A well balanced and clear account of all that’s happened, thanks Andrew. Whilst I agree that Enoch Burke was right to protest the forced use of ‘preferred pronouns’ his subsequent actions have made the protest about him rather than about the actions of the school. And let’s not forget those children caught up in the debacle, the children who are being forced to deny reality, to accept that someone can change sex. Not only is one child being placed on the road to medical harm, the rest of the children are having to participate, possibly against their will. They may also end up following the same route because of the element of social contagion. I’d like to have seen parents participate in the protest in order to protect their children from mental and physical harm.
Thank you for making this clear. I must admit, this case has been so puzzling that I no longer even read social media posts concerning it. Ireland is not the same country it was thirty years ago, when I last visited. And now there's the appearance of a new Republican-style armed 'movement' opposed to mass immigration and gender ideology in schools - which may or may not be a psy-op - and threatening, among others, Sinn Fein politicians, who have seemingly turned on a dime and are now opposed to an independent republic (support the EU), favour immigrants over their traditional working class base and cuddle up to blokes in frocks! What would Martin have to say, God rest his soul.
Thank you for the great review, Andrew. I think regardless what Enoch Burke had done he would have been treated the same way. There is no guarantee that he would be able to find another teaching job or indeed another job. Probably he is aware of all this.
This is a classic example from the textbook of Eastern European communists - once they decide you are an enemy there is no going back. They will do everything to ruin your life at every possible level.
This is stunning and just so frightening. That so many allegedly intelligent and educated adults can end up so brainwashed about a refusal to accept an ideology - it's just a re-run of all that Soviet-era garbage about being "bourgeois" instead of "proletariat" or something - and of course the Soviets invented "political correctness", the actualizing of 1984 in a real society, i.e. you've got to SAY what WE say is correct, whether it's anything to do with reality or not. I still think however that the most important issue with pronouns is linguistic and historical logic, rather than "sexual identity". No authority was in charge of inventing language - it was all of us, collectively, over endless centuries, arriving at methods of mutual comprehension, not methods of pleasing yourself how you use pronouns or grammar or adjectives. If I say "they came in to my room and he put his bag on my table and it fell on to the floor, so he picked it up and gave it to her and she carried it out for him as they left" - then everyone in any English-speaking area can understand what it means. The sentence contains many many pronouns, they my he his it her, and if you change any of them because one person feels like it, it becomes incomprehensible to millions of other English speakers. Who has the arrogance to be so selfish? You don't have the right to change pronouns without the most massive referendum the world has seen. The idea that you have to explain this to teachers (?!!)!
The objections that Mr Burke has voiced have now been lost amongst a sea of legal transgressions, that have enabled his opponents to deflect criticism from the pronoun issue to one of a being a criminal. His actions are encouraging students/ parents to accept the harmful pronoun dictum rather than opposing their use.
I sought to compare the case to that of Rosa Parks and concluded:"Rosa Parks could not do anything about the discriminatory segregation laws apart from going on a march or sitting in the wrong seat on the bus. So her protest was clearly justified. Enoch has an injunction preventing him from attending the school. He defies this injunction. If courts allow injunctions to be defied without any repercussion, then they will have no effect. I believe that Enoch, unlike Rosa, has the means of challenging both the injunction and the original decision of the school. So his cause is certainly a good one but I conclude that his tactics are misguided."
One of our mutual readers suggested that Enoch could , for example, protest outside the Bishop's office or outside the Department of Health. His own actions are diverting attention from the central point about the outrageous actions of the school. So I am a supporter of Enoch but feel he needs to change his tactics.
I will cross post this piece of yours in due course
My preferred pro noun is (BMW) which reflects my choice of wheels. Out of pity I will converse with( Mercedes) and of sorrow with indoctrinated (GM) owners who I will attempt to trans least to a (VW). I find they/them a bit passe.
Thanks for this, Andrew. As far as I'm concerned, as an Irish gender-critical feminist, the entirety of the Burke children in the public eye are an embarrassment to the nation and in particular (though not in Enoch's case) to the legal profession.
A well balanced and clear account of all that’s happened, thanks Andrew. Whilst I agree that Enoch Burke was right to protest the forced use of ‘preferred pronouns’ his subsequent actions have made the protest about him rather than about the actions of the school. And let’s not forget those children caught up in the debacle, the children who are being forced to deny reality, to accept that someone can change sex. Not only is one child being placed on the road to medical harm, the rest of the children are having to participate, possibly against their will. They may also end up following the same route because of the element of social contagion. I’d like to have seen parents participate in the protest in order to protect their children from mental and physical harm.
Thank you for making this clear. I must admit, this case has been so puzzling that I no longer even read social media posts concerning it. Ireland is not the same country it was thirty years ago, when I last visited. And now there's the appearance of a new Republican-style armed 'movement' opposed to mass immigration and gender ideology in schools - which may or may not be a psy-op - and threatening, among others, Sinn Fein politicians, who have seemingly turned on a dime and are now opposed to an independent republic (support the EU), favour immigrants over their traditional working class base and cuddle up to blokes in frocks! What would Martin have to say, God rest his soul.
Thank you for the great review, Andrew. I think regardless what Enoch Burke had done he would have been treated the same way. There is no guarantee that he would be able to find another teaching job or indeed another job. Probably he is aware of all this.
This is a classic example from the textbook of Eastern European communists - once they decide you are an enemy there is no going back. They will do everything to ruin your life at every possible level.
This is stunning and just so frightening. That so many allegedly intelligent and educated adults can end up so brainwashed about a refusal to accept an ideology - it's just a re-run of all that Soviet-era garbage about being "bourgeois" instead of "proletariat" or something - and of course the Soviets invented "political correctness", the actualizing of 1984 in a real society, i.e. you've got to SAY what WE say is correct, whether it's anything to do with reality or not. I still think however that the most important issue with pronouns is linguistic and historical logic, rather than "sexual identity". No authority was in charge of inventing language - it was all of us, collectively, over endless centuries, arriving at methods of mutual comprehension, not methods of pleasing yourself how you use pronouns or grammar or adjectives. If I say "they came in to my room and he put his bag on my table and it fell on to the floor, so he picked it up and gave it to her and she carried it out for him as they left" - then everyone in any English-speaking area can understand what it means. The sentence contains many many pronouns, they my he his it her, and if you change any of them because one person feels like it, it becomes incomprehensible to millions of other English speakers. Who has the arrogance to be so selfish? You don't have the right to change pronouns without the most massive referendum the world has seen. The idea that you have to explain this to teachers (?!!)!
The objections that Mr Burke has voiced have now been lost amongst a sea of legal transgressions, that have enabled his opponents to deflect criticism from the pronoun issue to one of a being a criminal. His actions are encouraging students/ parents to accept the harmful pronoun dictum rather than opposing their use.
Thanks again for clarifying this odd and confusing story. 👍
Thanks for this very useful piece, Andrew.
After your Unherd article I featured that here:
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/indiana-jones-and-the-temple-of-doom?utm_source=publication-search
I sought to compare the case to that of Rosa Parks and concluded:"Rosa Parks could not do anything about the discriminatory segregation laws apart from going on a march or sitting in the wrong seat on the bus. So her protest was clearly justified. Enoch has an injunction preventing him from attending the school. He defies this injunction. If courts allow injunctions to be defied without any repercussion, then they will have no effect. I believe that Enoch, unlike Rosa, has the means of challenging both the injunction and the original decision of the school. So his cause is certainly a good one but I conclude that his tactics are misguided."
One of our mutual readers suggested that Enoch could , for example, protest outside the Bishop's office or outside the Department of Health. His own actions are diverting attention from the central point about the outrageous actions of the school. So I am a supporter of Enoch but feel he needs to change his tactics.
I will cross post this piece of yours in due course
Dusty
Have now cross posted
https://dustymasterson.substack.com/p/its-practically-stamped-on-your-forehead-131
Dusty
Thank you for clarifying this so eloquently.
My preferred pro noun is (BMW) which reflects my choice of wheels. Out of pity I will converse with( Mercedes) and of sorrow with indoctrinated (GM) owners who I will attempt to trans least to a (VW). I find they/them a bit passe.
Thanks for this, Andrew. As far as I'm concerned, as an Irish gender-critical feminist, the entirety of the Burke children in the public eye are an embarrassment to the nation and in particular (though not in Enoch's case) to the legal profession.