Comments on: Hobby Jobs

By: welshnot

welshnot — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 10:15:41 +0000

Adarynefoedd – you say 4/5 of Welsh people can’t be bothered to learn Welsh. It’s not quite that is it, given that 1/3 of the population of Wales in in fact English, and mostly don;t learn Welsh, and skew the stats. As we watch the London parties vie for electoral supremacy by telling foreigners they need to learn English and stop taking our jobs, anyone who, in Wales, dares to suggest English incomers should fit in, respect the place, learn the language when in Welsh-speaking areas, is branded racist.
One rule for them, one for us. Read Mike Parker’s neighbours from Hell. He’s English, and he sees the problem.
As for why the Welsh don’t set up dolphin feeding sanctuaries, the reason I’d say is that they’re too busy trying to make ends meet in a country of economic depression where there are other priorities.
Try telling the English that ‘anyone who lives in England counts as English’. They would, perhaps rightly, laugh in your face and vote you out. But the Welsh, ah well, we have to say ‘Anyone who lives here is Welsh’.
Ethnic nationalism has nothing to do with it – look up the word ‘ethnic’. Civic doesn’t just mean ‘loving here’, incidentally, it means taking part in a series of loosely-binding values, projects, aims and different forms of citizenship. It’s not about plonking your body down in Machynlleth , slagging off Welsh speakers, and claiming you’re just as Welsh as they are.

By: daffy2012

daffy2012 — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 07:58:08 +0000

Adam Price’s lecture might provide some clues as to why we aren’t at the fore-front of these bodies:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-first-final-colony—2070487

By: Taran

Taran — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 06:44:45 +0000

In reply to adarynefoedd. The English don't seem to have any problems in determining who is 'Welsh'.

By: Jac

Jac — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 23:45:45 +0000

In reply to Marconatrix.

Maybe the Welsh haven’t set up these organisations because they aren’t needed. If Jemima or Lucien stopped swimming with dolphins off Cei Newydd would anyone in Caia Park, Penparcau, Townhill or Gurnos notice? No.

With the ‘initiative drain’ you’re on to something, but it’s late, I’m on the Argie red (drowning my sorrows along with 40 million Argentines), and so I haven’t got time to go into this fascinating subject, beyond pointing out that the problem has now become internalised.

Attitudes like mine will not endear me to incomers? A foolish generalisation based on an incorrect assumption. I get on well with many English immigrants, on a personal level. What I condemn are systems and phenomena, within which we are but players. Except me, of course. Because I know what’s what; I don’t belong to any uncomprehending herd, and I don’t follow anybody else’s rules.

By: Marconatrix

Marconatrix — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 21:59:03 +0000

Why don’t the Welsh ‘volunteer’, why haven’t they set up all these organisations themselves, or at least their own equivalent versions in parallel. Maybe the result of a kind of long-term ‘brain drain’ or rather initiative drain? I.e. anyone with any get up and go long ago got up and went. Just wondering? Attitudes like yours are not exactly going to endear you to incomers, or encourage them to become part of your community. (Why for e.g. should they learn Welsh when 4/5 Welsh people can’t be bothered?) Never mind encouraging your own youngsters to stick around once they get a chance to be part of the wider world.

By: SPACCI

SPACCI — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 21:52:07 +0000

In reply to Jac. I don't have any real insider information but it makes you wonder why our universities are turning their backs on their Welshness. You just need to have a look at the debacle in Aber surrounding Pantycelyn or the piss poor Welsh medium provision given by Cardiff. The only one of the universities, as far as I understand, with any great Welsh infuelnce is Drindod Dewi Sant.

By: Jac

Jac — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:18:38 +0000

In reply to Anonymous. I agree that we are much too self-effacing, partly because we have been subtly brainwashed over centuries into believing that we are inferior. That being so, it still leaves the conundrum of what to do about organisations to which Welsh people have not 'invited themselves in'. I take the view that if there is no Welsh involvement then there should be no Welsh funding. And for there to be Welsh public funding the Welsh involvement must be substantial, not mere window-dressing.

By: Jac

Jac — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:12:23 +0000

In reply to SPACCI. I'm not sure I'd know where to start, but it would certainly be higher up the food chain than the third-rate academics to which you allude; these are merely foot soldiers on a single front in someone's much wider war. All help gratefully received.

By: SPACCI

SPACCI — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 20:01:27 +0000

I’d love to see you delve into the murky depths of Higher education in Wales. It seems to be infested with substandard English ‘academics’ hellbent of eradicating Welsh identity from our Universities.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 16:25:33 +0000

In reply to Jac.

I’m aware of our history with our nearest neighbours including the changes that have happened here in the past couple of decades.
If we consider ourselves excluded from organisations such as CBMWC, doing the typically self effacing Welsh thing of waiting to be asked to take part will mean we’re in for a long wait. English culture is much more “pushy”. Waiting for the invite to come through the letterbox is pointless if we want CBMWC (and similar) to have the feel of a Welsh organization Welsh people will need to be proactive and invite themselves in.