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Your thoughts on the fuel protests? (lemmy.blahaj.zone)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/ireland@lemmy.world
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Everywhere I look online, the comments section seems to be extreme in both directions. Some people calling the protestors selfish, others calling them misinformed, protestors pushing for anti-immigration, etc.

RTE seems to be mostly in the pocket of the government (again), so there's nothing but "Whitegate is the only Irish oil refinery", as if that's supposed to pull weight?

I'm supporting the initiative myself, I do think fuel costs should be seen to, as it's becoming way more expensive to live, even in the past week or two alone. I'm however, not in favour of pushing the anti immigration propaganda.

I do feel like places like Reddit, YouTube, and news sites with comment feeds, there's a lot of astroturfing being done. Feels like people I actually talk about this, who also live and work in Ireland, have very sane takes, and practically everyone I know support the protests, whereas online it seems to be a forest fire of a dichotomy.

I'm wondering, is this really the current discourse online. Or is there some sort of toxic nature to regular people going online and pushing for one thing or the other.

What's your opinion on the matter?

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[–] 8 points 7 months ago (1 child)

I've mostly seen people confused what the protests are actually trying to acheieve (my personal view). Given this is a global issue. A price cap on fuel would only lead to quicker fuel rationing as we're running out of fuel either way.

I hadnt heard there was a racist component to the protests which makes me sad.

I rent in Ireland, so id love to see things like balcony solar be an actual option (the green party are pushing for this). It'd provide a quick and easy way to lower my monthly costs!

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 7 months ago

    You are probably right about having caps might lead to other issues, but otherwise I'm not entirely sure how all of this can get sorted. I feel right now it seems to be unreasonable amount of expenditure for the average person, farmers moreso. As to what a fix might be, the US not being in a war with Iran would alleviate things, but we're not exactly pulling any strings in that direction.

    More solar would be fantastic idea, as far as I hear though, most of the solar initiatives put in place by govt are only applicable to people in a higher price bracket, so people not doing as well don't benefit. There really needs to be better systems for everyone to partake.
    Maybe in 20 years oil prices won't practically matter much here anymore, but first we desperately need better solar/wind/etc infra.

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