I nearly downvoted this post on reflex

landlord crisis and a vulture fund crisis. don't get me started because I'll be frothing at the mouth in seconds

Yeah imo Ireland has never had a left-wing government, we tend towards right-populist/right centrist/neoliberal. "Stable but shit" is how I described it to my brother just this hour gone while discussing politics. We're currently seeing the beginnings of an organized racist right as well

We're actually having a housing crisis at the moment (like everywhere else) so I dunno about property prices...I think it's the extremely receptive attitude of the Irish government.

Our entire economy since the 80s has been reliant on neo-colonial relationships with multinational companies unfortunately

I think it was Upton Sinclair who said "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it". I've never studied history or philosophy, but I think it's clear that if someone's class interests require burning the world down, they will do it. They are doing it - we are doing it - with regret, with sympathy, with an appreciation of the ironies. We don't need a greater appreciation of Heidegger, we need real-world social restraints on the behaviour of the powerful.

I live in Ireland and these companies keep trying to build data centres here even though they are using way too much of our energy as is :)) From an Irish environmental org:

A few years ago when researching new gas power stations in Ireland, we noticed that many of these developments were being proposed alongside another type of infrastructure: data centres. [...] As of June 2023, there are 82 operational data centres in Ireland, with another 14 under construction. Additionally, 40 data centres have had planning permission approved with another 12 awaiting a decision. [...] Data centres account for 18% of all electricity use in Ireland [...] This is putting unprecedented strain on the electricity grid, with grid operator Eirgrid estimating that data centres may account for up to 27% of Ireland’s electricity demand by 2028. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) in Ireland has noted a risk of rolling electricity blackouts...

This is literally the same conversation therapy approach they use against gay people lol* the idea is that people believe they're gay because they are insecure about not being traditionally masculine or feminine enough (usually due to a bad relationship with their parents) and if they just learn how to be masc enough/fem enough then they'll be able to be heterosexual.

*kill me now

"If you zoom in on an upward trend, it looks smaller. I am very smart. A genius, even"