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E-mailThe passing of Gerry Ryan may well result in a complete change of emphasis on subject matter, with the light-footed Fred Astaire-like Ryan Tubridy making a conscious move away from gynaecological obsessions to set our feet a-dancing on the sunny side of the street.
Gerry Ryan's special talent, it has been remarked, was his ability to establish an intimate relationship with the listener. One admirer said it was as though Gerry was having a conversation with her each morning in her kitchen over a cup of tea. What conversations they were too!
Topics raised included masturbation. Multiple orgasms and how they can be achieved. Sexual fantasies and the rich part they can play in relationships. Dildos and the multiplicity of their functions. Prostitution and its place in a democratic society. Pornography for the proletariat and erotica for the bourgeoisie. The non-missionary as compared to the missionary position in terms of achieving satisfaction.
From humble origins Gerry Ryan was rewarded hugely for focusing the attention of his listeners on theirs and others' private parts. His function well-served the interests of privatisation. When the Nazis invaded Poland they flooded the market with pornography. There was no challenge to a degradation of everyday life.
Ryan in his voyeuristic and near-gynaecological conversations on his radio programme would surely have faced arrest had he made private telephone calls to women couched in the same language. Certainly his programme served to censor out meaningful discussion and intelligent conversation on subjects needful of discussion in a country bordering on bankruptcy and experiencing what is clearly a depression rather than the more euphemistically described recession.
Ryan Tubridy is set for a spin now. Recession or depression; corruption; unemployment evictions; hospital closures; migration; poverty.
Never mind, let a smile be your umbrella, free to sing in the rain, if you will, and in the knowledge that the best things in life are after all free and that life really is a cabaret, old chum.
Cabaret time, after which, who knows.
John Kelly,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath
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What a great letter! Maybe I don't agree with it all but glad to see a bit of healthy divergence from all the claptrap, led by the President and Mr Cowen, our glorious leader. I certainly disagree with the notion that Gerry Ryan came from humble origins - he did not, and was chums with the Haughey kids, and all the man-in-the-street nonsense was a total con, while his FF and Haughey allegiances were deep. Gerry Ryan's broadcasting was odious in my view. The fact that he had lots of fans in a country which elects gobsh*tes to run it and destroy it is absolutely no surprise at all. I live abroad - and when I first heard him chuntering along about onanism sometime in the 1990s I could not believe my ears. All it told me was that there was something deeply wrong in RTE - which seemed to be either unable or unwilling to manage a big-named broadcaster. If this was seen as progressive I was astounded. It could not be more regressive. Fine, I am all for open discussions, but not on a daytime radio show. The repetitive nature of such subjects which was a salient feature of the late Mr Ryan's broadcasting was really disturbing. There's something rather strange about someone who continually raises such subjects, something not right. Those who would disagree are wrong: there is a place for everything, and daytime national radio is not the place for talk about intimate sexual and bodily functions. It never is. RTE - unfortunately - has undue influence in shaping the tone of national debate. In allowing such broadcasting for years, they helped lower it considerably. Unsubtle and crude profanity is now seen as acceptable - take your pick from Tommy Tiernan or Rodge and Podge. This is presumably seen as progressive - but in my view is anything but. It's a free country - but funny how the freedom is pretty much controlled. Anyway, in the spirit of such toilet discussion which was Gerry Ryan's forte, here's a big vuvuzelan-like fart to such broadcasting - which hopefully there'll be less of now.