Coronavirus Thread - Pause before - The Final Battle (Part 1)

This is the issue though, for many businesses this lockdown will be the difference between survival or not, so it is a major issue for them. And for others this is billions more of borrowing, taking money from our pockets and our kids into the future. We therefore demand a good debate and accountability for decisions. And additionally pause before they are made. In fairness to the Government (who I have been critical of and still am), they did try that several weeks ago with the efforts to go into level 5 by NPHET.

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Iā€™m open to correction but from what I know community groups and the voluntary sector led the response to heroin in the 80s. The media did report on it extensively but the government were very slow to grasp what was going on and react to it. Was there a particular government policy or campaign you are referring to? I vaguely recall that terrible Gerry Ryan song but if you could point me to something the govt led Iā€™d appreciate it.

I am not going to bang any heads off any walls for you, attempting to explain whatever. There is a limit. And your level of histrionic plaint is not an attraction.

The only point worth addressing is the Down Syndrome one. A boy or a girl born with that condition is not stupid, whatever you might think. They are different for genetic reasons and are simply different and are entitled to the same dignity and consideration as any other child. I know quite a few people who have a Down Syndrome child and I would find it abhorrent to hear anyone deem those children any less valuable than any other child. End of story.

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Ah yes, you are totally correct there, of course. Campaigns led by people such as Fergus McCabe, who recently died, were in the vanguard.

But I do remember some sort of an ad campaign about heroin because I was 18 in 1985, the year I went to UCD. My experience was that this campaign was effective, at that time, in keeping heroin out of middle class circles. While there was plenty of dope, speed, acid and occasionally coke (and E later on, of course) floating around in UCD circles/music circles/gig circles, the very notion of heroin was anathema ā€“ despite our great love of VU. I found that experience interesting. If I can turn up anything, I will tell you. Unless I am going senile, I am pretty sure there were television ads and magazine ads.

Anyway, my point was only a glancing one. Clearly the heavy lifting, in awful circumstances, was done by various community groups.

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Heroin always retained what image of the ā€˜scumbagsā€™ drug for various reasons. Thereā€™s loads of fellas who would have taken anything they could get their hands on but drawn the line at heroin.

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Yes, that comment is a more pithy statement of my experience.

Of course, even in the mid 1980s, UCD was already a fairly middle class Southside-orientated place.

What I said would be true of working class areas too. Maybe the effects of the drug did their own advertising campaign

Was that the campaign with the Rolling Stones ā€œI canā€™t get no satisfactionā€. Think it was focused on Brian Jones. Might have been earlier actually.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Shame Don Draper didnā€™t think to target the working class.

I think youā€™re right @Arthur that Malarkey is potentially a fine poster and he makes some great contributions. He brings something different to the board. Itā€™s just a shame that heā€™s such a complete cunt that he canā€™t make any post without an unnecessary personal insult. Itā€™s very surprising that a man like him who has slept with thousands of beautiful women is still so insecure like that.

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I thought that was a requirement of the TFK posting charter? You absolute simpleton.

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I donā€™t recall that, sorry ā€“ but quite possible. I remember a poster with a syringe in some young personā€™s arm. That sort of thing.

Different one perhaps.

Yes, quite possibly. There was definitely an ad campaign that had an effect on my UCD generation, in that we certainly were not averse to indulging in certain things but there was a line, as @Arthur said.

Don isnā€™t real mate

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This covid thing has destroyed some amount of lads on this forum.

We can agree on this point. I would narrow it further and say the key demographic was from early teens to late 20s, as they were always the ones most likely to ignore guidelines especially social distancing. I certainly saw it here from mid summer, young people had had enough and did what young people do, gatherings in parks, house parties, etc. The writing was on the wall for a second wave from that point.

How do you stop that? Well, the opportunity to do anything effective was from March to May when the lockdowns were in place, an incessant campaign based on evidence to convince young people that spreading this virus was a bad idea, not necessarily for them but for those they could spread it to. The major error I believe was continuing with the deadly virus that we need to eradicate narrative, when the reality on the ground was young people were getting infected but shrugging it off with little bother. Whether we ā€œmore matureā€ adults like it or not the narrative among the young quickly changed from scary virus to not a scary virus.

I think the best we could have done was spread out the rate of infections (has been done to a varying degree of success) and put safeguards in place to protect the most vulnerable, especially those in care homes (a failure pretty much everywhere). It should have been obvious from early on given how contagious this virus is that eradication was never an option and those advocating it should have been given no airtime or influence on decision making.

Maybe thereā€™s a link between being a cunt and getting laid. Food for thought.

Some lads need to take a break

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A sabbatical even

Climb a mountain or jump in a lake

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