[ILUG] [OT] The IrelandOffline Blackout

[Ronan Waide]

On November 7, analog at eircom.net said:
> representative (though if it's not a pot-hole or a medical card, they're
> not going to do much about it).

I'll reiterate a point I made to Adam Beecher in offlist mail earlier
- despite all the trumpeting about Ireland being some sort of European
Silicon Valley, the fact of the matter is that we're heavily dependant
on non-technical and certainly non-internet-related industries. Thus
when it comes to an election, the issues /are/ pot-holes, medical
cards, compensation for foot & mouth, task forces to combat job
losses, etc. Do you really think that, for example, the 100 people who
lost their jobs in Waterford Wedgewood give a toss about what speed
you can and can't connect to the Internet at? I suspect they'll be
more worried about what they can and can't afford for dinner next
month.

FWIW, I've participated in write-to-representative campaigns in the
past, and as far as I can tell the most effective way of getting
anything detectable out of them is to put letters in front of people,
get them to sign the letters, and then post or otherwise deliver the
things for them. You're fighting a heck of a lot of inertia on a
matter that's not that important to a lot of people, especially at a
point where our fabled economy is starting to fall apart at the seams,
sorry, I mean starting to show "negative growth".

Hmm. I really need to get off my soapbox here. It's starting to
totter.

Cheers,
Waider.
-- 
> > Hey, do I get points for that?
> Points? For having a near photographic memory??? I don't think so!!
> You got a college degree for that (honours too)! :)
           - Waider / Clarkey