Your call with Brenda Power. (1 Viewer)

[egg_]

Talk radio makes me feel very alone

 

[Yurn!]

Talk radio makes me feel very alone

its ok, put on phantom, Stoat are always on!

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Most radio shows devote about 20% of the time to reading out audience texts these days. I don't care what the audience thinks, to be honest. Come up with your own content, Radio!

Kirsty Gallagher researched the 'hijab, etc' issue when shooting her 2005 calendar in Dubai or possibly Qatar. Seemingly, it's a fashion thing.

 

[therealjohnny]

going a bit far calling scientology a religion - it's like calling stupidity a religion

AMEN

 

[carbide]

i love the way she and all the stand-in presenters diplomatically present the "taking all our jobs and houses" angle ever time, like there's no clear right or wrong.

but mostly i have my rage up so much after hearing the brilliant ger gilroy wasted another day on that lousy morning show that i can't think straight and end up unplugging my radio in my haste to turn it off. i miss the early, shambolic newstalk schedule where opinions and unprogrammed tangents got in.

 

[jane]

An aul Dub pointed out to me last week that critics of the hijab in Ireland are very quick to forget that it wasn't too many years ago when all Irish women wore headscarves, and the situation wasn't too dissimilar.

It was the smartest point I've heard about how pointless the argument itself is. The hijab is not the chador or the burqa, it's just a headscarf. Social/cultural/religious regulation of head coverings is nothing new, and it comes and goes. Yarmulkes never raised this sort of fuss, and I wouldn't want to see it raise one. Same with wearing a cross -- who gives a shite?

Brenda Power is cringe-inducing. She wrote this awful op-ed piece in one of the papers about how men have no right to get upset if their partner miscarries and that any man who does is just 'canvassing sympathy'. Made a few comments about men who go to therapy being sissies and that women who miscarry should leave their husbands out of it because it's nothing to do with men, who should be in the pub watching the football with a stiff upper lip. Go Brenda, turn the clock back thirty years.

She also did a Your Call about how a woman who got her arse grabbed by a stranger in the city centre should shut up and take it as a compliment. And suggested that if that woman *didn't* get her arse grabbed she'd be just as annoyed, and how women should stop fooling themselves because of course we all want to be groped in public. I had to shut the radio off before I heard the whole piece.

I would also like to point out that Joe Duffy wrote a little blurb on his page in the Irish Mail about how people should stop making a fuss about the Sikh garda thing, and that a little turban is hardly a threat to the nation. I thought that was actually pretty cool of him, considering the average Mail reader believes that Polish people eat the swans on the Canal.

Joe Duffy actually manages to get shit done sometimes, and so has some redeeming value. Can't say the same for Brenda.

 

[therealjohnny]

It was the smartest point I've heard about how pointless the argument itself is. The hijab is not the chador or the burqa, it's just a headscarf. Social/cultural/religious regulation of head coverings is nothing new, and it comes and goes. Yarmulkes never raised this sort of fuss, and I wouldn't want to see it raise one. Same with wearing a cross -- who gives a shite?

The problem I have is when people get attacked or condemned for not wearing veils, burquas etc

 

[jane]

The problem I have is when people get attacked or condemned for not wearing veils, burquas etc

Are they being attacked in Ireland? Not that we know of. And the hijab is not a burqa, but we non-Muslims tend to be very lazy about distinguishing the two. The hijab is not necessarily imposed on women (although some families might pressure their teenage daughters into wearing one). Some women's personal situations involve more freedom of choice than others -- that's the issue.

The problem isn't so much whether women should/shouldn't wear it, it's down to whose choice it is to do so. Women might be attacked for not wearing a hijab, but they are also vilified for wearing one. The issue is not whether or not to allow particular types of dress, it's down to who makes choices for whom?

And even if the hijab were imposed on women, white Christians banning it does not free those women, it just places them in an even more difficult situation of being condemned no matter what they do.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Joe Duffy actually manages to get shit done sometimes, and so has some redeeming value

Nooo! he's a complete knob. i hate the way things get done (like legislation getting drawn up and passed in a hurry) just because joe duffy decides to have some wound up prick with a bee in his bonnet on his show. and he never disagrees with his precious public even if they're saying the most ludicrous shit. i was very disheartened when before the last election fine gael said something to the effect that they would change sentencing laws so that sentences handed out to criminals would reflect the public view of the crime and i had a nightmare vision of judges tuning in to joe duffy to see what sentence the mindless masses wanted imposed. he needs to be taken out. ive never heard this brenda power but fuck it, get rid of her too.

 

[therealjohnny]

The problem isn't so much whether women should/shouldn't wear it, it's down to whose choice it is to do so.

Well yes, exactly. But my point was about the women who don't have that choice

I didn't distinguish between veils or any other body covering because I think it's irrelevant.

If a person is forced to wear a sombrero, a toga or a groucho marx moustache and glasses combo, and punished or ostracised if they don't..well there's my issue with it

 

[Moods For Mallards]

I would also like to point out that Joe Duffy wrote a little blurb on his page in the Irish Mail about how people should stop making a fuss about the Sikh garda thing, and that a little turban is hardly a threat to the nation. I thought that was actually pretty cool of him, considering the average Mail reader believes that Polish people eat the swans on the Canal.

Do you actually read the Mail in your own personal time?

 

[Squiggle]

I can't listen to any of these radio shows. Just a few minutes of one of any of them in a taxi is usually enough to ruin my day.

As for Joe Duffy, as far as I can judge anyone who actually tries to give an informed or rational opinion is usually ridiculed. I'm guessing that's because informed, rational opinions don't fit with the general opinion of his key demographic - taxi drivers.

 

[jane]

Do you actually read the Mail in your own personal time?

No, Mr Jane bought a copy because it came with a free David Attenborough DVD. The paper stayed in the bathroom for a few days and helped with our movements.

 

[jane]

Well yes, exactly. But my point was about the women who don't have that choice

I didn't distinguish between veils or any other body covering because I think it's irrelevant.

If a person is forced to wear a sombrero, a toga or a groucho marx moustache and glasses combo, and punished or ostracised if they don't..well there's my issue with it

Right, but you can't tell by looking at a woman if it was her choice, and the hijab is very different from the burqa. The hijab is just a headscarf, and while it may go hand-in-hand with other regulations of dress, it is not the same thing as a garment that covers the entire woman.

There are Muslim women who believe that the Western style of dress is oppressive, and that also needs to be taken into account. My point was that to ban whatever coverings is to doubly-victimise those who have not chosen it for themselves. Those who have made their own choice to wear it will have that choice taken away. Basically, a ban on the hijab does nothing to bestow free choice upon Muslim women. That was my point.


I also found it ironic that Brenda Power would even suggest that Muslims would think non-hijab-wearing women would be considered 'sluts', and yet she quite happily acknowledged that a woman dressed 'immodestly' is somehow asking for it. In other words, when the issue is discussed, it's not really about making sure women are choosing for themselves, it's about drawing up rules for when it is/isn't okay to judge or punish women.

Cue 55 pages of people nitpicking my post and completely missing the point of what I'm saying.

 

[jane]

Nooo! he's a complete knob. i hate the way things get done (like legislation getting drawn up and passed in a hurry) just because joe duffy decides to have some wound up prick with a bee in his bonnet on his show. and he never disagrees with his precious public even if they're saying the most ludicrous shit. i was very disheartened when before the last election fine gael said something to the effect that they would change sentencing laws so that sentences handed out to criminals would reflect the public view of the crime and i had a nightmare vision of judges tuning in to joe duffy to see what sentence the mindless masses wanted imposed. he needs to be taken out. ive never heard this brenda power but fuck it, get rid of her too.

Actually, you're fucking right. There are laws that are so clearly inspired by radio phone-ins that I shouldn't give Joe Duffy any credit at all.

Brenda Power is WORSE, though. But at least she isn't considered a media institution and thus a legitimate source of legislative advice.

 

[therealjohnny]

Right, but you can't tell by looking at a woman if it was her choice, and the hijab is very different from the burqa. The hijab is just a headscarf, and while it may go hand-in-hand with other regulations of dress, it is not the same thing as a garment that covers the entire woman.

There are Muslim women who believe that the Western style of dress is oppressive, and that also needs to be taken into account. My point was that to ban whatever coverings is to doubly-victimise those who have not chosen it for themselves. Those who have made their own choice to wear it will have that choice taken away. Basically, a ban on the hijab does nothing to bestow free choice upon Muslim women. That was my point.


I also found it ironic that Brenda Power would even suggest that Muslims would think non-hijab-wearing women would be considered 'sluts', and yet she quite happily acknowledged that a woman dressed 'immodestly' is somehow asking for it. In other words, when the issue is discussed, it's not really about making sure women are choosing for themselves, it's about drawing up rules for when it is/isn't okay to judge or punish women.

Cue 55 pages of people nitpicking my post and completely missing the point of what I'm saying.

In summary "Fuck all religions, and let's stop kow-towing to oppression dressed as culture and choice...ALL of us"

 

[CitySickness]

Cue 55 pages of people nitpicking my post and completely missing the point of what I'm saying.

So let me get this straight, you're saying we somehow herd all the cats onto a huge barge and float them off to Greenland or something?

 

[classic seanc]

but mostly i have my rage up so much after hearing the brilliant ger gilroy wasted another day

Chortle.
Tries to sound like a witty smartass but just sounds like he's asleep.

 

[classic seanc]

So let me get this straight, you're saying we somehow herd all the cats onto a huge barge and float them off to Greenland or something?

I don’t think that subjecting all the cats to the whims of global warming and Danish oppression was really what jane was trying to say. Indeed, I don’t think that would be good for cats OR humans. We just need them to integrate. Stop the slutty cats from walking around with their tails up in the air, showing their “wares” and their vile anus. Disgusting.

 

[therealjohnny]

Some cats love barge trips to Greenland