Glanmire
Cork
WE ARE very pleased to invite you to our next talk which will be given by commentator and author, John Waters. (John already gave a version of the talk in Dublin. The venue this time will be in Cork).
John will discuss how in Ireland today, debate on many of the most important issues has been brought to a virtual halt. Token gestures are made in the media at having a ‘debate’ on issues like religion, but usually only in the context of a current controversy.
Aside from that, he will argue, so-called ‘liberal’ assumptions are almost entirely unquestioned and those who do question them are demonised. This drastically reduces the range of opinions ‘respectable’ people are allowed to hold. If they do not hold them, they are expected to be silent. We saw this in last year’s marriage referendum when the almost three-quarters of a million people who voted No were almost invisible in the referendum and in the run-up to it. The Yes aside almost completely controlled the public space.
John was for many years a national newspaper columnist. He wrote for The Irish Times, The Irish Daily Mail and The Irish and Sunday Independents.
He is the author of numerous books including ‘Jiving at the Crossroads; An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Modern Ireland’; ‘Lapsed Agnostic’ ; ‘Beyond Consolation: or How We Became Too Clever for God… and Our Own Good’; and ‘Was it for this? Why Ireland lost the plot’.
If you would like to attend please email info@ionainstitute.ie. (Letting us know whether you are attending is very helpful as it gives us an idea how many seats to put out and how many to serve with tea and coffee afterwards).
ENDS
