to us with their anti catholic dole cutting policies, they are destroying a proud country at the behest of their ahtiestic overlords in europe.micknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-37075498566432099582013-05-27T08:30:30.297+01:002013-05-27T08:30:30.297+01:00I didn't know THAT - Jesus pp you'd better...I didn't know THAT - Jesus pp you'd better dig yourself a big big hole to bury yourself in ha haponyboynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-83027306063920566412013-05-26T22:59:31.029+01:002013-05-26T22:59:31.029+01:00I can't imagine this gobshite actually read th...I can't imagine this gobshite actually read the story as literacy does not seem to be a strong point.<br /><br />The irony is that O'Connor was in the IRA, and fought in the civil war. <br /><br />Amazing ignorance.The Gombeen Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05024662128072120489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-59671820673285906102013-05-26T22:00:03.228+01:002013-05-26T22:00:03.228+01:00Agree with you there GM - absolutely stunning anal...Agree with you there GM - absolutely stunning analysis, and such depth. Nice of you PP (doesn't stand for pisspot by any chance) to take time out from your parliamentary schedule to lecture us on your preferred methodology for dealing with those who shine a light on the petrie dish that is Ireland. <br />PB (no relation to PP)ponyboynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-45572743743195604132013-05-26T20:02:45.879+01:002013-05-26T20:02:45.879+01:00Stunning analysis.
Stunning analysis.<br /><br />The Gombeen Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05024662128072120489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-79286202023922242272013-05-26T18:22:56.708+01:002013-05-26T18:22:56.708+01:00i hope that traitor was run the f**k outa this cou...i hope that traitor was run the f**k outa this country with his west brit simpatys, its no thanks to the likes a him that were a free and soverin republicppnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-13702158686842670012013-05-26T03:12:24.418+01:002013-05-26T03:12:24.418+01:00I like your taste GM. This has long been among my ...I like your taste GM. This has long been among my favourite short stories. Up there with Flannery O'Connor and Dubliners. Why it's so little known I can't fathom. Actually, the whole collection (same title) is ecxellent.<br /><br />thomasAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829381583204750928.post-91827166519551614252013-05-25T23:48:32.189+01:002013-05-25T23:48:32.189+01:00This is the one story that haunts me from that boo...This is the one story that haunts me from that book GM. I've sent it on to many people over th years and always the feedback is that stunned mullet reaction. Mrs Ponyboy says that it shocked her on reading it and she counts it as probably the best short story she's ever read. He had a way with the language, didn't he? Imagine popping in to the local for a pint or two with him and Myles, jesus that'd be worth a visit back to Ireland for. <br />PbPony O Boynoreply@blogger.com