"... with mischief-makers on Ireland’s side flashing everything from their bare bums to swastikas and a photo of the Twin Towers in flames on 9/11.... [The] earnest utopian vision proved no match for the pub-lined Dublin thoroughfare, whose Guinness-glugging patrons were quickly drawn to the futuristic-looking exhibit like moths to a flame in videos circulating online. Within hours of the Dublin portal going live, a 'very drunk' woman in her 40s was led away by cops and arrested after 'grinding' her backside against the screen... Adam Nunan, a cruise ship audio engineer originally from Dublin and in New York while the ship is docked here, said, 'That doesn’t represent Ireland very well when you do that. That was everyone’s thoughts back home, there was a lot of people who didn’t want the portal to be built for that reason, that Americans might look at Irish people in the portal doing weird stuff....'"
From
"NYC-Dublin live video art installation already bringing out the worst in people with lewd displays" (NY Post).
Earnest utopian vision? Why was this invitation to exhibitionism able to be promoted as utopian? And on what basis does the NY Post present the "utopian vision" as earnest? And why does the headline say "bringing out the worst in people" when the article is all about what's happening on the Irish end of the portal?
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40 comments:
Showing pictures of the burning Twin Towers to New Yorkers is emphatically not "mischief-making."
What else could the artist have expected? Two urban hell holes linked.
This is where we are in 2024.
It's right up there with Boaty McBoatface. While I may disapprove of some of the choices, I wholeheartedly approve of the disrespect. It makes me proud to be Irish.
“Worst”?
By whose definition?
How can we know that it isn’t their best?
Ahh, the Irish, enemies of the earnest since...forever.
Also... having pretty recently been in Dublin, I'm asking myself why you'd put a live feed that you think is "earnest" and "utopian" or at least for which your intentions are good in Dublin's equivalent of Bourbon Street? (I'm making an assumption, based on the description, that the live feed is featuring Temple Bar. Dublin just isn't that big a city.) What did you think you were going to get?
I am willing to believe that those who spearheaded this project really did have good intentions. So it should serve as yet another glaring example of where good intentions can and often do lead, of why we need to just ideas by their results Rather than by the intentions of their originators and proponents, and of how easily we can deceive ourselves when we really really want - or believe - something.
Ahem. "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"
I love this. Althouse follows up her very tasty "usage" rant from yesterday with this well-deserved interrogatory aimed at the NYP's lazy writing. Her serious playfulness reminds specifically of how much I enjoyed "The Importance of Being Earnest" in EngLit.
Here's what to do: Do not allow anonymous postings. What did the artists expect?
I suppose some obnoxious New Yorker could dress up like Bill the Butcher, and hold up a potato.
That article is just dripping with condescension towards the Irish, very offensive. Could you imagine that kind of writing if the portal were in Lagos or Abuja instead?
Ireland and New York's best people came up with this idea.
Best. People.
In the short term this will be embarrassing to Irish people.
Over the long term it will provide opportunities for shame and help train people to be more respectable through embarrassment.
You have to do dumb shit when you are young so you can be reminded of it for the rest of your life and grow into a decent human being.
Related: There's a good reason that Ann Althouse and others post reader comments only after review. Not that any of the very serious and high-quality commenters to Althouse would consider submitting anything even slightly off color or of low quality. I'm sure Ann is just filtering out bots while correcting spelling, punctuation and run-on sentences.
I suppose some American have a Utopian version of Ireland consists of a scholar leaving Trinity Library and have a pint at the local pub while listening to folk music.
The reality is that Dublin today is probably full of alcoholics and drug addicts with tats, blue hair and piercings who wouldn't know James Joyce if he walked up to him/her.
no one remember the portal on the city of the edge of forever
it looked just like that,
doesn't really qualify as art does it,
"... Americans might look at Irish people in the portal doing weird stuff....'"
Yeah, Ireland. Weird stuff is OUR province.
Surely someone in New York has a leprechaun costume...
"a photo of the Twin Towers in flames on 9/11"
I'm curious, what kind of person has "a photo of the Twin Towers in flames on 9/11" to SHOW at that thing?
My answer is "the kind of person who should be dragged to a quiet place and shot." The former Irish PM's answer was "the kind of person we want immigrating to Ireland."
It's not in Templebar (where I would have expected it also). It's on O'Connell Street, which is pretty sketchy after dark. I'm surprised the Irish have been so tame. I'd have expected worse. Though they were amazingly supportive after 9/11. They had a national day of mourning and shut down the whole country, even the off-licences (liquor stores). People lined up for miles to sign a book of condolences at the US embassy.
If anyone thinks an Irish drunk shoving his arse at a live video feed will feel anything at all like shame about that behavior at any future point in their life, I would suggest getting to know some Irish drunks better than you think you do now. More likely the most you'd get from them would be, "Yeah, that was a good night out at the pub."
I'm going to do my best to keep to the topic, because I really don't think the portal is what is bringing out the worst in people, and the NY Post bias against the Irish is the typical NY 'better than thou' nonsense. Videos from New York are getting worse and worse. A few months ago, the foolish governor of the state claimed that more cameras on the subway would deter the violent crime happening there. Instead, it just showed more of the crime occurring. This past week, we had great video of a man assaulting a woman on the street, choking her with his belt before sexually assaulting her in the roadway. Although off video, Steve Buscemi is just another random victim assaulted during the middle of the day while just walking, but they did get a picture of who assaulted him.
The premise that it is the Irish with the poor behavior or that the camera/artwork is what is bringing out the worst in people is spurious. I don't buy it. If you want "nice" artwork, clean up your city New York. I'm tired of seeing the vulgar images coming from your city. And if you want some "utopian vision" of the world, don't look at Dublin.
The Irish drink a lot and act crazy.
News at 11...
Everyone wants to be a journalist and publish.
“I'm curious, what kind of person has ‘a photo of the Twin Towers in flames on 9/11’ to SHOW at that thing?
My answer is ‘the kind of person who should be dragged to a quiet place and shot.’”
Seriously?
I’m assuming it was done just to get a rise out of Americans (mission accomplished) and possibly to voice the satisfaction of seeing the US brought down a peg. Not an admirable sentiment but it’s beneficial to know other people’s resentments to ourselves. Rather than recoiling in horror, the more productive response would be to ask the question - why are you doing that? No chance any harm would come because you’re a continent away.
That’s the whole point of free speech: letting people express their sentiments freely so we all know where we stand in relation to each other.
As much as the US college demonstrations alarm me, it’s important for all of us to know what the thinking is on campuses today. BTW, so I’m not misunderstood - it’s the nonviolent demonstrations I’m talking about.
It’s not a Utopian vision. It’s the huge consumer demand for a Holodeck.
Venture Capital firms have poured billions into attempting to create a working Holodeck, in the form of a consumer appliance. One day, somebody will succeed. How long?
Some people will be consumed by this appliance, lost in Porn World. I made a short video for the 48 Hour Film Festival decades ago. The story was that, in the future, almost every person will be trapped inside a Holodeck, and strapped into some sort of device that transforms their masturbation energy into electricity. Totally green!
Putting up a piece like this and not expecting behavior like the types described is childishly naïve. None of the behavior terribly bothers me. Also I do like the idea of the exhibit. It plays with the idea of the two cities being linked, but then clearly still separate as demonstrated by the rivalrous actions of people trying to goad the other side.
Dublin is only about 80% Irish, the other 20% being immigrants, and I don't think that 20% includes the large number of illegals who flooded Ireland over the last couple of years. Plus, Dublin receives a high number of tourists (8.6 million visitors to a city with a population of less than 550,000). The portal appears to be in a tourism-dominated area, with the street consisting of hotels, bars and clubs. So there is a reasonable chance that whoever is doing the "bad" stuff is not Irish.
But sure, slander the locals as slovenly drunkards. Fuck off.
tommyesq said...
Could you imagine that kind of writing if the portal were in Lagos or Abuja instead?
they NEED to put one of these in Gaza City.. Let the New Yorkers SEE who they are supporting
"So there is a reasonable chance that whoever is doing the "bad" stuff is not Irish."
Nah, I'm betting they are Irish.
"So there is a reasonable chance that whoever is doing the "bad" stuff is not Irish."
Nah, I'm betting they are Irish.
I will admit that the guy who dropped his pants and mooned the portal looked pretty Irish...
'I will admit that the guy who dropped his pants and mooned the portal looked pretty Irish...'
The red pubic hair on his balls was the first clue...
Eva Marie said...
Seriously?
I’m assuming it was done just to get a rise out of Americans (mission accomplished) and possibly to voice the satisfaction of seeing the US brought down a peg.
Celebrating 3,000 civilians being deliberately murdered, like celebrating more than 1.200 civilians being deliberately raped, tortured, and murdered, makes you a bad human being.
"There's a war on, our enemy is hiding behind civilians, and therefore sadly we're going to kill some civilians to nail our enemies" is entirely different from "we want to murder civilians, because we're too weak to go after the military".
If you're too weak to go after the military, then don't start a war.
Not an admirable sentiment but it’s beneficial to know other people’s resentments to ourselves.
No, I don't give a shit about "resentments" from morally retarted losers. And neither should anyone else.
Rather than recoiling in horror, the more productive response would be to ask the question - why are you doing that?
He or she is doing it because he or she is an asshole. Beyond that, I don't care what teh asshole has to say.
If you said with islamic terrorists, you are the enemy of all that is good in the world.
That’s the whole point of free speech: letting people express their sentiments freely so we all know where we stand in relation to each other.
As much as the US college demonstrations alarm me, it’s important for all of us to know what the thinking is on campuses today.
They're not thinking, they're emoting, and they following directions. I agree that it's good to know that most US "Universities" are garbage heaps that aren't worth $1 / year, let alone what they're charging for tuition.
And I'll agree that Americans have a First Amendment right to offend me, right after all those Universities, and social media companies, and the Biden Adim (or else SCOTUS) agree that I have an absolute First Amendment right to offend them.
And why does the headline say "bringing out the worst in people" when the article is all about what's happening on the Irish end of the portal?
i Seriously Doubt,
that there are many people on the NYC side that either know or care that there is a world outside NYC
Dublin is the fastest growing city in the world.
Color me not surprised that Joe got a very good look at that gentleman's balls. It must be very frustrating for him to be so deeply in the closet while living in the Bay area.
Howard said...
Color me not surprised that Joe got a very good look at that gentleman's balls. It must be very frustrating for him to be so deeply in the closet while living in the Bay area.
3/10
Welcome to Europe.
The Irish version of "Boaty McBoatface."
The exhibitionists on the NY side of that thing know they will never be arrested or prosecuted for anything they might do.
DA Bragg has bigger fish to fry.
I wouldn't be surprised to see some inhabitant commit a murder in front of the screen, just to get his 15 minutes of fame.
Intercontinental Glory Hole.
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