2016 and all that
The year after next is 2016.
"So what?" you all cry. "We all know that."
2016 has a special significance here in old Ireland. It is the centenary of the Easter Rising in 1916, and already there are problems.
I haven't been following the bickering too closely, having absolutely zero interest in the affair but for the sake of intellectual broadmindedness I decided to investigate. I'm still not really any the wiser.
From what I can gather, most people seem to want some sort of commemoration of the people and events of 1916 that ultimately led to Irish Independence. The gubmint however seem to have different ideas, and as usual are ploughing ahead, completely ignoring every one else's ideas.
I found a video last night which apparently has been produced by our gubmint [at what cost?] as the Official Video of the event. To say I cringed would be a gross understatement. It is pure, unadulterated 24 carat weapons grade WTF.
For a start, what the fuck is Queenie doing in there? And that pompous oaf Cameron? What have Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness got to do with 1916? Having reeled us through a series of people who have absolutely fuck all to do with Irish Independence they then descend into what can only be described as an extremely tacky tourist advertisement.
"Imagine our future together" it proclaims, whatever the fuck that means.
"Present our best to the world"? What are they selling now?
"Celebrate our past, present and future", which incidentally is the only nod I can find to the past. And how can we celebrate a future that hasn't happened yet?
"Let's build a new legacy of hope, belief, possibility and confidence"? To me, this translates as "We have gone around the U-bend and are now in the sewage farm. Let's hope we can extricate ourselves from the ordure before we hit the slurry tanks".
I have watched the video a couple of times now [giving me a headache in the process] and I can only come to one conclusion.
The gubmint is frantically playing down an event that led to Irish Independence and hoping we'll forget all about it. Otherwise we might begin wondering how a hundred years later they have signed away all that independence to another domineering foreign power. We are more under the thumb now than we ever were before.
The 1916 leaders must be rolling in their graves.
Let’s commemorate it with another rising and clear the lot of them
There is only one problem with that – can we hold back that long?
1014 seems distant enough to look detachedly back at without rancor, so let's just have an annual Battle of Clontarf celebration. People can dress up as Gaels and Vikings and throw bags of flour at all and sundry. We could invite the invisible and uncontroversial monarch of Denmark to the events. Should be more spectacular than protestors throwing water balloons at the Tanaiste.
Sounds like a bit of craic? Can we use real weapons though?
Jesus Fucking Christ Almighty. It's like a Denny ad.
Heh! What has Denny ever done to you? It's more of a propaganda film than a commercial though. If they ever stuck that video on the television I'd smash the screen.
Rolling in their graves?
id have thought they'd be digging up the graves and parading the corpses through the streets again like they did Kevin Barry and his mates.