I have long had an issue with social media 'influencers' (I believe that is the jargon) who go one step further & charge people so that they can comment on their posts.
There is a (not-so) delicious irony here that the very people advocating for free speech monetise it.
They claim it's to stop 'low lifes' (their term) stirring up trouble on their platform.
Yet all these so-called 'low lifes' have to do is pay the fee & they are immediately transformed into solid citizens, able to comment to their heart's content.
It seems a very capitalist value to believe that money can improve character.
Incidentally I've rarely seen the 'low life' behaviour some claim a pay wall prevents. Most people behave responsibly. I find the tone is set by the curator. If he/she is confrontational & ascerbic in the way they conduct themselves they attract that kind of attention.
Hey Stephen, your first paragraph is timely: “I only have about 12 paid subscribers”. I’m glad to see that I almost made into the final dozen! My paid subscription expired a few days ago and I didn’t renew. So allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for your writing over the past couple of years. I’ve really enjoyed reading your pieces and your passion for your people and your country shines brightly and unapologetically through all of your work. That said, “enjoyed” is much too lightweight a term, since the subject matter is of profound importance and not mere entertainment. I fully understand your reasons for scaling back your writing efforts and agree that your family comes first. I will continue to read whatever you choose to make available and look forward to it. Thanks again!
Regarding the doomers and black-pillers, I couldn’t agree more! They award themselves kudos based on their belief that they “know” things that are inaccessible to the great mass of plebs out there. They can see through everyone and everything and only they know what’s really going on. But the end result of their alleged omniscience isn’t wisdom but cynicism. No, don’t go to that protest. Don’t utter any expressions of support or enthusiasm. Instead, just sit on your backside, rolling your eyes and sighing condescendingly, because you know what the REAL TRUTH is!! This is simply an inverted form of elitism.
C.S. Lewis nailed this more than 80 years ago in The Abolition of Man (1943): “You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
They look down their noses at the “normies” and NPC’s. In fact, they are talking about their own neighbours, their own workplace colleagues, their own families. But these people ARE Ireland. These ARE the Irish, warts and all. Yes, some of my neighbours undoubtedly still believe every word they hear on RTE and they obediently wore the mask and got jabbed. But many of these same people would get up in the middle of the night and drive me to the airport if I asked them to. I know 100% that I could trust them with the keys to my home. I could leave my young children* in their care without a flicker of doubt and if I never came back, they would finish the job of raising them without a murmur of complaint (*well, my children are adults now but the point holds). They are not to blame for the fact that they have been brutalised and relentlessly lied to for years on end. Yes, there are some among us who are apathetic and have no affection for their own people or country and I have no time for them. But there are many more thoroughly decent people who just haven’t yet got their heads around this surreal situation in which we find ourselves. I will never dismiss them as normies or NPC’s.
Regarding the fuel price protests, it doesn’t matter whether or not the farmers and truck drivers know about the WEF, social credit scores or Agenda 2030. The fact that they have put it up to the gombeen-globalist class has the potential to be hugely significant. The grubby kleptocrats have had it all their own way for far too long. But as a result, they have become flabby and decadent and are completely unused to being seriously challenged. Consequently, as soon as they come under a bit of pressure, they badly misstep and overreact. Bring the army out on the streets and set them against the Irish people? What a gift!! What better way could you imagine to stir the complacent and rouse people to get on their feet and defend themselves? So even if it fizzles out and the protestors are shafted in whatever negotiations take place, they have already forced the parasites to reveal their true nature and their utter contempt for those they laughably claim to represent.
Thank you so much, that really means a lot. Such a great comment I’m going to put it out there because I think people need to understand this point. It’s about getting folk active and if there is inconvenience off the back of these protests then good. It’s up to the government to figure out the fallout. They are paid to do so. Make the bastards work and sweat.
Fair enough Stiofan. And you're right.
I think we are being double or triple crossed. It hard to know what's what anymore. Serious amount of fatigue setting in.
Congratulations on pausing subscriptions.
I have long had an issue with social media 'influencers' (I believe that is the jargon) who go one step further & charge people so that they can comment on their posts.
There is a (not-so) delicious irony here that the very people advocating for free speech monetise it.
They claim it's to stop 'low lifes' (their term) stirring up trouble on their platform.
Yet all these so-called 'low lifes' have to do is pay the fee & they are immediately transformed into solid citizens, able to comment to their heart's content.
It seems a very capitalist value to believe that money can improve character.
Incidentally I've rarely seen the 'low life' behaviour some claim a pay wall prevents. Most people behave responsibly. I find the tone is set by the curator. If he/she is confrontational & ascerbic in the way they conduct themselves they attract that kind of attention.
Stiofan.
Niorbh aon fadhb liom thugann tu 'charge' don Substack agat.
Go neirí leat san taom ag teacht.
Tá a fhios agam, ach i mo thuirimse ceapaim go bhfuil an t-am ceart
Hey Stephen, your first paragraph is timely: “I only have about 12 paid subscribers”. I’m glad to see that I almost made into the final dozen! My paid subscription expired a few days ago and I didn’t renew. So allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for your writing over the past couple of years. I’ve really enjoyed reading your pieces and your passion for your people and your country shines brightly and unapologetically through all of your work. That said, “enjoyed” is much too lightweight a term, since the subject matter is of profound importance and not mere entertainment. I fully understand your reasons for scaling back your writing efforts and agree that your family comes first. I will continue to read whatever you choose to make available and look forward to it. Thanks again!
Regarding the doomers and black-pillers, I couldn’t agree more! They award themselves kudos based on their belief that they “know” things that are inaccessible to the great mass of plebs out there. They can see through everyone and everything and only they know what’s really going on. But the end result of their alleged omniscience isn’t wisdom but cynicism. No, don’t go to that protest. Don’t utter any expressions of support or enthusiasm. Instead, just sit on your backside, rolling your eyes and sighing condescendingly, because you know what the REAL TRUTH is!! This is simply an inverted form of elitism.
C.S. Lewis nailed this more than 80 years ago in The Abolition of Man (1943): “You cannot go on 'seeing through' things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to 'see through' first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To 'see through' all things is the same as not to see.”
They look down their noses at the “normies” and NPC’s. In fact, they are talking about their own neighbours, their own workplace colleagues, their own families. But these people ARE Ireland. These ARE the Irish, warts and all. Yes, some of my neighbours undoubtedly still believe every word they hear on RTE and they obediently wore the mask and got jabbed. But many of these same people would get up in the middle of the night and drive me to the airport if I asked them to. I know 100% that I could trust them with the keys to my home. I could leave my young children* in their care without a flicker of doubt and if I never came back, they would finish the job of raising them without a murmur of complaint (*well, my children are adults now but the point holds). They are not to blame for the fact that they have been brutalised and relentlessly lied to for years on end. Yes, there are some among us who are apathetic and have no affection for their own people or country and I have no time for them. But there are many more thoroughly decent people who just haven’t yet got their heads around this surreal situation in which we find ourselves. I will never dismiss them as normies or NPC’s.
Regarding the fuel price protests, it doesn’t matter whether or not the farmers and truck drivers know about the WEF, social credit scores or Agenda 2030. The fact that they have put it up to the gombeen-globalist class has the potential to be hugely significant. The grubby kleptocrats have had it all their own way for far too long. But as a result, they have become flabby and decadent and are completely unused to being seriously challenged. Consequently, as soon as they come under a bit of pressure, they badly misstep and overreact. Bring the army out on the streets and set them against the Irish people? What a gift!! What better way could you imagine to stir the complacent and rouse people to get on their feet and defend themselves? So even if it fizzles out and the protestors are shafted in whatever negotiations take place, they have already forced the parasites to reveal their true nature and their utter contempt for those they laughably claim to represent.
Have a nice weekend!
Thank you so much, that really means a lot. Such a great comment I’m going to put it out there because I think people need to understand this point. It’s about getting folk active and if there is inconvenience off the back of these protests then good. It’s up to the government to figure out the fallout. They are paid to do so. Make the bastards work and sweat.
Ionraic agus fúinteach mar is gnách, a Stiofán. Aontaím leat go hiomlán.
Go raibh míle maith agat 🙏🏻
I concur! 🫡
Mhaith an fhearr Stiofán