The Bleedin’ Stateof The place exam ------------------------------ iReland 2013 ------------------------------ I’m alrIght jackhilvpapeR one - 2½ houRs ------------------------------ The purpose of this exam is to d out just how hardeed you are to the plight of those ot as fortuate as you iIrelad 2013 ad to d out just how far your owself-deial goes. The tests othe followig pages iclude a variety of hypothetical scearios ad are imultiple choice format. Choose your aswer A, B, C or D ieach istace. Y ou caview your score at the ed of this paper.
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Q8. You otice that Sea’s widows are lookig like they eed to be replaced. You also
remark o how proud you are about the way your ow home is lookig after all
the moey you’ve put ito it over the years. Sea replies wearily that he bought at
the height of the boom ad subsequetly has o moey to keep it maitaied to the
level he would obviously like. What goes through your head?
A.
□You’re ot the oly oe i that situatio my fried, I completely
uderstad ad sympathise.
B. □ uPVC isulatio is’t THAT expesive.
C. □ I hope the wid does’t get too strog durig the Autum.
D. □ Bastard. Brigig dow the toe of the estate. I wish I had a more
cosiderate eighbour tha this layabout.
Q9. Sea gets a text message ad the tells you that his so Fibar has had a ijury
while playig football ad may eed to see a doctor urgetly over a suspected broke leg. Sea eeds to get dow there fast but there’s o petrol i the car for the
trip. What’s your reactio?
A. □ C’mo, we’ll take my car.
B. □ Football’s a competitive cotact sport. It’s oly atural to expect some
ijuries ow ad the.
C. □ Ad he ca’t pay his car tax either. Where’s he goig to get the doctor’s
fee too?
D. □ Tough break! I’d offer to help but this grass wo’t cut itself ad I thik I
ca see a rai cloud formig i the distace.
Q10. I desperatio, Sea phoes his wife Geraldie ad her sister maages to get Fibar
to the doctor. Sea is still worried about how he is goig to maage all the medical
bills but at least the iitial emergecy has bee take care of. Sea goes back ito
the house. How do you sum thigs up?
A. □ That’s a really sad picture of life i Irelad today. What have we come to?
B. □ I do’t facy their chaces. There’s probably a group somewhere that ca help.
C. □ I could probably help, but it’s ot my problem.
The followig questios are hypothetical scearios drawig o everyday experieces ad
situatio i Irelad i 2013. Aswer A, B, C or D for each questio.
Q24. You hear some govermet miister sayig o the RTE ews that Irelad’s ecoomy
is turig aroud. The TD is hardly challeged by the iterviewer ad does ot back up his statemet with ay hard facts. Do you believe the miister?A. □ not i the slightest. We’ve heard that for over 5 years.B. □ Possibly but I’d eed to check other sources to see if they’re sayig the
same thig.
C. □ Yes. The RTE ews is where I get all my iformatio.D. □ Completely! The govermet would’t lie to us.
Q25. Someoe tells you that a former work colleague has falle o hard times. You
worked with this perso for over 10 years. What will you do?A. □ Get some more iformatio ad offer to help if possible.B. □ Sped a lot of time tryig to d out more ad the do othig.C. □ Thik about it for a few miutes but the do othig at all. He’s just a
former work colleague ad othig further to do with me.
D. □ Sod him. That was the, this is ow.
Q26. A ew political party is formed which attempts to brig the power of Democracy back to the people. What do you thik about this idea?
A. □ We eed a chage, this could be somethig good if it’s true.B. □ I eed to look it up. I do’t kow either way.C. □ Why chage thigs with aother party? We have plety as it is ad ca
chage it i 5 years ayway.D. □ no way! Absolutely ot! That might affect my aces ad status if these
‘lefties’ get i.
Q27. You hear that there is a plaed evictio i the ext street. What’s your rst reactio?A. □ Why are these people beig kicked out of their home.
B. □ Surely there’s somethig that ca be doe.
C. □ It’s their ow fault. They kew the risks whe they bought the houseD. □ I might pop alog to watch. As log as it’s ot affectig me sure it’s the
way of thigs.
Q28. You hear about icreasig oppositio to a ew Property Tax that the govermet is plaig. Do you agree with it?
A. □ Yes, we should’t have to pay a tax o the roof over our heads.B. □ I do’t kow. Why is it eeded i the rst place.C. □ no. These people should be payig their way like the rest of us.
D. □ The erve of these people! If they do’t pay it that meas I’ll probablyhave to pay more o mie. Fuckig tax dodgers!
Q29. You’ve bee payig the mortgage o your house, which you bought before the boom,
for 15 years. Your close fried Joh is i trouble with his boom-time 3-bed familyhome ad steadily goig uder. But there’s some rumoured talk of ‘debt forgiveess’.How do you feel about this?A. □ Joh eeds a lifelie ad this might be it.
B. □ I suppose it eeds to be cosidered o a case by case basis.
C. □ I’m still able to pay mie. He should be able to pay too.D. □ That’s ot fair. Why should I cotiue to pay for my mortgage whe he’sgettig a write-dow? It’s ot fair I tell you! I’ve worked log ad hard
ad ow someoe’s gettig a free ride. I’ll ever speak to Joh agai.
Q30. You hear that a govermet miister was greeted by a mass of demostrators duriga visit to a local shoppig mall. The TD was surrouded by Gardaí ad privatesecurity ad some demostrators were physically assaulted. Did they get what they
deserved?A. □ If it was a peaceful demostratio the use of force was ot justied.B. □ I’d have to check ito circumstaces a bit more.C. □ Yes. These neaderthals brig shame o the local commuity.D. □ Dam right! It’s bad eough the govermet havig to deal with tough
ecoomic circumstaces without havig to fed off people who shouldhave bee more careful durig the boom.
Q31. You’ve bee told by your boss that you will have to take a 30% pay cut ad give
back the compay car or be made redudat. This will impact o your etire life adwill see you ruig ito trouble acially very quickly. Give your aswers to
date, would you like to take the test agai?A. □ no I’m happy eough.B. □ I’ll have to check over them.
C. □ I’ll get by.D. □ I’m right, you’re wrog. Time will prove me right i the ed.E. □ Yes. Thigs have obviously chaged. Maybe I was a bit harsh.
If you nsw mosty a:You’re obviously doig the wrog exam. You have far too much compassio withi you ad are aware
of larger issues, eve if they do’t affect you persoally or directly. You would jump at the chace tohelp someoe out for o reward, purely because it’s the right thig to do. You would go out of your
way to right ay wrogs eve if it impacted o you. You are aware of the bigger picture ad ot justyour ow little piece of turf. As such, you have failed this test – thakfully.
grade: Ng
If you nsw mosty B:You’re a classic keyboard warrior. You’ll rat ad rave about how bad somethig is but will do othig
that ivolves takig ay actual physical actio. You’re cotet to sit behid your moitor ad agreewith whatever is the curret moa but you’ll be abset or suspiciously busy whe called upo to act oit. You’ll always have some of the iformatio but ever eough to actually do aythig. You hit ‘Like’
buttos a lot ad that’s about it.
grade: e
If you nsw mosty c:You still see thigs with rose-tited glasses. You believe completely that thigs will go o without
havig ay affect o your ow situatio. You’re a model of self-deial ad delusio. As far as you’recocered, everyoe wet mad durig the boom so it’s their ow fault what happes to them. This isreiforced by you believig ay soud-byte which slams those i trouble as beig the cause of their
ow problems, while you, aturally were prudet with your moey ad should’t be made to pay for everyoe else’s mistakes. But you missed out o top marks because deep dow, you wat to believethat thigs are still goig to get better ad there’s still a spark of dececy i you. not good eough!
grade: B
If you nsw mosty d:Well doe. You’re a model of selshess ad a e example of Irish begrudgery. You’ll jealously guardyour patch ad vilify ayoe who dares try ad go agaist the status quo. You’ll troll websites, lauch
persoal attacks, assassiate characters ad spam ad disrupt to keep thigs as they are ad you’re otaverse to shillig for political parties o social media sites. Aythig to keep thigs as they are withiyour little bubble. You worked hard to get what you have ad you would’t wat aythig chagig- eve if it meas a chage for all of us. You have a seriously bad case of Stockholm Sydrome for
the curret system. Eve whe truth is starig you i the face you poit blak refuse to see it. But youmissed out o the top grade because you did’t aswer with ALL D’s. nevermid.
grade: B+
If you nsw all d:Cogratulatios. You have show yourself to be beyod all level of huma compassio ad dececy.Your disdai ad cotempt for those worse off tha you is destied to become leged. You are ow
qualied to become a TD, baker, debt collector, solicitor or maistream media preseter. Your detachmet from reality is complete. You’ll do very well. Take a bow, you’ve eared it.
grade: a+
If you nsw e to Q31:You’ve suddely discovered that your situatio is ot as secure as you thought. Maybe ow you might
have to look at thigs from the other side... maybe.