Gareth O'Callaghan: Traditional values of voters have changed — or have they?

If there’s one thing we have in common as we stand in polling booths and place numbers next to candidates’ names, it’s that we might get away with lying to others, but we can’t lie to ourselves

Some of the election posters seen on the roadside in Ringmahon for the local elections in Cork City South East. Politics is deeply personal, which is why political psychologists have spent decades examining the factors behind voter behaviour and who we identify with politically, and why. Picture: Howard Crowdy

Sydney J Harris, the renowned American journalist, when asked the difference between patriotism and nationalism, replied: “The patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does.” 

As we enter one of the most contentious weeks in Irish politics — probably since Éamon de Valera cried in the Dáil in January 1922, after 13 days of booming debate about whether or not to endorse the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and then spoke the words: “The world is looking at us now,” — perhaps it’s timely to reflect on a campaign, particularly online, mired in outbursts of masquerading and hate-mongering.