All the people who are supposedly offended about this tweet, itâs like they seem to assume everybody will know exactly what the âoffenceâ consists of, as if if itâs so obvious it doesnât need to be said.
The thing is, the âreasonâ for the âoffenceâ is not obvious at all. Itâs so non-obvious that it seems non-existent, I canât see any reason for offence at all about it.
Itâs a hard hitting tweet which doesnât sugar coat reality, it brings reality home and attaches legitimate historical resonance to that reality. As far as I can see, itâs a bloody good tweet, with a strong message, and thatâs what Fine Gael are afraid of, so theyâre playing this bogus âoffensiveâ card in an entirely cynical and disingenuous manner.
There are so many stupid angles to the tweet and about one good angle.
He goes after the guards. That was stupid. Middle Ireland still largely respects the guards and instinctively backs them.
SF:IRA shot lots of guards. Middle Ireland remembers that and has just been reminded of that fact.
SF/IRA doesnât really recognise the state or the institutions of the state. Middle Ireland has just been reminded of that fact.
SF aspires to government including oversight of the guards. Clearly Eoin OB thinks the guards are political and potentially illegal. That doesnât sound like stable governance. Middle Ireland has just been alerted to that.
SF has positioned Eoin OB as the intellectual one. Now he comes out with a rabble-rousing emotional tweet. Middle Ireland is thinking maybe heâs not as cool-headed as made out - and heâs meant to be the deep thinking strategic one. That sounds less stable than before.
Iâd say Simon Harris et al were cracking up when they saw it landing in their lap.
The upside is that Paddy Cosgrave, lads with either pirate flags or tricolours in their Twitter profiles and apparently you think he nailed it
I couldnât give a fuck what Paddy Cosgrave thinks. It seems obvious to me that Cosgrave and his operation is likely being funded by Russia to run interference. I donât think theyâre good faith operators at all. I donât need a cunt like Cosgrave to do my thinking for me, Iâm well able to think for myself.
Of course itâs an emotional tweet! Itâs meant to stir emotion. Same as Fine Gael mean to stir emotion when they bring up the PIRA. And they themselves are trying to play on emotion and rabble rousing tonight.
We all know the PIRA shot Gardai and I donât think itâs illegitimate to bring that up in a general sense. But the PIRA doesnât exist any more.
The whole âoffenceâ thing seems to revolve entirely around it coming from somebody in Sinn Fein. I think thatâs an incredibly weak case for âoffenceâ. It also doesnât change the truth of what the image is and how it relates to reality and to history.
Is how the Gardai are used by the state or the banks or whoever now somehow not subject to legitimate criticism? Is Garda behaviour now somehow not subject to legitimate criticism? Is government policy now somehow not subject to legitimate criticism? Just because itâs coming form a member of Sinn Fein? Thatâs what all this about as far as I can see.
Fine Gael are angry because a member of Sinn Fein put up a tweet that highlighted what eviction is and what the Gardaiâs role in it is. Because it was uncomfortable. And they are doing the same thing the Republicans in the US and the Tories in Britain do, portraying the Gardai as a sacred cow, that any words which are not all singing, all dancing homages to the Gardai are somehow an attempt to undermine the state. Absolute bollocks.
The Sindo crowd might think it was a mistake but as far as I can see thereâs a much bigger backlash to this manufactured offence taking place online than there was offence to the tweet, because people are seeing through the âoffenceâ for the manufactured nonsense it is.
Well Sinn Fein are leading in the actual polls so actual offline public sentiment seems fairly well disposed to them.
This is an entirely online âcontroversyâ. Those taking âoffenceâ arenât going to be voting Sinn Fein anyway. And given that those taking âoffenceâ are having such a hard time online explaining why this tweet was supposedly âoffensiveâ, theyâre going to have a harder job offline. And when they canât explain, people are going to wonder and probably assume, is this another desperate hit job by Fine Gael?
Also Sinn Fein are way better at controlling the narrative online because they have younger people who know how to do it. They can simply point to pictures of Gardai in balaclavas at evictions and say âweâre depicting realityâ.
That being said, if I was them and considering their success in the polls so far Iâd be essentially replaying the Blair/Brown mid nineties playbook.
What that means is portraying yourself as the responsible gov in waiting. Absolutely staying away from anything that gives FG etc an angle on portraying you as hard-left, IRA, risky, not fit for office.
Some of the stuff that Mary Lou has done re meeting multinationals etc is exactly that and is smart. Pierce roaring his head off, tweets like today or young SF harking back to IRA stuff is less so.
They donât need to energise their base - thatâs already locked in. They need to persuade as many centrist/sway voters to come on board or at least to be not worried about a SF gov that they might stay at home or protest vote to SD or similar.
They need to offer change but not make it too scary
I like OâBroin and Iâm putting this down as a one off stupid tweet that heâll probably regret. Hes quite intellectual and fails to realise that most of his followers are not enjoy the same high level of historical irony that heâs attempting to express with this tweet.
Heâd need to be more careful as he could create animosity toward the Gardai in people that donât see where heâs going with this.
Itâd be a different story if an SF, or any other party, member that had a history of difference with the Gardai posted this.
Having a go (even indirectly) at the Guards is never really a vote winner and only panders to those who would probably only vote SF anyway. Not to mention there is already a fractious history between republicanism and the GS which requires its own sensitivities.
Silly thing to do. There may be bad apples in the GS but the vast majority of ordinary Joe Soaps in the country would still hold the force in high regard.
I think the vast majority of Irish people would understand that eviction carries a particular weight of historical notoriety in Ireland.
Those who donât know that are probably going to vote Sinn Fein anyway, if they vote at all.
I still donât know what they offence is supposed to be. Nobody seems to be able to explain it. All I can see is Shinner, Gardai, shrieking.
I think this will end up benefitting Sinn Fein if anything, and the backlash to the tweet will end up misfiring onto the Gardai, because there are going to be a lot of pictures in Gardai in balaclavas and at evictions in circulation. This will be explained under the simple heading: ârealityâ.
The reality is that an owner of a property can move tenants along.
They usually donât require lads in â balaclavas â if the tenant leaves without incident.
Itâs shit but thatâs the reality of it.
If a tenant is being genuinely fucked about then legal system is there to hopefully support them.
For all the fake offence at the OâBroin tweet Fine Gael can generate, left orientated people can just hit back with well aimed barbs like this, which make Fine Gael look like pearl clutching screaming Marys out of touch with reality (I used the phrase pearl clutching screaming Marys because it hits).
The internet game is loaded in Sinn Feinâs favour and Fine Gael canât play it.
