Racism or Ethnic Stereotyping?

Birneybau

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/douglasmurray/100025451/anyone-know-any-irishman-jokes/

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100025501/why-dont-people-make-irish-jokes-any-more/

What think yee of this?

Would the same indifference be given if the jokes had been about another ethnicity/race/religion?

Then again,it was written by a pair of Brits!
You know what that lot are like!

OutlawPete

They are just characteristic jokes really, bit of laugh - people be too sensitive these days.

Bit of ribbing is good for the soul.

Morlar

If you were to do that about jews or africans there would be lawsuits galore - heads would roll. It's the double standard that pisses me off to be perfectly honest. I have no problem with Irish people being joked about - so long as it is not only Irish people who are the brunt of these jokes.

Fago!

The bastards!

Karl Hungus

Anyone taking offense over a joke like that is a retard. The joke isn't offensive in the least.

My name is URL

Stereotyping tbh.. it helps break down the racist barrier imo

bonerm

The complainant is a union-rep so odds-on he's a bollix.

Wazdakka

I think he was right to Sue..
Fúck em.

Ok it's a little bit ott alright..
But from reading the articles, the journalists don't seem to appriciate where any issue was at all.

Mild or not, it was a racist joke.
Replace the word Irish with Pakistani, or Black and it's exactly as racist.

It kind of pisses me off that the Brits seem to have a mentality that telling "Paddy jokes" isn't racist.

MaybeLogic

Only an Irishperson would get offended by stereotyping like that.

Stark

Declare jihad on their asses.

bonerm

Wazdakka wrote: »

I think he was right to Sue..
Fúck em.

Ok it's a little bit ott alright..
But from reading the articles, the journalists don't seem to appriciate where any issue was at all.

Mild or not, it was a racist joke.
Replace the word Irish with Pakistani, or Black and it's exactly as racist.

It kind of pisses me off that the Brits seem to have a mentality that telling "Paddy jokes" isn't racist.

A paddy, a pakistani and a black fella walk into a bar .... what a lovely example of an integrated community.

Karl Hungus

Now, if the joke was "How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irish man? None." I might actually laugh.

My name is URL

What's worse, telling a joke about something or not being allowed to for the fear of upsetting a few witless retards?

Diabhal_Glas

MaybeLogic wrote: »

Only an Irishperson would get offended by stereotyping like that.

So similar jokes about an Arab or an African would get no reaction?

bonerm

My name is URL wrote: »

What's worse, telling a joke about something or not being allowed to for the fear of upsetting a few witless retards?

Exactly. The yanks seem to have gone a bit too far the other way and thats not much fun either.

I think the brits attitude is they like to give it out but they're also happy to take it. Just have a repertoire built up for such an occasion.

WindSock

MaybeLogic wrote: »

Only an Irishperson would get offended by stereotyping like that.

As an Irishperson, I take offence to this gross stereotyping :mad:
I am writing an angry letter of disgust to the owners of boards.ie ltd.

brummytom

My name is URL wrote: »

What's worse, telling a joke about something or not being allowed to for the fear of upsetting a few witless retards?

This. People don't tell jokes about Irish people much because they're not funny.


I've heard some crackers about black/asian people. People need to get over themselves sometimes. If not one joke offended people, there'd be barely any jokes left

Dunjohn

Diabhal_Glas wrote: »

So similar jokes about an Arab or an African would get no reaction?

See that thing shooting waaay over your head? That was the point.

WindSock

I think we as a nation should stand up against this sort of retardedness and write in a bombardment of letters saying that we are not offended and they can carry on as they like. Then finish off with a nice englishman joke :pac:

marcsignal

Birneybau wrote: »

Then again,it was written by a pair of Brits!
You know what that lot are like!

um.... i dunno ? what are they like ?

just kidding OP

I wouldn't be in the least offended by the joke in question, in fact it's going on my list to tell for the pub next weekend

imo, it's this sue sue sue cultre is bordering on laughable.

bonerm

Diabhal_Glas wrote: »

So similar jokes about an Arab or an African would get no reaction?

Don't know about the Africans but the Arabs like to blow things .... out of proportion.








Great to not be in the 70's anymore.

caseyann

Its racist .All other races can call it racism so, so can i :mad:

If however its Irish person slagging us off then i have no problem with it


Irish turn other cheek way to much!

Stark

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Now, if the joke was "How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irish man? None." I might actually laugh.

I lolled.

brummytom

WindSock wrote: »

I think we as a nation should stand up against this sort of retardedness and write in a bombardment of letters saying that we are not offended and they can carry on as they like. Then finish off with a nice englishman joke :pac:

Then I'd get all of my countrymen to write letters in reply, expressing disgust at your Englishmen jokes. And finish off with a paddy-basher.


And so the cycle continues...

Karl Hungus

Hey Brummytom!

Why are Irish jokes so stupid? So the English can understand them.

/bitchslap

marcsignal

it could just as easily be read as a smart retort from the irishman to the stupid brit :pac:

caseyann

brummytom wrote: »

Then I'd get all of my countrymen to write letters in reply, expressing disgust at your Englishmen jokes. And finish off with a paddy-basher.


And so the cycle continues...

Never heard an englishman joke come from Ireland
Tell me one brummy

caseyann

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Hey Brummytom!

Why are Irish jokes so stupid? So the English can understand them.

/bitchslap

Nah those ones are alright because insulting both of us

prinz

caseyann wrote: »

Never heard an englishman joke come from Ireland

Graham Norton.

caseyann

prinz wrote: »

Graham Norton.

Graham Norton is a English mans joke coming from Ireland















oh i see what you did there very clever hahahahahaha

WindSock

brummytom wrote: »

Then I'd get all of my countrymen to write letters in reply, expressing disgust at your Englishmen jokes. And finish off with a paddy-basher.


And so the cycle continues...

Then we can sue y'all for racism.

'But they started it, what what.'

'You colonised them, so null & void' :pac:

Or

We can make jokes at each others expense until the other ethnic minorities feel left out and want to join in. Then it's jokes galore all round. Then it won't be funny anymore coz no one gets offended

prinz

The only reason I have a soft spot for the Brits is because they have a similar sense of humour and can take as well as they give. The only joke here is yer man that got "offended", if I was in the UK I'd be telling paddy jokes all day long.

major bill

the jokes not even funny but the fella kelly must be a biffo if he's taking that to heart:P


i love a good aul ''racist''/steriotype joke nothing wrong with it if people wanna get all sensitive over it then fcuk them. i tell a joke in jest its not racist imo racism is over used in todays society for silly things.

steriotypical german humour joke ''did ze heir avout ze man vu valked inzu ze bar?? he voz e alcoholik

brummytom

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Hey Brummytom!

Why are Irish jokes so stupid? So the English can understand them.

/bitchslap

*writes letter*


Ooh You're in for it now Karl, I'm putting you on my list of enemies

OutlawPete

English man walks into a bar in the heart of the Irish countryside.

He says to the barman: "Excuse me old boy, but could you perhaps tell me the quickest way to get to the town of Ballyomahony".

"Of course I can my english Gentleman friend, tell me - are you walking or driving"

"Oh, I have the car parked right outside" replies the english gent.

"Good" say's the barman "cause that's the quickest way".

ART6

Once it used to be Kerryman jokes. Are people from Kerry an ethnic minority who will be offended? We can laugh at Brit jokes without them declaring jihad on us. We can tease the French and the Germans with similar impunity.Those who can't on occasion laugh at themselves have a serious relationship problem and need treatment.

Years ago I had a mate whose skin was so black that we had to ask him to smile a lot at night so that we knew where he was. His response to such a request was "careful, or I'll come and live next door to you." No offence was meant or taken either way, because we were friends. Those who take offence are not friends and so who the hell cares what they think?

we'llallhavetea_old

i think yer mans reaction is embarassing tbh.

the "joke" was also embarrassingly sh!t.

Herb Powell

Racist jokes are funny.

R0ot

A lad turned to me in work today to complain about an Israeli (sp?) company saying "damn jews always wanting more than they deserve".

I laughed even though it wasn't meant as a joke just a general observation about that company. It was still funny as are most jokes.

We either don't take offence at all jokes regardless of race or we let the PC brigade win.

Latchy

I have lived long enough in uk to know that even Irish born people tell and text each other paddy jokes as well as jokes about other races and while I'm here ....

A womons dog is drowing in the sea and a passing German tourist drives in ,pulls out the dog ,resuscitates & saves it's life .'Are you a vet ' asked the Womon?

Vet ? ' replied the German .......'I'm ****in soaked

GLaDOS

Depending on the audience, I will joke about nearly anything.


Your man just couldn't come up with a decent comeback obviously.

Closed ac

At least when us Irish tell jokes about the British they're funny, that one was just pathetic!

hooradiation

Birneybau wrote: »

Then again,it was written by a pair of Brits!
You know what that lot are like!

A grand bunch of lads?

Capt'n Midnight

How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman ?

none

Dudess

I couldn't give two hoots about people cracking Irish jokes/stereotyping (and I get a good laugh out of a lot of same - I'm not a big fan of Family Guy, but the episode taking the piss out of the Irish is absolute genius) however some of the humour-free comments in response to those articles are pretty ugly - e.g. references to "they" (the Irish) bombing people, and comments using the pronoun "you" (why didn't they just go the whole hog and say "you people"?)

Then again, a handful of twats displaying their ignorance on an internet discussion forum - let them...

Quite a number of Irish people have no problem making blanket statements about Irish people too - e.g. "typical Irish begrudgery".

Doc

I lived in England for a number of years and by and large I didn’t mind getting told the odd Irish man joke but a couple of times when I was in a big group and they were all telling the jokes I really didn’t like it.

I mean it is racist and why do you think its ok?

One particular time it pissed me off and I did say to give it a rest with the Irish jokes. But one guy continued telling me them. Now they where **** jokes anyway and I had had enough so I told him to just shut the **** up. He made out just like some of you guys are that they are only jokes and that there is nothing malicious in them, but every single one they told made out that Irish people are stupid. I’m not a stupid person and all these jokes were being directed at me because of my nationality as the only Irish person in the group why should I or anyone else have to put up with it?

Victor

“A man walked into a local bar and saw a friend sitting with an empty glass. ‘Paddy can I buy you another’, he asked, to which Paddy replied – ‘now what would I be wanting with another empty glass?’ ” - a joke.

“A man walked into a Dublin bar and saw a friend sitting with an empty glass. ‘Paddy can I buy you another’, he asked, to which Paddy replied – ‘now what would I be wanting with another empty glass?’ ” - a bigoted joke.

Doc

Victor wrote: »

“A man walked into a local bar and saw a friend sitting with an empty glass. ‘can I buy you another’, he asked, to which his friend replied – ‘now what would I be wanting with another empty glass?’ ” - a joke.

“An English man walked into a Dublin bar and saw a guy sitting with an empty glass. ‘Paddy can I buy you another’, he asked, to which Paddy replied – ‘now what would I be wanting with another empty glass?’ ” - a bigoted joked.

FYP

Dudess

Like all such situations, it depends on context/intent. And I think being able to laugh at oneself is a sign of self confidence. Father Ted absolutely ripped the piss out of aspects of Irish society, but in a warm-hearted way. I find good-natured slagging very endearing and well intentioned - and inclusive too. I'd much prefer it to tiptoe-ing.

snow ghost

There can be an underlying insidious racism to these ethnic jokes that isn't very healthy for a society... they can reinforce negative stereotypes and are often a subtle way of expressing racist sentiments, or can lead to the same.

Given the historical fact that anti-Irish racism has, in the not-too-distant-past, been at times prevalent in Britain and given the realtionship of conflict between Ireland and Britain these kind of jokes are at best unwise and at worst dangerous unless used in self-deprecating humour by the ethnic group they relate to.

Dudess

There'll always be idiots though - if racist jokes don't reaffirm their prejudices, something else will...