There's an interesting article here about cognitive dissonance, in particular trivialising or ignoring information which does not conform to your world view. In a break with scheduled programming it does not involve religion or the religious, instead it's about those (usually) devout atheist's, the Marxist's;
But my Marxist dinner companions really stunned me when they claimed that Stalin “wasn’t all that bad,” and that “Mao was even better.”
WOW! the conclusion?
The problem, in other words, is the uniquely human penchant for adopting an ideological position and then sticking to it, reality be damned.
I did my unpatriotic duty last weekend and went across the border to do some shopping with my wife and father in law. We did save money but it is hard to quantify just how much as we brought quite a lot (stocking up for Christmas and New Year you see). We decided to bypass Newry altogether because we knew it would be mobbed by southerners so we tripped on to Banbridge and Belfast. What surprised us was the number of like minded Irish we met, even here the were loads of republic reg'd cars.
We got talking to a few of the locals who shook their heads in disbelief at the influx of shoppers. If any one of them ever thought of heading south for a break they must now have put it firmly out of their minds, convinced the republic is both horrendously expensive (it is) and we are all complete alcoholics (somewhat true). I did my bit anyway by filling a trolley full of wine. One very pleasant surprise is the availability of English ales and bitters, I brought a few to sample and have been really impressed. They are definitely on my list for next time.
Of course the reaction from our political goat-herders has been laughable. Here's a quote from todays Irish Times;
[Dublin Lord Mayor Eibhlin]Byrne insists there is good value to be had in Dublin and suggests consumers taper their ambitions for Christmas rather than spending outside the jurisdiction. "If you can buy 12 bottles of wine in Belfast for a certain price, why not settle for 10 bottles of the same in Dublin?"
Exactly! 10 is just as good as 12. Stop being so ambitious people! 10 will do you, 12 is too much. Haven't you 10 fingers on your hand?
It really is no wonder the country is falling apart....
The Sub-Committee on Ireland's Future in the EU has been told that its sole objective was to attempt to overthrow the democratic wishes of the majority of the people who voted No to the Lisbon Treaty.
Richard Greene of the group COIR, which advocated a NO vote in the Lisbon referendum, told the committee that this objective was a denial of democracy and amounted to an act of treason.
Committee chairman Senator Paschal Donoghoe said it was an outrageous allegation and that he had never seen such a disgraceful performance from any group before it.
Not too often you come across a good one so I'll post it;
An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says "You're all idiots", and pours two beers.
One of the best games of any sport was played out last night in Munster'sThomond Park as Munster narrowly lost to the All Blacks by 16 - 18.
Munster were missing 10 of their first line players due to international duty but they played with a passion and intensity that was a wonder to behold. Munster did everything right, they played the game, the tackled well, they where not intimidated, they never stopped. Compare and contrast yesterdays performance with Ireland's attempt on Saturday. In every way it was the inverse, in every way Munster where better, more honest, more fearless, more prideful - if only it could be bottled.
To me it seemed every player became twice as fit, twice as hard for yesterdays game but for me the man of the match was Peter Stringer, the man played out of his skin and was back to his ferocious best. His performance must surely put him back in contention for the Ireland position. I certainly hope so.
So if you love sport, love rugby or are even just rugby-curious, beg, borrow or steal a video of this game to see the heights sport can attain. To get you started here is the video of the rare "Munster Haka", when watching keep in mind the stadium holds only 25,000 people.
