Have you seen my craic? I seem to have lost it somewhere…

Welcome to the season of peace and goodwill to all humankind. Yeah, thanks. Fact is that peace and goodwill are in short supply these days. The fury and viciousness evident in the last two weeks are almost beyond words. It’s astounding and very, very depressing. And to think that just a year ago we seemed so gloriously crackily upbeat!
Bile has been spewing out into the public arena for quite some time, fuelled by blogs and media competition and the willingness of phone-in radio shows to allow even the most unpleasant (and sometimes drunken) low-level ranters free air.
The closest comparison is rightwing radio in the US, say like Rush Limbaugh. (The irony is that Irish phone-ins also occasionally make a real social contribution by highlighting gross injustices in public and private policy and services).
This month’s shock-horror is FÁS expenditure. But its just the latest in a line. You could say that it’s been one damn thing after another since Ben Dunne freaked out on a balcony in Florida and set the tribunals in motion.

IT’S NOT THE DRUGS
The Hog has been getting emails from friends around the world, all asking basically the same question – have we gone completely fucking mad? One phone-in I heard on Thursday was among the most appalling, vicious shows I’ve ever heard. Such shouting and ranting and raving! Awful shit altogether!
The immediate trigger was the report that Mary Harney had been to Florida as a guest of FÁS, that the Government jet had taken the party across and that Ms. Harney had apparently had a wash and blowdry at FÁS’s expense in Florida.
(As an aside, you could say Irish politicians, public servants and business people should stay the hell outta Florida and leave it to the holidaymakers and gangsters).
In itself this is not really a big deal and certainly didn’t warrant the explosion of hate and hypocrisy that followed. So what’s up? Why the bile? Wherefrom the hate?
Like I said, you can part-blame the petty minded ignorance of blogs and red-top crusades and phone-ins. It’s a disease. But fish swim in water and while these various meeja may stoke the rage, they couldn’t do so without tapping into a deep well of rage and hate.
What has caused this fury and viciousness in a people once (all of a few years ago!) considered happy and fun-to-know and devil-may-care, and to have held safe the secret of a good life? Remember the craic? Where have we left it???
(It’s not the drugs, though one remembers that Hunter S Thompson argued that America turned vicious when the drugs of choice changed from hash and acid to amphetamines…)
This is not to excuse wrongdoing. But in truth, whom amongst us hasn’t made mistakes?

BIG BROTHER POLITICS
The Hog is not at all religious. In The Sty we will celebrate Saturnalia later this month, not Christmas. But many of the ranters still profess themselves Christian (much like American rightwing radio hosts!). Yet, as they celebrate the birth of the man who said that he who had no sin should cast the first stone, they are busying themselves stoning the latest quarry to attract their attention.
The furies have a primeval hunger for blood sacrifice. They want to see their prey cut down, fired, humiliated. If it were possible to throw them to lions they’d be the mob baying for blood, urging Caesar to thumb the target down – and they’d be cheering as the animals tore the sacrifice apart.
Is this is really us? The Irish? I hope not. Most people I have spoken to have expressed revulsion at the ugliness, the narrowness, the hate.
Some have suggested that henceforth anyone invoking the taxpayers’ interests should themselves be able to produce a tax clearance certificate – that would cut out a helluva lot of the mouthiest liveliners. Might cut out one or two politicians as well…
In this alternative and more humane view, it’s plausible to see the foaming furies as just another manifestation of, and only as substantial as, celebrity culture.
What we’re seeing is Big Brother politics. Vote ’em in! Vote ’em out! If they don’t make us laugh, we’ll make them cry! It’s Survivor! It’s Strictly Come Dancing in which the winner isn’t the best, he’s the worst, that is, the one who gives the most sadistic pleasure for longest.
There’s much to be angry about in Ireland. But there’s also much to celebrate. The bathwater may be dirty but that’s no reason to throw out the baby as well.
It may be that the goodwill just has to wait till we’re more economically stable. But that would be a shame. Goodwill should be at the heart of how we live. However you view it, we are all in this together: you, me, our neighbours. Let’s cut out the hate-speak. Look at The USA. They’ve just opted for unity and common purpose over the culture of rage and intolerance. We can do the same.
So as we celebrate Christmas/Saturnalia 2008 let’s all unwind as much as we can. Have a few drinks. Don’t hit anyone. Make love, not hate. Make peace not war. Enjoy yourself...