Longford is a town in major economic decline, buried deep in the Bog Of Allen. Not good but this should have at least one upside: Safety from the joys of diversity. But if you thought that you'd be wrong. As this picture of the local primary school entitled Schoolchildren Of Rural Ireland illustrates.
The excellent Gemma O'Doherty copied the image from the local rag The Longford Leader and posted it - without comment - on her blog. Given that the LL published it on their front page you'd imagine that they'd be proud of it. But no. When Gemma's post went viral they lawyered up, threatened her with copyright infringement and insisted that she take it down. Strange as you'd imagine this declining outlet would be be delighted with the publicity. Maybe their response to Gemma was driven by the reaction of the locals who seemed, based on the reaction of the local cricket club at least, to be outraged. To wit:
"This is not a political account. However, I feel compelled to call out @gemmaod1 for her horrendous attack on Longford [my emphasis]. This person is a vile, narrow minded, hateful woman full of disgusting sound bites. You hate Longford and we have you. So just fuck right off."
Which is also most surprising. Until you look at the composition of the "Longford" Cricket Club.
The excellent Gemma O'Doherty copied the image from the local rag The Longford Leader and posted it - without comment - on her blog. Given that the LL published it on their front page you'd imagine that they'd be proud of it. But no. When Gemma's post went viral they lawyered up, threatened her with copyright infringement and insisted that she take it down. Strange as you'd imagine this declining outlet would be be delighted with the publicity. Maybe their response to Gemma was driven by the reaction of the locals who seemed, based on the reaction of the local cricket club at least, to be outraged. To wit:
"This is not a political account. However, I feel compelled to call out @gemmaod1 for her horrendous attack on Longford [my emphasis]. This person is a vile, narrow minded, hateful woman full of disgusting sound bites. You hate Longford and we have you. So just fuck right off."
Which is also most surprising. Until you look at the composition of the "Longford" Cricket Club.
Yes folks, this is today's Ireland.