all 10 comments

[–]cephyrious 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Independent thought must be punished. It's communism in different clothes.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

It’s religious behaviour. They’re punishing heretics the way that the religious authorities did in days gone by. I think Ireland is particularly hard done by because they seem to have gone through a rapid secularisation following the dreadful abuses by the Catholic Church in Ireland. They have gone all-in on LGBT stuff and “hate” speech regulation and just about every other illiberal social justice policy you can think of.

Scotland is desperately trying the “hold my beer” line of thinking, but they’re held in check by the fact that Parliament in Westminster is sovereign and can veto any legislation that might negatively affect the rest of the UK, so the worst excesses of Scottish social justice reform is held in check.

[–]JulienMayfair 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, gender is now an ideology based on unquestioning faith and under which any dissent or challenge is identified and punished as heresy/blasphemy.

[–]Wanderingthehalls 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Two things happened here. One was obviously the rapid secularisation not just in and of itself. But also the desire to show the rest of the world that it had happened and disassociate ourselves very clearly from the global image of holy Catholic, backwards Ireland.

The second was the marriage equality referendum. We loved being the first country to introduce same sex marriage equality by resounding plebiscite. Both because it felt like a good thing to do but, again, because it showed the world how modern and progressive we are now. (Same how almost no-one likes Leo Varadkar but nearly everyone liked how modern we are that we don't care about a gay man running the country.) So hopping headlong into trans ideology was a (literal) no brainer for a lot of people of a certain age.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Excellent explanation.

[–]Q-Continuum-kin 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Also consider that the people who would have been devoutly religious are suddenly existing in a "secular" culture. I was raised Catholic but became an atheist in high school so I see this idea of lingering religiosity in friends and family who have since become secular. There is a certain way of thinking that comports with a religious mentality but when you cut paste that person into a secular culture, they retain that way of thinking. Gender ideology is religion disguised as secular civil rights.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I suspect that that is what we are seeing with groups like Extinction Rebellion/Just Stop Oil who are behaving as if in the throws of religious mania - unable to be debated with, assured of their righteousness and the correctness of their beliefs. I think we will see eco-terrorist atrocities before long because of it.

[–]Wanderingthehalls 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I have been told, and I have nothing to back this up - so feel free to call bullshit, that neurological studies have been done the show religiosity, activism and very loyal following of a sports team all activate similar brain patterns. It really would have been great if we could have settled on following sports instead of irrational activism.

If only we could make the Irish football team kind of good again like they were under Jack Charlton in the 90s. Being good at rugby and women's boxing isn't cutting it. And GAA just doesn't have a loyal enough following in the cities.

[–]ClassroomPast6178 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I remember supporting Ireland at WC 1994 because England failed to qualify.

You might be right about sports teams, activism and religiosity. It’s definitely something worth bearing in mind when looking for reasons for these behaviours. I’m part way reading an article about a study looking at left-wing authoritarianism, dark triad personality traits and activists, and seems to suggest that a lot of the most vocal activists (the black bloc types) may actually be cause-agnostic and be in it for the thrill of violence etc.

[–]cephyrious 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Same shit. Communism usually replaced religion, so the religion-shaped hole was filled with stuff like this.