Racism is Rife

The Irish Examiner published two news stories in recent memory. One was entitled Irishman dies after bingeing on Polish Vodka, published on the 22^nd of February 2008, and the other read Three in Four Foreigners not discriminated against, published prior to that. What seems questionable about these headlines is the wording. When a national newspaper can print headlines like these and no one twitches then there is something for everyone to worry about.
Firstly, in a country that has seen a surge of immigration, which appeared quite welcome as long as the people from abroad are doing the jobs no one else wants or are here to supply the workforce that could otherwise not be handled by a mere four million Irish, it is all very well and good. But, but,but... what if they outstay their welcome. Move in not to simply work but live, much like all the rest of us. What then?
So, if the survey may be believed, three in four foreigners do not feel discriminated against. That makes for interesting journalism because in most other places in this world the headline would go a little more like this: One in Four Foreigners feel discriminated against. The remaining 25% are still a hefty proportion of people that are shoved to the side and put in their place by being told to take a good look around and appreciate just how blessed they are that their chance of being discriminated against in everyday life is only one in four. Lucky them!
Irishman dies after bingeing on Polish Vodka does little to help in the way of preventing racism and to encourage thinking about everyone on equal terms. Whatever buffoon was allowed to put this heading on the story is either, as thick as two short planks and shackled with ignorance or there is another agenda. The fact of the matter is that the Irishman James O’Shea binged on vodka, whilst on a holiday in Jaworzno and sadly died as a consequence of alcohol poisoning.
The fact that the vodka was Polish of origin had little to do with anything. If the title is dissected, this is what is going on: the Irishman (in other words, the victim) leaves the safe haven of Ireland, goes abroad and does something rather silly (in this case bingeing). He is then caught out by the deadly evil that is Polish, which in this case comes in the form of Vodka.
This is precisely how the title reads and what it suggests. It says that the culprit is the Vodka; in particular the Polishness of it, although to any half intelligent life form it is clear that there is no culprit. The man drank himself to death and as sad as that may be there is no other way of looking at it.
These type of headings could be expected in a tabloid, in fact nothing better can be expected from a tabloid but when a respectable national paper can allow themselves to print these headings then it reflects a worrying trend in the thought process.
Introducing rules and regulations that meddle with every aspect of your life and enforcing them through engineering public opinion is a feature of the big brother state, which is hard to escape. Hence the smoking ban having taken off so fantastically well in Ireland whilst it is still struggling to establish itself in more free thinking places like Berlin, mainly because no one will abide by the new law. Not that I endorse Big Brother by any stretch, but would it not be descent if only once it could be used to do a bit of good and to spread the right message.