Things that make you go.......WTF?

[stui magpie]

[Pi]

[bucksisgod]

[Mugwump]

[regan is true fullback]

[HAL]

[bucksisgod]

[luvdids]

[Bucks5]

I don't use facebook so this might not be the same thing....

Guys can buy a ball thing which is placed in their toilets and urinated on - The idea behind them is that guys who don't have a powerful enough stream to sink the ball should get their prostates checked. I think the money raised from the sales goes back into Prostate cancer research.

[stui magpie]

[think positive]

[Mugwump]

^ well, maybe TP - but if I read this correctly, the grave probably carries the remains of 796 children who died between the years of 1925 and 1961 : 22 deaths per year. I do not know whether that is a high death rate or not, compared to the rest of Irish society in that period, and relative to the number of children who passed through the institution, their condition on entry, how many were stillbirths or post-natal, epidemics in the period, etc.

I yield to no one in my distaste for the Catholic Church in Ireland - it reflected, and shaped, a society and a state that was often hard, cold, cruel, punitive and violent. I am pleased it was exposed and I am far from convinced that it has been sufficiently punished for its negligence and tolerance of child sex abuse.

.... But the only thing that this (heavily-slanted) article really substantiates is that burials were not properly carried out. Death certificates were clearly made out, so there was no attempt to hide the deaths themselves. That does not mean that crimes were, or were not, committed (my surmise would be that, yes, neglect and death were institutionalised here). But the article seems to be some kind of personal grievance or opinion piece masquerading as reportage, with very little analysis to support its implications. So far, so Guardian. It'[s an echo chamber, not a newspaper. I guess the clicks follow the echoes.

[think positive]

[Mugwump]

^ TP, I'm not sure you read what I actually wrote.

The BBC article is an excellent study in contrast vs the Guardian article.

The BBC article presents the facts, and the relevant political response - including, quite properly, the need for inquiry to establish the facts behind the discovery.

The Guardian article is (as so often in this paper) a personal response to the issue which more-or-less presumes the inquiry has already taken place. Read the two together, and you will see what I mean. One is news, the other an emotional response (almost a rant) which pretends to be news, but is mostly interpretation and opinion. Tabloid journalism with correct grammar.

The BBC article notes that the skeletons range from premature babies to three years old. I do not know how many prem babies there were, but I'd expect that, sadly, prem babies died very frequently in 1925-1950, and this was a place where young women went when they were expecting a child, so it is possible that there were a lot of births there. So - is this a large number, and does it reflect institutional cruelty and neglect of the living child ? Or is it a story about callous burial practices in an institution which reflected the wider society's desire to keep dreadful secrets ? Both are quite possible.

My point is that everyone - even an institution as mottled in corruption as the Irish Catholic Church - deserves to be judged on facts, not emotions first. We shall only achieve justice, including for these poor children, if we get this right.

None of that defends the Irish Church or the bleak Ireland of de Valera. I have little time for either.

[swoop42]

What's up with this weather?

It's turned to Summer in Autumn with continuous 30 degree days.

We could do with some rain.