Reflecting the Rising

[kauaioo]

I spent all day Saturday and Monday in town and I went to as many sites and events as I could manage, opting to watch Sunday's parade on tv due to exhaustion more than anything else. I have to say, I was completely and utterly blown away by it all! I have never been more proud to be Irish than I am this weekend

Comments

[giftederic]

Interesting. My experience of it was totally different. Getting into town was a nightmare, and when I got there it was fairly quiet (this was on the Sunday mid to late afternoon). It also seemed to be mostly tourists about, even the pubs weren't that busy it seemed to me.

Now, the rising is of no great interest to me personally, and I think a careful reading of history illustrates that it was a bunch of idiots who did it and got a whole load of people killed for no good reason. It has a lot more in common with Emmet's rebellion 100 years earlier than what came later.

If the Brits hadn't overreacted and executed the leaders (especially the kid) I wonder if anyone would even care about it. We also got saddled with Éamon DeValera as a national hero for decades and all the damage that he did to us culturally and spiritually.

Tonight I saw some of the organisation at work as they removed the loudspeakers from around St. Stephen's Green. The answer to how many people does it take to remove a loud speakers is 7. One to run the cherrypicker, 1 to remove the speaker and 5 to stand around and talk shit.

I wonder what the budget for this party was?

[kauaioo]

That's a pity that you didn't have a more positive experience of it. There were certainly a lot of tourists, but there were huge numbers of Irish as well, from all over the country. The biggest day for public engagement was Monday, so you hit town at a bit of a lull I think (although that's the only day I wasn't in so I am not 100% sure).

I wasn't terribly interested in the rising either before now, and yes I totally agree with you that it was the mistakes of the British that led to the rising having much more impact than it would have done. Yes, it was shambolic on the day, but it was one of the first steps in leading us to where we are now and so I am grateful for that.

That's funny about the speakers...some things never change!

Yeah, the budget must have been big because OMG it was an extensive and elaborate production and it was carried out to a very high standard (in my opinion). Obviously the cost is off-set by the influx of tourists for the events, plus it was a great investment in terms of its promotion of Ireland and should lead to an increase in tourism going forward.

Yes, the pubs were quiet in Dublin, but I think that due to the way the bank holidays fell almost every non-Dub went home for the week so presumably there was an increase in pubs outside Dublin. I was quite pleased that the pubs were not a focal point for this event, it was a refreshing change; I had dreaded it a bit becuase I thought it was going to be a bit like Paddy's Day.