Why do people lose perspective and rational thinking over local issues?

The cost-of-living crisis requires cutbacks with the things that bring us joy first on the chopping block. If you are wavering between which streaming service to cancel but you enjoy quality drama. Don’t worry. There’s another way. Some of the most gripping drama ever performed is locally produced and it’s completely free. It’s called “getting involved in your neighbourhood community group”.

Here you will see people argue with the same passion and desperation as if the fate of their soul rests on the outcome. When what they are talking about is adding a new bike lane. No, that would be ridiculous. That wouldn’t happen. It would be over the wording of a memorandum of understanding about a meeting with the council to propose a survey about the suitability of an additional bike lane with local stakeholders.

There is something about watching your local community come together over civic issues with the intention of improving lives only for it to devolve into a fight. One minute they’re talking about extending the off-leash hours in the local park, the next a young mother is holding up pictures of her toddler on her iPhone and questioning the group’s moral compass by asking if they EVEN CARE about the safety of her child. The funniest response would have been to look her in the eye and give a curt ‘no’ but people rarely take the opportunity to do the funniest thing possible in situations. Usually for legal and social inclusion reasons. Which is a real shame if you ask me.

There’s something delicious and guilt-free about enjoying these kinds of conflicts. It’s not as brain congealing as most TV, it’s not a vapid Kardashian’s episode on which dress to wear to the Met Ball. Or as obvious as a BBC crime drama where residents of a picturesque British town get picked off one by one every week but hang around for a retired detective/mystery novel writer to solve the murders instead of just moving somewhere safer.

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We don’t feel bad watching local residents fly into histrionics over new street lights or what the permissible height for hedges should be. Because we have the veneer of simply taking an interest in municipal matters. We are here on business. Not because now that Succession is over we have to make do with the cut-throat, ego driven power grabs of a Tidy Towns committee as the next best thing.

Like the Gwyneth Paltrow trial, there is something comforting in these unstable, post-pandemic, possibly pre-recession times in watching low-stakes drama play out. Unlike the situation in Gaza, no matter what happens or which side wins no one will get hurt and everyone will be largely okay.

But one South Dublin suburb would disagree with that. Last week at a meeting of minds, one man claimed Dalkey residents “feel like Palestinians trapped in Gaza” because “we can’t drive our cars”.

Was this a UN Assembly or a forum on international aid? No, much more important. It was a meeting about making it easier to walk and cycle around Dún Laoghaire.

There were issues with the man’s comparison, starting with the fact that Dalkey, unlike Gaza is serviced by the DART which is probably something Iarnród Éireann needs to sort out. And I suppose, if you really wanted to split hairs, Dalkey is not a current war zone, no matter what they say about the parking situation on a Saturday.

People at the meeting pointed out how insensitive and out of touch the remarks were, comparing one of Ireland’s poshest postcodes to one of the most oppressed and under-siege places on Earth. Then because the good people Ireland have the internet, the savage slagging started piling on the artist formerly known as Twitter.

Just as they had laughed at Gwyneth Paltrow talking about the losses she had suffered as a result of a snow slope collision. “Well we lost half a day skiing,” she told the court, with a serious face.

People often complain the public doesn’t have sympathy for the upper and middle classes. It’s reverse snobbery, we’re always slagging them they say but it’s so hard when they say and do the exact things that get them slagged like this.

Who could forget when a swimming pool-sized sinkhole suddenly opened up in a well-heeled Sydney suburb and one resident’s main concern was “My personal trainer has come, my electricity is off and now I don’t know what to do,” Oh the humanity.

While there might be something that makes local affairs so fascinating to watch, there is also something that makes people lose all sense of perspective and rational thinking.

Like the neighbour wars over a fence that got out of hand and resulted in years-long feuds involving dog poo catapulted over the fence and threats of physical violence. Or court disputes over a hedge that racked up €1 million in legal bills.

But it does make for some gripping entertainment. I was once asked to remove myself from a local meeting as a young reporter during a debate over whether a new neon art installation would just encourage more “young people to take ecstasy tablets.” I couldn’t stop giggling.

So there is the full range of comedy and drama on offer by getting involved in local matters. Go on, cancel that subscription and get ready to watch the action. You might accidentally do something good for your community while you’re there.