Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
- 13
- 3
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
This past week I was surprised to encounter vast quantities of weapons-grade op-ed copium in the form of media "explainers" telling me why the Irish referendums "modernizing" the government's approach to women and family, to everyone's utter shock, failed by the widest margins in Irish referendum history.
Of course, I had never even heard of these referendums. Which shouldn't be too surprising, I'm not Irish (nationally or by heritage) and I don't spend a lot of time reading international news or watching international elections. But also apparently "everyone" (by which I mean: leftist journalists and politicians) was so completely certain this particular bit of de-Catholicization of the Irish legal system would sail through easily, just like same-sex marriage and abortion did in 2015 and 2018, no one felt the need to belabor it.
"All politics is local" surely applies; apparently even many groups that supported the referendums did so with noses firmly held, while some groups one might think naturally aligned with the proposals opposed them on the grounds of technical issues rather than supporting them for having the right "vibe." Everything I've read so far seemed quite anxious to assure me that this is definitely not a conservative backlash and in fact purely a problem with language, which leads me to believe the government has already decided it will simply re-tool and try again until the voters fall into line. (As seems to be the way with political movements everywhere--though it still makes me smile to ruminate on the way Brexit happened despite repeated attempts to get the voters to recant, it seems a keen exception to the rule.)
I would be interested to hear from others closer to the situation, of course. Were these referendums just another symptom of woke America's cultural colonization of Ireland? Or are there perhaps real, specific legal problems being caused by the current language, which the government hoped to solve through these failed proposals? I have not been able to find any news stories detailing any positive case for the referendums beyond "this is so old-fashioned and sexist." Which to my mind explains the failure of the referendums entirely: cui bono? If your only argument is "I'm bothered by the language," then it's easy to think the government probably has better things to focus on...
Tsk Tsk, sleeping on the job Nara. I think we've already had two effort posts on the topic, one in the CWR thread last week and one still live.
I was saving it for Transnational Thursday!
You could at least provide me with links. *pouts*
The two effortposts I've seen on the issue:
https://www.themotte.org/post/890/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/192322?context=8#context
https://www.themotte.org/post/895/transnational-thursday-for-march-7-2024/191638?context=8#context
More options
Context Copy link
I'm at the end stretch of my 24 hour on call shift, my energy for Motte-posting and being helpful are simultaneously at zenith and nadir lol.
I do recall the first CWR post was by FarNearEverywhere, and that had its own share of discussion, even if it's a ripe topic.
Here: https://www.themotte.org/post/890/culture-war-roundup-for-the-week/192322?context=8#context
(GP to kindly provide link to more recent thread. This is intended to cause any other UK doctors to die on sight, not that I think we have any)
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link