Third place this week goes to the Labour Party and some of the stuff they were saying/doing at the weekend at their yearly conference. In response to protests outside the building that began to get a little rowdy, you could be treated to the sight of Emer Costello dubbing such actions undemocratic, without the slightest hint of irony arising from the fact that she is an unelected MEP. But the actual prize goes to Labour TD Ciaran Lynch, who tweeted the following:
That right there, which is either displaying a complete disconnect with what is actually an important issue or is an astonishing level of snark directed at the protestors, should be Ireland’s “Let them eat cake” moment.
Second prize goes to Swedish Minister for Culture, and the much linked around story regarding the weirdest cake you will ever see in your life. The actual stupidly here is for the Minister and whoever her dim-witted PR team is, who didn’t seem to grasp why letting her be photographed here might lead to bad things like, say, the Minister in question becoming an international laughing stock.
The argument has been made that the cake in question is a legitimate attempt to cause offence and in so doing draw attention to the issue of female circumcision in Africa. But if that was the “artist’s” aim, he/she is also pretty stupid, because the story isn’t and never would have been “Minister eats cake, draws attention to important human rights issue”. It was always going to be “Naive Minister eats racist caricature cake”. The actual issue here, sadly, is not going to be picked up that much by news stories. The media cares about a politician making a fool of themselves, not a hackneyed and questionable attempt to talk about female circumcision through the medium of dessert.
This week’s winner though is the guy in the blue hoody wearing the bandana around his face in this video about the protests outside the Labour conference, around the 35 second mark.
This guy, who gets very annoyed with another protestor dares to show his face publically, is an idiot and is very stupid. He is stupid because he went to this demonstration with the intent of partaking in some kind of activity where he would not want his identity to be known.
You do not go out with the intention of protesting peacefully and then cover your face up so no one can identify you. When you do that, you have other things on your mind. You will have something to hide.
I’ve spoken on this topic before. I respect and will uphold the right to peaceful protest as our constitution allows. But people like this moron and all those that he represents, would seek to violate that right and drag the movement that they have planted themselves within down into the gutter. The majority of those marching outside the Labour conference last weekend were not interested in a confrontation with the Garda, or with throwing stones or with masks. They were there to make a point.
That point gets lost thanks to stupid people like this guy:
Never Felt Better 
Hi, good article. As you correctly point out, the majority of the protestors at the Labour conference were there in good faith and not intent on getting involved with the Gardai, merely making a constructive point about government policies. It was a shame that this point was ruined by a destructive few on the periphery. It’s worth pointing out however, that Emer Costello is not an unelected MEP, she was elected at first substitute for Prionsias de Rossa at a selection convention in 2009, and was on his ticket at the European elections. People knew there was a strong chance that de Rossa would stand down during his term, and that Costello would replace him. Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party, on the other hand, was fourth or fifth on Joe Higgins substitute list…