An Irish journalist speaks up

[IrishMna]

I’m so very pleased. I’m so very shocked. I’m praying that this makes a difference for my child.

And this journalist needs support. Support her on Twitter and by writing to her and her editor.

Thank you.
twitter.com/eilisohanion/status/1460266392444411911?s=21

Ellis O Hanlon will never be on my Christmas list. But this article is brilliant 👏

Eilis

@Abhannmor

Ellis O Hanlon will never be on my Christmas list. But this article is brilliant 👏

This issue is too important to let other issues get in the way.

(I might have had a little cry with the relief)

Sorry can you link the article, I can't find it , just tweets about it.

I never liked Eilís Ó Hanlon and now I'm sorry. Actually, the people who say the things that Recieved Wisdom frowns on are very important.

I am amazed anyone is speaking up at all

Yet every single person I'm brave enough to bring this up with in real life agrees with me.

Where is the article?

Surely it's not in the Independent?

www.independent.ie/opinion/its-time-to-say-no-to-extremists-who-want-to-let-children-pick-their-gender-41049055.html

It is

That’s the IT and Independent that’s now covering these issues with knowledge and comparison towards the children involved.

*Compassion.

Agreed. Normally I find her a bitter pill and far too rightwing. But this stuff is existential. So that is 2 out of 3 serious national dailies platforming GC commentary. At long last !

It's a shame that they are also the two national dailies that are behind paywalls, and completely unread by anyone under 30, as far as I can see.

Anyone able to do one of those share tokens? I stopped buying the Independent because they have been very much on the woke side on this issue. Glad to see Eilis put her head above the parapet on this.
I wonder if the Nolan podcast on the Stonewalling of the BBC has put pressure on them to provide more balanced coverage 🤔

@TurquoiseBaubles

It's a shame that they are also the two national dailies that are behind paywalls, and completely unread by anyone under 30, as far as I can see.

Its about to get a lot of notice from under 30's and a lot of people in Ireland are going to be more informed about it I expect. Because of the IT article Trinity have voted to have a referendum on whether or not they should boycott the IT, the voting is on the 24-26 Nov

trinitynews.ie/2021/10/tcdsu-passes-motion-to-hold-referendum-on-boycotting-the-irish-times/

trinitynews.ie/2021/11/tcdsu-referendum-on-irish-times-boycott-scheduled-for-november-24-26/

Either way its going to be news and what was actually said in the times will hopefully actually be read by a few people.

It could well pass, I wouldn't be surprised. You would hope that if it does pass that people will take notice that only a certain type of speech is allowed, it will throw a great big light on everything if it does pass. I would expect Irish media is watching this whole thing very closely

Also because of all this nonsense around students boycotting, the IT have made their newspaper free to read online for students and have started a new advertising campaign with the slogan “expect opinions that will challenge you.”

trinitynews.ie/2021/11/the-irish-times-transphobia-must-be-resisted-by-students/

Boycotting The Irish Times?!

Have students run out of companies who’re truly The Big Bad to boycott? I know boycotts of Nestlé have been going since forever; but if they’re desperate for A Cause Of Their Own they’ve plenty to choose from (maybe they could go after brands that pretend to be cruelty free but are sold in China…). Beyond farcical to be having students boycott one of Ireland’s main papers - universities, of all places, becoming total echo chambers…

You start to have visions of students smuggling copies in & passing them around/accessing the dark web to bypass any kind of university block on the digital version…

Hopefully the vote will be in favour of common sense. Maybe what happened with John Cleese and the Cambridge Union last week will help, but things in Higher Education in not only the UK & Ireland but all over the place, though not everywhere - but often that just means other issues [(particularly) for women] - really are in a terrible mess of Safe Spaces/No Platforminging/babying students to an astonishing degree…

(Having got so sidetracked: it’s a brave move to write that article. Hope that Eilís Ó Hanlon* doesn’t have to deal with horrendous response to her article on Twitter by/from TRAs; though she sounds as if she knows to expect it. Which is quite shocking, really: to be so able to predict abuse & the form it will take.)

• I realise that sounds odd but just using her first name felt wrong/overfamiliar & was too tired to wrangle either sentence structure or ridiculous ASD!brain (not that I have one that isn’t neurodivergent, clearly: would make life easier if I did): sorry.

mobile.twitter.com/EilisOHanIon
She doesn't seem to be planning on backing away from this topic.

Eilis, if you are on MN
Thank you., 🙏

@NitroNine, I know what you mean. Back in my day, the protests were about access to contraception. I'm that old now but a boycott of the Irish Times is ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. Really a boycott of their stupid old parents, I suppose.

And poor Una Mullally, whose been a stalwart supporter. And the IT Women's Podcast, which is milquetoast on all issues but fearfully compliant on this one.

As a subscribe to the Irish Times, I'm not sorry that I won't be paying for student wittering, if I'm honest.

It always surprises me when students seem to want to avoid any opinion but their own, or the socially approved one.

Why are they in university if not to learn ideas and expand their perspectives? Do they really want to stay stuck in their rigid mindset forever?

I do think many of these young people will look back and cringe in 20 years at the nonsense they supported.

I emailed to show my support for Eilish. Well done to her, she's been the first to break out of the mould and hopefully not the last.

For anyone looking to read the article @DrBethWallace has it available to read on her twitter

[quote miri1985]Also because of all this nonsense around students boycotting, the IT have made their newspaper free to read online for students and have started a new advertising campaign with the slogan “expect opinions that will challenge you.”

trinitynews.ie/2021/11/the-irish-times-transphobia-must-be-resisted-by-students/[/quote]
The Irish Times was available FOC to students well before this. I don't know if that buy-line is new, but the free availability isn't.

I don't think the IT will notice a dip in sales courtesy of a student boycott.

I like the only comment at the bottom of the Trinity article: "Would it be helpful if you were to provide the Irish Times with a list of approved opinions that their columinsts could have?"

@Vargas

I like the only comment at the bottom of the Trinity article: "Would it be helpful if you were to provide the Irish Times with a list of approved opinions that their columinsts could have?"

That is just perfect and captures everything that is wrong with this view that the only opinions you should be exposed to are the ones that you have pre-approved or already hold.

It brings to mind the debacle at Sussex.

I hope this generation grows up. Education is currently wasted on them. (Not all of them, but too many).

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.