Why do North Americans laugh at the famine so much?

kneemos

Tommy Tiernan is a great man for the famine jokes.

biko

I've spent quite a lot of time in America and never heard anyone joke about the famine.
Maybe I should hang out on reddit more so I can get my outrage on, but tbh their layout does my head in.

Scannal

kneemos wrote: »

Tommy Tiernan is a great man for the famine jokes.

It's ok for jews to make a joke about the holocaust but it wouldn't be ok for a German to do similar.

Paulownia

biko wrote: »

I've spent quite a lot of time in America and never heard anyone joke about the famine.
Maybe I should hang out on reddit more so I can get my outrage on.

I never did either, but I have come upon a lot of people who didn't really know where Ireland was.

fryup

but sure, even the irish make fun of the famine.....

3.40 in......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtj9Gps2p_I

ElWalrus

Paulownia wrote: »

Those are the ones who travel, 80 0/0 of Americans have never had a passport.
Try visiting America outside of the main cities, I have!

I think the number is a bit higher than that. This link puts it at around 35%. But from what I gather only 3.5-4% of the population go abroad in any one year. Still about 14 million people. :pac:

Links234

snotboogie wrote: »

reddit ... which is a liberal forum where PC values are typically strongly enforced

Are you taking the piss? This is reddit we're talking about, where subs such as /r/whiterights and /r/greatapes are a thing, the admins will not remove anything unless it's illegal and even then they're not too quick to do so. They're all about free speech, and stay out of most subs business most of the time.

hatrickpatrick

snotboogie wrote: »

This is currently trending on reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/2l3cbn/classic_irishmans_dilemma/
which is a liberal forum where PC values are typically strongly enforced (at least in popular topics) by the community.

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

seamus

Irish people who are sensitive about something that occurred 170 years ago need to cop the fnck on tbh.

Billy86

blackwhite wrote: »

In a thread complaining about Americans making "racist" jokes, there's a hell of a lot of racist generalisations about Americans - but apparently that's ok :rolleyes:

You must be new to after hours so let me explain, there is a large underlying theme of "everything about us = good, wonderful, lovely, charming, etc" which obviously has to be balanced out by "others = bad, every damn thing about them". Obviously the second one is much harder to achieve without mass generalisations for whole races and ethnicities, nationalities, religions etc... but the real key to the trick is to act as offended as possible if someone does the same in towards "us".

Oh, and male paedophiles = monsters, beasts, minotaurs, etc... female paedophiles = nice, niiiccceee. Or something.

Links234 wrote: »

Are you taking the piss? This is reddit we're talking about, where subs such as /r/whiterights and /r/greatapes are a thing, the admins will not remove anything unless it's illegal and even then they're not too quick to do so. They're all about free speech, and stay out of most subs business most of the time.

I expect red you to know better though Links, you're in here quire often. "PC" in after hours lingo doesn't mean politically correct, it just means "I disagree with it so this seems like a suitable label" - sure someone called a bloody car "pc" not too long ago!

Philo Beddoe

snotboogie wrote: »

For a place where the media is usually so politically correct (Look as Suey Park and CancelColbert) why do they feel free to take such liberties making fun of the Great Famine? This is currently trending on reddit http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/2l3cbn/classic_irishmans_dilemma/
which is a liberal forum where PC values are typically strongly enforced (at least in popular topics) by the community. Substitute any other ethnicity and their negative stereotypes into that joke and it becomes an absolute no no.

American humour does tend to rely heavily on stereotypes when it comes to dealing with foreigners/different ethnic groups. They're not as exposed to other cultures as the rest of us, largely because they're a net cultural exporter.

The_Captain

Outside of teenage boys posting moronic internet comments, can't say I've ever heard much anti-Irish, anti-famine stuff from Americans.

Certainly not on TV or anywhere in the media

Naydy

Doc wrote: »

I don't think Americans laugh at the famine much if at all. Most of them wouldn't even know about it to laugh at it and if they did know about it wouldn't find much to laugh at.

They laugh at the stereotype of a drunken Irishman who eats potatoes. Or at the Frenchman who stinks of garlic and will surrender at the sound of a cork popping. Or at the Englishman in a three piece suit drinking tea his butler has made for him getting upset at the people having fun. Or at the Mexican trying to sneak across the boarder in his sombrero. Just like people might laugh at the fat loud American tourist stereotype.

Exactly. If you've never seen the show that clip was taken from, it's called Archer and they make jokes about over-exaggerated sterotypes of loads of nationalities; the French, Italians, Japanese, Mexicans, Cubans, Russians, Germans and so on. They also play on American sterotypes for laughs too, it's tongue in cheek.

It's a great show by the way, really worth a watch.

Son Of A Vidic

Paulownia wrote: »

Most Americans know nothing of the rest of the world

I'm guessing you haven't met any.

WoollyRedHat

I blame Pixar. The representation of Mr. Potato Head is clearly a mockery of the Irish peoples and all they hold dear, including the famine. Mr. Potato Head's brazenous attitude is an outrageous and defematory attack on the Irish as a whole.

bodice ripper

Paulownia wrote: »

Most Americans know nothing of the rest of the world, the educational system is skewed towards introspection rather than a world view.
,

In my experience, Irish people know **** all about the US, but are surprisingly opinionated about Americans regardless.

And the same can definitely be said about the Irish education system.

kowloon

I think some people choose to get offended because they enjoy the drama. Irish people joke about the famine all the time. It's not like anybody involved is still alive, the famine made sure of that.

Squeedily Spooch

The joke in the original link isn't even about the famine? It's an old joke about Irish people being pissheads, we're supposed to have this amazing sense of humour but not when it comes to a little joke about us drinking? C'mon now.

endacl

New thread: Why do Irish people care so much about what Americans think?

bodice ripper

endacl wrote: »

New thread: Why do Irish people care so much about what Americans think?

Because even the Irish need someone to look down on.

Electric Sheep

Paulownia wrote: »

I never did either, but I have come upon a lot of people who didn't really know where Ireland was.

Yes, when you travel internationally you quickly find that despite all the blather about "punching above our weight" Ireland is pretty insignificant to the population of the rest of the world.

bodice ripper

I think Americans have a better idea where Ireland is than most continental Europeans.

kneemos

bodice ripper wrote: »

I think Americans have a better idea where Ireland is than most continental Europeans.

Ah Herr.

bodice ripper

kneemos wrote: »

Ah Herr.

It's not so much praise of the Americans so much as it is a damning indictment of the continentals.

Boskowski

bodice ripper wrote: »

I think Americans have a better idea where Ireland is than most continental Europeans.

Not if they grew up in the 80ies or 90ies.

keith16

Paulownia wrote: »

I never did either, but I have come upon a lot of people who didn't really know where Ireland was.

It's reverse ignorance tho innit'?

If I gave you a blank map of the US, how many would you be able to name?

Be honest now. Personally, I'd be delighted if I got more than 30.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Fratton Fred

Phoenix wrote: »

Now you are showing your ignorance, this event was catastrophic toward the Irish language and caused wholesale destruction of communities. You wouldn't dare say to holocaust victims to get over it now would you?

Could you enlighten us then and tell us exactly how you, or you family and friends suffered?

Scannal

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Could you enlighten us then and tell us exactly how you, or you family and friends suffered?

It led to the death and immagration of millions which deprived this country of many great people. Many things mighten't have happened such as increased power in the church, Northern Ireland etc. It completely changed the course of this country and we're still suffering the consequences of it.

bodice ripper

Scannal wrote: »

It led to the death and immagration of millions which deprived this country of many great people. Many things mighten't have happened such as increased power in the church, Northern Ireland etc. It completely changed the course of this country and we're still suffering the consequences of it.

Now, name a people who don't have anything like that anywhere in their past.