Tag Archives: Irish Examiner

Mubarak may be a SOB, but he’s our SOB

Bites, , ,

Stephen King, Irish Examiner, 2/2/11:

“WATCHING pictures on television of a dictator getting his ass whipped — especially when he is one who has been raping his country’s finances for 30 years — is always a visceral pleasure. […] when the crowds sprang up like lilies on the streets of Tunis, Cairo, Sana’a and Alexandria last week, our eyes lit up with undimmed optimism as we raptly observed the sovereignty of the people asserting itself, driving out dictatorships.”

Stephen King, Irish Examiner, 26/5/10:

“The Saudis, the Egyptians, and so on, are equally determined to shore up the foundations of their own regimes. None of these is perfect – far from it – but they do represent something approaching stability, in contrast to the anarchy that Tehran promotes.”

Tariq Ali debating revolution in Egypt on CrossTalk:

‘We’ overload from the Examiner

Bites, , ,

“ANYONE who loves this country, anyone who takes pride in the idea of being Irish, has had their view of their country, and their place in it, challenged over the last few years.

The once-great, or at least that’s how they were imagined, cornerstones of society have squandered their moral authority as their self-serving instincts and corruption were revealed to a population no longer prepared to be deferential or patronised. We once respected a sovereign government and a powerful political class, we once respected an unchallengeable church, all-powerful banks and public sector unions but how things have changed.” [Public sector reform – Enough of this insane nonsense, Editorial, Irish Examiner, 30/10/10]
Read on if you can, it doesn’t get a better. The summary is, everything bad that has happened to the country over the last 50 years is down to some low paid public sector workers taking a half hour off to go to the bank every couple of weeks.
This is without doubt one of the most absurd editorials written in the last 2 years, in any paper.
A corrupt Taoiseach, leaving a incompetent government; a corrupt banking industry, leaving a legacy of debt; a morally bankrupt church, leaving a legacy of abuse. Yet the Examiner does not cry “Enough!”
Yet when the Civil Public and Services Union “oppose moves to end arrangements whereby their members were given half an hour a week to cash pay cheques” on the grounds that “secretary generals and assistant secretaries general had not volunteered to give up privilege days” the Examiner has a veritable awakening.
It’s about time I guess, only about 37 days until the budget.

Sailing into ‘the nexus of media-government power’

Bites, , , , , ,
It has been a long time coming, but we have finally had a look at media reporting of the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla. This latest MediaShot can be found here or here: ‘The false reality of news journalism’ – Reporting Palestine and the Mavi Marmara. If nothing else it contains some excellent insights from Robert Fisk, like this one:
“Again and again journalists use the words of power in this way – “officials say”, “officials say”, “officials say”, “according to an official”. In effect we are now using the words of the Defence Department, Downing Street and so on. I think the reason for this is because it is easy, it is less likely to invite criticism. But the problem is that in using these words we desemanticise the war, because, while I disagree with all violence, if you see a Palestinian throw a stone and you know it is because there is a “wall” being built around his house, you can begin to understand. But if that dispute is about a “fence”, you might be led to believe all Palestinians are generically violent.”