Comments on: Irish Bloggers will not influence the election

By: Damien

Damien — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 23:57:39 +0000

Hooray for Godwin!

By: Aonghus

Aonghus — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 23:32:20 +0000

Get rid of all the political parties. Yeh, you’re right Damien. That’s what Hitler did too. Only, then, it was called Nazism. Oul Mussolini called it fascism. I’m not sure that’s a club I’d like to be a member of…..

By: Tuppenceworth.ie blog » Change Aversion

Tuppenceworth.ie blog » Change Aversion — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:55:00 +0000

[...] Damienâ€™s position is more problematic. He sees no point in voting for any of the existing parties, because theyâ€™re all the same. Further, heâ€™s amazed â€œthat people who have all these ideals still consider voting for any party”. Well, one of my ideals is that I can vote for whoever I feel like, and for whatever reasons. It’s called democracy. This somewhat bad-tempered post, apart from lacking the insight that one has come to expect from Damien, betrays a deep distrust of democracy. The reason the entire political system wonâ€™t get rebooted is that far too many people donâ€™t want that to happen. Thinking that theyâ€™re wrong may make you feel better, but it confers no rights. In a democracy people are presumed to know what they want. You can disagree, but scrapping the system just because they vote the â€œwrongâ€? way is profoundly undemocratic. Thereâ€™s a difference between wanting to change things and wanting everyone to agree with you. [...]

By: copernicus

copernicus — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:26:31 +0000

Auds, why would you seek the input of someone on the other team into your campaign? I think you’re slightly confused about what Simon is trying to achieve, and I take responsibility for that a bit because I said “everyone is invited to take part” – mounting a defence to the partisan (insubstantial by the way) arguments you’ve been putting forward wasn’t what I meant by that. I should have said, everyone who wants to change the Government is invited to discuss how to achieve that end. As in, the people involved won’t at any point be discussing which side of the fence they will be on when the election comes. You’re not going to convince them otherwise after ten years of FF/PD Government and they are not going to convince you either. Nor are they going to try.

Which kind of leads me to another point in Damiens intemperate post above – where is the track record of the Opposition in Government he points to given that it will have been over a decade since those parties were in office by the time the House reconvenes after next year’s election?

At any rate, I was only passing on a link to Simon’s invitation – I didn’t comment on it either way.

And anyway, the nature of Simon’s invitation should have been clear from a reading of his original post.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 19:54:03 +0000

People seem to care far too much about this issue. It’s not my business to dictate what people should care about, but the criticism cycle does not attract politicians. There’s enough of that in the DÃ¡il and council chanbers all around the country.

If blogs are to be a success, they need to ask hard questions of society and pose a challenge to the grimy side of life in Ireland Inc. This already happens to a certain extent but the amount of disagreement is beyond the stage of constructive criticism. There is too much refuting of comments and too little agreement on issues. I know it’s life but I can’t see how one way of doing things will always be wrong to a certain amount of people.

Sometimes a line has to be drawn and we have to bite the bullet on an issue. Surely there can be a common consensus on a few issues in life?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 18:44:00 +0000

Damien I think you’re wrong on this. From my point of view some parties are worse than others, I have ideals and they preclude me from ever living in a country that the current SF leadership is involved in governing. Hence I will vote any non SF candidate ahead on my ballot form.

By: AdamMaguire.com - Blog » Archives » What I think of blogging and the next election

Wed, 12 Jul 2006 17:00:24 +0000

[...] Mulley seems to think that the only chance bloggers have of influence is if they stop slagging each other and present a united front; as I point out in his comments this would make us as disingenuous as the political parties he has little time for. Bloggers are not a political force, they’re not an activist group and they’re not journalists however as Damien knows blogs can provide people with a platform from which they can launch these kinds of projects. [...]

By: auds

auds — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:39:08 +0000

I just posted another equally turgid screed about the election – it’s entitled “i’m just a blogger”.
Of course bloggers aren’t going to influence the election – factors from readership to accessibility immediately spring to mind, let alone the actual usefulness of blogs in a political context of convincing voters – it’s like the taxi drivers a few years ago saying they had the power to through Bertie out of office – I remember being in a taxi with one who was their union shop stewart and he claimed he’d great power because when people got into his taxi he could influence them with his opinions, and they’d change their minds.
And in terms of nitpicking – it’s certainly easier to handle over blogs than on doorsteps – I canvassed for a few different candidates in the past and it’s bloody hard.

Copernicus – “The contributions of the pro-Bush, PD and FF, nuttier elements of the blogosphere are irrelevant to the discussion and unwanted.”
Then you’re left with a monologue, not a discussion – why bother? And if blogs are to become something that has a role in the election, sameness is not going to attract.

By: Stall The Ball

Stall The Ball — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:15:44 +0000

The Blogger and the Politician

Damien decided to go off on a tangent (something heÂ’s been known to do before) and have a go at politics, blogging versus politics and the partisan party political system.

Now if heÂ’d thrown in women (or men depending) and religion IÂ’d have been …

By: copernicus

copernicus — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 16:02:26 +0000

Those bloggers who are politically active within the current millieu aren’t out to use blogs to influence voters directly, their aim is to grow activism and to have a conversation about how best a change of government can be encouraged. The contributions of the pro-Bush, PD and FF, nuttier elements of the blogosphere are irrelevant to the discussion and unwanted.

To state that pointing out the stupidity and errors of judgment and fact by someone is immature because it discourages them from coming on board with you is daft. Those people will never come on board, they’re entrenched possessers of revealed truths and their only interest is to undermine and discredit arguments which grate on their worldview.

Mulley is talking out his hole, to be frank and unless he’s going to produce a political party from his no doubt capacious pockets which is capable of taking 80 plus seats at the next election, his comments on the maturity or otherwise of those bloggers who live in the real world of current political discourse is just so much sour grapes.

He should stick to trying to pry hot tubs out of businessmen and listening credulously to eircom’s pleas that nobody will buy their broadband because one of their suits was nice enough to meet him lunch.