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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

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Human Rights in Ireland
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy

offsite link Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy

offsite link It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy

offsite link Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left

offsite link Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? Fri Jul 26, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book instructs judges to avoid terms such as 'asylum seekers', 'immigrant' and 'gays', which it says can be 'dehumanising'.
The post Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum Fri Jul 26, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Labour has appointed Becky Francis, an intersectional feminist, to rewrite the national curriculum, which it will then force all schools to teach. Prepare for even more woke claptrap to be shoehorned into the classroom.
The post The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech Fri Jul 26, 2024 13:03 | Toby Young
The Government has just announced it intends to block the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, effectively declaring war on free speech. It's time to join the Free Speech Union and fight back.
The post Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Ei... Fri Jul 26, 2024 11:00 | Tilak Doshi
On July 18th, Dr Tilak Doshi wrote an article for Forbes defending J.D. Vance from accusations of 'climate denialism'. 48 hours later, Forbes un-published the article. Read the article on the Daily Sceptic.
The post I Wrote an Article for Forbes Defending J.D. Vance From Accusations of ?Climate Denialism?. Forty Eight Hours Later, Forbes Un-Published the Article and Sacked Me as a Contributor appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Come and See Nick Dixon and me Recording the Weekly Sceptic at the Hippodrome on Monday Fri Jul 26, 2024 09:00 | Toby Young
Tickets are still available to a live recording of the Weekly Sceptic, Britain's only podcast to break into the top five of Apple's podcast chart. It?s at Lola's, the downstairs bar of the Hippodrome on Monday July 29th.
The post Come and See Nick Dixon and me Recording the Weekly Sceptic at the Hippodrome on Monday appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en

offsite link Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en

offsite link Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en

offsite link Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Assisted Decision Making

category national | health / disability issues | opinion/analysis author Monday December 02, 2013 22:07author by Sean Crudden - impero Report this post to the editors

Guidance for Mental Patients

The United Nations' convention on the rights of persons with a disability does not confer any particular right on anyone. As a mental patient I have no more rights with it as I might have without it. However the UNCRPD has a political effect. The Irish Government must repeal the Lunatics Act of the 19th century to make Irish Law consonant with the UNCRPD. That old act is long and detailed and makes elaborate provision to prevent the exploitation of lunatics i.e. mental patients. But, it seems, a new law is required introducing assisted decision making by patients rather than providing an authority to make decisions on our behalf.

“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all
And the native hue of resolution is sicklied o’er
With the pale cast of thought.”

When it comes to decisions I suppose the best thing is to think about it but not to think too much. Many crucial decisions are made in a split second, in the blink of an eye. The thinking done beforehand, perhaps, or the principal brave enough to depend on instinct.

I attended a colloquium in Queen’s University during the last snow. Innocently I explained my question. “I do not like making decisions. Is there any way I could get someone else to relieve me of the burden and make decisions for me?” I should mention that the title of the colloquium was, “Emotion and Law.” Quick as a flash a retired professor jumped in with an answer to my question. “Yes, there is a way. It’s called marriage.”

None of us nor any child is born with a steering wheel attached for some kind of driver to steer us in some direction to suit himself and without regard for our wishes. Most people do not like being told what to do.

However there is obviously a dearth of talent where decision making is involved and uncertainty. We have only to remember the Oracle at Delphi or the modern fascination with horoscopes and fortune tellers.

It seems to me that the mentally ill and the intellectually disabled communities will have to be prepared to cope with a litany of wrong decisions if this projected law involving “assisted” decision making ever finds its way onto the statute books.

The angst and heavy responsibility seen by existentialists to be involved in decision making is often belied in real life. Decisions get made and often we do not know how the decisions came to be. Most people do not dwell on the quality of decisions made but get on with life and work their way around them.

When I was going to school there was a very strong emphasis on obedience. Respect for authority. Personal responsibility was not seen as a mitigating factor. This despite the then fairly recent judgements in the Nuremberg trials.

The common market introduced a yearning for consensus and collaboration. Personally I think this was a pious hope and it is more honoured in the breach than in the observance.

The nearest practical example of assisted decision making as public policy came with the appointment in the 1970’s of school guidance officers. The general idea at a political level was to steer pupils in the right direction. Nowadays I think the principal work of school guidance officers is to help pupils fill out the CAO form. If there has been a more fertile result I have yet to hear about it.

“There is a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.”

Related Link: http://imperodotorg.wordpress.com
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