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Post by Maolsheachlann on Oct 1, 2021 10:44:09 GMT
I've noticed a tendency on the Irish right-wing, for instance in the National Party or among Catholic integrists, to make plans for what they would do when a right-wing government takes power in Ireland. Often these aren't exactly democratic or, are, at least, quite authoritarian.
I'm a fan of barminess, it adds to the colour of life, but this seems like pure fantasy to me. Conservatives are not going to take power in Ireland any time soon.
Wouldn't it be better to deal with reality and to think how conservatives can keep the flame alive, resist further progressive social engineering, live their own lives well, form associations, etc. etc. rather than always aiming for the jackpot?
It makes me a bit sad, the same way I feel sad when people live all their lives fantasizing about what they'll do when they win the Lotto.
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Post by kj on Oct 1, 2021 13:51:42 GMT
I completely agree. I think there is a fetishisation of violence and power common to the marginalised that we see here. (Whatever one thinks of it, The National Party's advocacy of the death penalty seems a small example.)
I suppose they would say that mainstream politics have become so homogenised with a global liberal agenda that an extreme response is the only genuine alternative. But of course this renders their chance of electoral success even more remote, so it becomes a vicious circe that could possibly push the real fanatics towards actual violence.
I think such parties have a hard choice. If they truly respect democracy, the genuine indifference of most of the Irish people toward what they advocate is acknowledged and they are resigned to being a perennial minority.
Or they go full Leninist and regard themselves as the "vanguard" whose mission is to seize power however possible, in the belief that the masses will then "awaken".
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Post by kj on Oct 1, 2021 15:05:38 GMT
Just to add that I suppose in regard to the "Vanguardist" point, they could appeal to 1916 as a license for such a strategy. Except that the core difference now is that there is no visible occupier or foreign power. The greatest enemy they face is the aforesaid mass indifference of the Irish people to being anything other than contented consumers, and short of a Bolshevik "re-education" of the people involving mass coercion I cannot see any chance that they will attain their objectives.
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Post by Maolsheachlann on Oct 1, 2021 15:10:30 GMT
Just to add that I suppose in regard to the "Vanguardist" point, they could appeal to 1916 as a license for such a strategy. Except that the core difference now is that there is no visible occupier or foreign power. The greatest enemy they face is the aforesaid mass indifference of the Irish people to being anything other than contented consumers, and short of a Bolshevik "re-education" of the people involving mass coercion I cannot see any chance that they will attain their objectives. I also think the "vanguard" element of 1916 is overstated in some ways. Patrick Pearse et al. were actually riding the crest of a wave of cultural nationalism. Even if the majority of people were opposed to the 1916 Rising per se, the underlying ideas were very popular in Ireland and throughout Europe. |
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Post by kj on Oct 1, 2021 15:14:44 GMT
Yes indeed. Perhaps the internet echo-chamber effect is responsible for some of these people thinking that their views are more common than they are. Chatting about Julius Evola or the far-right in FB groups is an alternative universe to what actually concerns the average John or Jane on the high street. At least this forum has been relatively free of such delusion, until lately at least  |
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