It is crazy to be a “cold house” to those with views “minorly different” to our own, Ciara Kelly has said.
A column by Finn McRedmond in The Irish Times has suggested that the arrival of 2025 brought with it the end to a decade of wokeness.
In the article, Ms McRedmond said that with Donald Trump’s inauguration brings a “lesson for 2025”.
“The year 2024 provided the vibe shift and in 2025 it’s time for mainstream politics in Ireland to heed it,” she wrote.
"Absolutely crazy"
On Newstalk Breakfast, presenter Ciara Kelly said that during the “height of wokeness” she would get people “shrieking” at her on social media about “platforming” guests on the show.
“If we are a cold house to views that are as minorly different, really, to our own… I just think that's absolutely crazy,” she said.
“I think we're behind the curve [in Ireland] because we really care here on this small island about what people think of us.
“We want to be the best boys and girls all the time, so we think that that's what we should do, whereas in the UK, there is definitely a cohort of people who don't give a monkey what anyone thinks of them, and therefore they express their views more openly and more strongly, so they have more debates.”
"Bad for us"
Ciara said it’s “dangerous” for people not to listen to views other than their own.
“Despite the fact that I'm a liberal, I despise the idea that that people won't listen to views other than their own, and I also think it's a dangerous thing,” she said.
“Living in an echo chamber [with] a lack of debate in society - I think those things are bad for democracy, and they're bad for all of us.”
The presenter also said she hates the idea that there are right or wrong thoughts.
“This kills me – the idea of right thoughts or wrong thoughts [and] this idea that progressive equals good,” she said.
“I'm pretty liberal, but I despise [the woke] intolerance of people with different opinions.”
"Certain way of thinking"
Co-presenter Shane Coleman agreed with Ciara saying that he’s “not sure we're ready for” the end of wokeness in Ireland yet.
“I think it's certainly happened in the US and to a lesser extent in the UK, that wokeness is coming to an end,” he said.
“[Ireland] tends to be slower to change [but] I hope it is happening because there's been a kind of a line in Irish politics - we've seen it on gender issues, we've seen it on surrogacy, we've even seen a little bit on the on the assisted dying and on abortion - that there is now a certain way of thinking and if you're anyway different from that, well then we don't really want to hear your views.”
Shane said he thinks we need to start having the difficult debates.
Ciara Kelly in the Newstalk studio. Image: Newstalk
