In fairness, same sex marriage is a social construct. Two men in love each other in countries where ‘marriage’ is legislated for has not eliminated prejudice. Cultural values are what’s relevant here. As Ireland’s increasing Near and Middle Eastern populations attest to a new kind of Irishness, references to Irish indigenous culture in the decades to come will have little relevance to a sizeable minority. You have been warned, Sionnach.
Absolutely, Sinéad, and for the first several hundred years of Christianity in Ireland marriage was polygamous. And included most of the clergy! 😉
Maybe so on your latter point. Was it Tim Pat Coogan who talked about uisce faoi thalamh? An indigenous Irish identity driven underground but never quite dried up, percolating to the surface every now again, individually or generationally? Of course the phrase usually has a more conspiratorial meaning. Though that not might not be inappropriate in this case 😉
I’m more sanguine on the issue of immigration than most. However I will admit that I was shocked by the attitudes of my European and Asian co-workers during the recent referendum. I simply had no idea they held such bigoted opinions on LGBT issues – and LGBT people in general. The views of the Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs and Mauritians in particular verged on the violent. Several protested at their children being “fed gay propaganda” in the schools or gay people trying to force their “problems” on others. This was from young, well-educated men and women in their 20s and 30s. And the intolerance was pretty much universal. That took the wind out of my sails… 😦
You must either be very young or have a short memory. Think how recent these changes in attitude (at least publicly) have been, certainly in the UK and I assume also in Ireland (although apparently yet to penetrate parts of The North). Only a few decades ago, well within living memory of many of us, homosexual men were viewed the way we now view child molesters, indeed the public made little if any distinction. I personally knew a psychologist who’d been involved in a programme to ‘cure’ ‘queers’ which involved electric shocks. When I visited the IoM in the ’90s they were only just changing their law on homosexuality and their legislators were getting turds put through their letterboxes. A right-wing society, I thought at first, but no, they were just stuck in a time-warp and still living in the 1960. This is very probably also the case in many of the places the immigrants you refer to come from, at least those not brainwashed by fundy Christians.
And for the record I’m not gay and in fact find the whole business rather distasteful, but that is simply my personal preference and shouldn’t restrict what others do, just please “not in my face”.
Hang on, do you know the story? They were trained by the same Scottish martial arts lady (no not our gay kickboxing Conservative Party leader) but ended up fighting on opposite sides in a big set piece single combat. Rather in the way animals settle conflicts they first try to intimidate each other by showing off their ‘cleas’, but since they’re equally skillful, they move on to increasingly more lethal forms of combat. Eventually since they’re equally matched so neither can back down honourable, it comes down to close combat in the ford, where CC is obliged to settle matters with his secret weapon the Gai Bolga. This appears to be a sort of barbed harpoon, that he has floated down the stream to him. He grabs it with his foot and not to put too fine a point on it, buggers poor old FD with it, fatally of course. He then recites several pages of verse saying how much he regrets killing his old comrade, what a great guy he was etc. He then has to slit him open to get his weapon back (it being barbed …), which leads to several more verses of regret. So not quite what you thought perhaps …
That was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the affection shown by Cú and Fear Dia for each other before and after their fatal encounter. They were of course foster-brothers and friends. Not lovers. It was not meant to be taken too literally 😉 Scáthach was the kickass Scot. A sort of Medieval Nicola Sturgeon!
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
In fairness, same sex marriage is a social construct. Two men in love each other in countries where ‘marriage’ is legislated for has not eliminated prejudice. Cultural values are what’s relevant here. As Ireland’s increasing Near and Middle Eastern populations attest to a new kind of Irishness, references to Irish indigenous culture in the decades to come will have little relevance to a sizeable minority. You have been warned, Sionnach.
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Absolutely, Sinéad, and for the first several hundred years of Christianity in Ireland marriage was polygamous. And included most of the clergy! 😉
Maybe so on your latter point. Was it Tim Pat Coogan who talked about uisce faoi thalamh? An indigenous Irish identity driven underground but never quite dried up, percolating to the surface every now again, individually or generationally? Of course the phrase usually has a more conspiratorial meaning. Though that not might not be inappropriate in this case 😉
I’m more sanguine on the issue of immigration than most. However I will admit that I was shocked by the attitudes of my European and Asian co-workers during the recent referendum. I simply had no idea they held such bigoted opinions on LGBT issues – and LGBT people in general. The views of the Poles, Lithuanians, Czechs and Mauritians in particular verged on the violent. Several protested at their children being “fed gay propaganda” in the schools or gay people trying to force their “problems” on others. This was from young, well-educated men and women in their 20s and 30s. And the intolerance was pretty much universal. That took the wind out of my sails… 😦
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You must either be very young or have a short memory. Think how recent these changes in attitude (at least publicly) have been, certainly in the UK and I assume also in Ireland (although apparently yet to penetrate parts of The North). Only a few decades ago, well within living memory of many of us, homosexual men were viewed the way we now view child molesters, indeed the public made little if any distinction. I personally knew a psychologist who’d been involved in a programme to ‘cure’ ‘queers’ which involved electric shocks. When I visited the IoM in the ’90s they were only just changing their law on homosexuality and their legislators were getting turds put through their letterboxes. A right-wing society, I thought at first, but no, they were just stuck in a time-warp and still living in the 1960. This is very probably also the case in many of the places the immigrants you refer to come from, at least those not brainwashed by fundy Christians.
And for the record I’m not gay and in fact find the whole business rather distasteful, but that is simply my personal preference and shouldn’t restrict what others do, just please “not in my face”.
LikeLike
Hang on, do you know the story? They were trained by the same Scottish martial arts lady (no not our gay kickboxing Conservative Party leader) but ended up fighting on opposite sides in a big set piece single combat. Rather in the way animals settle conflicts they first try to intimidate each other by showing off their ‘cleas’, but since they’re equally skillful, they move on to increasingly more lethal forms of combat. Eventually since they’re equally matched so neither can back down honourable, it comes down to close combat in the ford, where CC is obliged to settle matters with his secret weapon the Gai Bolga. This appears to be a sort of barbed harpoon, that he has floated down the stream to him. He grabs it with his foot and not to put too fine a point on it, buggers poor old FD with it, fatally of course. He then recites several pages of verse saying how much he regrets killing his old comrade, what a great guy he was etc. He then has to slit him open to get his weapon back (it being barbed …), which leads to several more verses of regret. So not quite what you thought perhaps …
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That was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the affection shown by Cú and Fear Dia for each other before and after their fatal encounter. They were of course foster-brothers and friends. Not lovers. It was not meant to be taken too literally 😉 Scáthach was the kickass Scot. A sort of Medieval Nicola Sturgeon!
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NS is far more subtle. When it comes to out and out streetfighting wimmin we’ve got :
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/video-watch-snp-candidate-mhairi-5113388
🙂
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Both Cúchullain and Fionn were trained by women , oddly enough for such macho lads.
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And then Fionn turned into a Gaelic Warren Beatty! 😉
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