Pascal Derrien

5 years ago · 2 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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The ''Look After Our Own'' Brigade

The ''Look After Our Own'' Brigade

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The Look After our Own Brigade. Who are they? Do they have a colourful language and a rather vicious behaviour? Do they tend to spit their venom instead of arguing sensibly? Do they repeat the same thing over and over? Are they outraged at the notion that one may suggest they are utterly wrong with their actions and school of thoughts? I am afraid the answer is yes to most of these questions. But who are really those guys and gals?

Nowadays I would say  you are bound to find them proliferating on line mainly. They cowardly love Facebook and the online outlets. Tabloid newspaper platforms provide them with a great opportunity to magnify their irrationality and antagonise with anybody who dare advocating anything that is different to their beliefs.

We have loads of them here in Ireland. In fact its a widespread phenomenon. Any day of the week  you find them trolling on the Journal.ie comment threads, the most adventurous would even dare tagging along an article of the Irish Times providing its posted as an excerpt on the FB feed.  The one topic that do agitate them frenetically is homelessness.  Absolutely nothing wrong with that, ''bien au contraire''  I would say as it is really  one of the burning issues here among a few others.  

For them the root cause is the government quickly followed by the asylum seekers and foreign nationals. Its not necessarily always in that order but they systematically  claim that we should be looking after our own before giving money away to refugees. Add the unhealthy obsession the Irish nation has about the travellers community being responsible for 95% of the crimes on the island (there are less than 15000 of them) and you get a perfect recipe for casual racism as a ratified chapter. 

You would think that a country with a gay prime minister who is half Indian half Irish would be progressive at its core. Que nenni, at this stage it is more like a window dressing exercise. Am I too harsh ? I don't know Peter Casey's score boost at the last presidential election a few months ago have raised a few eyebrows. Its DNA comment about the travellers community went down like a storm among the blinkered minds. At last somebody who said loudly what everybody thought behind closed doors.

What a great way to legitimise hatred as a political program. The imputation to blame as main message. Hang on some of you may say, you are painting an entire nation with the same brush and by doing so you are not any better than the ones you pretend to advocate against? Casual racism is a fact and there is nothing casual about it. Why do black job seekers have the lowest rate of employment for example? 

Insularity as a modus operandi is easy. Characterized by the telling of a parochial story, its very often fuelled by decades of unconscious bias. A few years ago I was told to go back to my own country when I dared pointing to an Irish driver she had misunderstood how to negotiate a roundabout. A few weeks later at a Hurling GAA match, I attended a fixture where my son got repeatedly targeted and ended on the ground a few times. On one occasion I went to him to check if he was OK. I made the mistake to address him in French and all I could hear in the background were comments that non Irish should REALLY stick to their own games. My son got up , looked at them, took the free and scored. 

The Look After our Own Brigade is everywhere and it's international too. Its not limited to the UK, France, US or even Russia. You may have a few specimens in your own country too on the condition that your nation is experiencing a few societal challenges. Most of them have something in common besides the narrative and the little sympathy they have for anything dissimilar. 

They are all finger pointers and very rarely solution providers.



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Written Material 2019 Copyright - Pascal Derrien-





Comments

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #39

#49
I am failing to understand the subtleties of your comment but English being only my second language...... inshallah

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #38

#47
fully agree cowardice on line Jim

Jim Murray

5 years ago #37

The more you look around the more of them you see. It's easy to be one if you don't actually have any accountability. And that's what the internet provides. Anonymity.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #36

#44
#45 Many thanks Claire L Cardwell we all know how they function yet many people have fallen for it to this day :-(

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #35

#41
#42 Yeah a widespread societal challenge who is mushrooming at a fast pace I am afraid

Liesbeth Leysen, MSc.

5 years ago #34

spot on

Liesbeth Leysen, MSc.

5 years ago #33

thank you for bringing it to our awareness Pascal Derrien

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #32

#39
thankss Proma \ud83d\udc1d Nautiyal for sharing your insight its always more difficult to deal with when it happens so close to you :-(

Proma Nautiyal

5 years ago #31

Unfortunate and true, every bit of it. The sad part is it starts from childhood and has now become a global phenomenon. Blame game and not taking responsibility for our actions is one of the major reasons that has led to the growth of this brigade. I have personal experience of dealing with a person (in family) who could lead this brigade with elan and I can understand how exhausting it can be. Racism is rampant and one of the best ways to plant problems on others on the basis of their roots, something the latter have no control over. Thanks for the eye-opening buzz, Pascal Derrien.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #30

#37
many thanks Bill 😉

Bill Stankiewicz

5 years ago #29

very cool

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #28

#35
this is very eloquent CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit albeit a sad state of affairs 🤔

CityVP Manjit

5 years ago #27

Whatever happened to the 60's counter-culture idea of "Don't believe what you read". We exist in societies who think nothing of polarizing politics and the politicians and media oblige the polarization that was given the name originally "citizen media". Well read citizens informally discern this citizen media as two groups - a majority which today is called "mass population" and the other to a minority that is described as informed opinion". You see this in the Edelman Trust Barometer https://www.edelman.ca/sites/default/files/2018-02/2018-Edelman-Trust-Barometer-Canada_ENGLISH.PDF and between 2017 and 2018 Ireland as a nation has dropped in their analysis. The very people who find discerning which brand of baked beans to buy are invited into discussions that require the same level of discernment it takes to decide which brand of baked beans the mass population should buy. The thoughtful today are the minority.

Lisa Vanderburg

5 years ago #26

#33
Darn tootin' Pascal Derrien! Funny, I watch the (rhymes with 'Rump') saga unfold in the US with morbid fascination as his proponents try to dispell some of his worst aspects of charactor/behaviour/decisions that make the rest of us squirm. Some still try their intellectual best to overtly defend him - fair enough; as is their right. But some seem to have just given up and loudly tout the party line; those are the ones to watch. How with they see themselves in 10, 20 years? Riveting stuff - ageing has it's benefits!

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #25

Completely agree with your sentiment Lisa Vanderburg under the convenient cover of free speech the worst has come out in the last few years then they realized they have been mislead and move to extremism for some

Lisa Vanderburg

5 years ago #24

Great piece addressing the worst aspect of pack mentality; individual insecurity & fear are often the calling card (same for bullies, no?). Amass an army of those who are secretly envious, who covet, who are willing to follow but never to lead and that's when I hope for zombies :) It is so much easier to show one's casual racism, hatred, disdain under someone else's umbrella.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #23

And it’s economical too just a one way ticket Franci 😉#28

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #22

#22
dead right Praveen Raj Gullepalli there is so much pollution that is hard to get by on a daily basis with a clear vision and conviction for many who end falling into the traps of neo fascism and antisementism 🤔

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #21

#21
we have the same here but it’s evening radio chat shows it is just appalling Jerry Fletcher 😤

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #20

#14
I am actually colour blind would u believe Jim but I see things .... 🧐

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #19

#15
indeed Ken Boddie it really depends where one is sitting in the pecking order my colored friends who work in low paid jobs would concur on that point 😤

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #18

#18
indeed Chris \ud83d\udc1d Guest Van is the man but Christie Moore is probably more combative on that topic 😉

Jerry Fletcher

5 years ago #17

Pascal, n eldritch days, trolls were found only under bridges (at least that's the way the stories go). Today they seem to be everywhere. the worst plce they seem to have taken up residence is the AM radio dial her in the USA. Tune in any time of day to get an earful of over-the-top racist, sexist and Trumpist blather. And so it goes.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #16

#17
for the little history I was meant to give a talk about inclusion and diversity at the 2013 Sept GAA AGM they pulled the plug the week before pretexting lack audience readiness on the topic Don Philpott\u2618\ufe0f 🤔😉

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #15

#16
Merci Monsieur Paul Walters :-)

Paul Walters

5 years ago #14

Pascal Derrien Bravo on this piece !!

Ken Boddie

5 years ago #13

Thought orovoking post, Pascal, and a subject I have been exploring also, as both my wife and I are ‘new’ Aussies. Migrants and refugees also regularly experience racism here in Oz, but in different ways. Their experiences are often shaped by when they came here from where. Recently arrived migrants and refugees, “especially those whose skin colour, speech or dress is different than we’re used to” are more likely to be racially vilified. It appears that we more readily accept newbies from countries with a long history of migration here, such as UK, Italy and Greece, and that we tend to more readily racially target “newer” groups of migrants from the Middle East and African countries. The paradox is that our world is becoming smaller, our individual cultures disappearing, and we are moving towards Blue Mink’s “great big melting pot”, yet, socially, we have not developed beyong the cave, when danger was automatically perceived outside our close knit small gatherings.

Jim Murray

5 years ago #12

Yeah...Canada's catching on. Hate groups and ultra conservatives. All rooted in racism. I have dubbed them all 'Rebels Without A Clue'. Terrified of the fact that the world is slowly becoming something that will all but eliminate the white race, probably withing a century. What they don't realize is that this is how the world started. What goes around comes around, I guess. Frankly I have always had trouble understand what's so great about being white. Most of the real assholes I know are white. Good post Pascal. Keep speaking your mind.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #11

#11
Indeed Ren\u00e9e \ud83d\udc1d Cormier for context the Irish over here claim JFK and others of Irish descent as their own only when they are famous otherwise they tend to refer to the diaspora and the Yanks in particular as ''plastic paddies'' that shows how big is the gap in the popular culture when it comes to globalization a true paradox providing there are more people of Irish descent abroad than Irish born islanders :-)

John Rylance

5 years ago #10

#7
Brexit is a case in point there is nothing I can do about it at present. So I concentrate on the things in my life I have control over. Life is too short to concern myself over things currently I can't influence.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #9

#8
many thanks Debasish Majumder I hope I am not part of an endangered species that would become very problematic for our sons and daughters yet I am afraid of not being overly confident to have any visibility beyond that generation …. :-(

Debasish Majumder

5 years ago #8

i am afraid how humane like you in this globe are rapidly diminishing Pascal Derrien! across the globe the hatred with a racial outlook and taking pride on inhuman mindset are eclipsing people, being driven with an eccentricity devoid of any reason. i wonder, how past is propounding on present and making the future for mankind bleak! Great buzz indeed! enjoyed read and shared. thank you for the buzz sir.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #7

#6
thanks John it’s really challenging at times to react in a non emotional way and I won’t even mention the word brexit to you 🤔😜

John Rylance

5 years ago #6

Your son followed this advice re inappropriate behaviour. Ignore bad behaviour, focus on something positive. He did. Scoring the goal was the perfect response. It is in Behavioural Terms was has been identified as Not Feeding the Dragon. 

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #5

#4
I obviously concur Joyce tier 1 level understanding of the world problems do not generate any long term solutions whatsoever we won't go very far with a self centered semantic 🤔
Wo are they? is a good question. We are so busy gutting each other we have no time for any real problems. Our real problems are very, very real. My father's mother was full-blooded Portuguese--something I never knew while she was alive. Back in the day, that was a terrible thing here in wasp nation. I can only wonder what richness I've lost in exploring my cultural heritage with her. Things need to turn around. We must brand racism for what it is--no damned good.

Ali Anani

5 years ago #3

#2
I am thinking of writing a buzz my friend Pascal on the paradox of knowledge ignorance. Sometimes we become limited with what we know and produce solutions that leave out good possibilities. It is slightly different from information bias. Your super buzz reinforces this idea.

Pascal Derrien

5 years ago #2

#1
Thanks Ali , I know we ve been at it for centuries as species but I really feel there is an acceleration in divide the last 30 years. People have become lazy intellectually despite education be more widely available :-(

Ali Anani

5 years ago #1

What you ended with your buzz that there are more problem finders than solution finder reflects the reality of our lives today. I wasn't surprised then to read earlier your line "What a great way to legitimise hatred as a political program. The imputation to blame as main message". As long as the mind is distorted only distorted approaches shall come out of it. A daring buzz indeed.

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