Understood, and I've done so in another thread BUT I asked the question as I wanted to see if I was alone in feeling that Irish "jokes" are best left in the 1970s.

Pretty obviously I'm not alone in thinking that.

Regards

Mike

Mike,  I understand your point,  but while you may call them "Irish" jokes but that is just a label, its not Racist - unless the joke teller means it that way

Having lived & worked in Ireland, USA, mid east & South Africa, I can tell you its the same everywhere, same joke different label.  

In other places its jokes about some another group like an ethnic group, a culture group,  another town or area,  even a name.  The joke theme is not racist,  its about a funny part of being simply slow on the uptake or maybe appearing to be slow but canny with it.

In Ireland they are Kerryman jokes,

Kerry people make money out of Kerry jokes

In USA its aimed at Polish or hillbillies or ....... 

In Canada its USA'ers ..... or ......

In Australia its New Zealanders typically with wives called Ba-a-a-bra

In South Africa its Van Der Merwe or Boksburg or ........ 

Mike

The fact that it denigrates a specific or identifiable Ethnic group makes such "jokes", by definition, racist.

The fact that this is done across the globe makes no odds.

The intention of the teller is also irrelevant. 

OK Mike,  I guess we (& numbers of others) will have to disagree

I know what racism is, I've lived with it.  So maybe my point of view comes from another angle to yours.  

I know what racism is, too - and "jokes" that denigrate on ethnic grounds are racist.

Seems like my PoV was agreed with in the "best jokes" (sic) thread.

For what it's worth (not a great deal I suspect), I think we have to be very wary about banning jokes or going running to forum moderators.

Being offended is a consequence of living in a free society, and of free speech. Don't like a joke? Find it offensive? Providing said joke does not break a law or is likely to cause a breach of the peace, let it stand.

One man's delicate sensibilities being wounded are a small price to pay for living in a free society. And someone, somewhere, will always be offended by someone else's idea of a funny.

On the subject of Irish jokes, they are no longer mainstream - you won't hear them on the BBC or ITV any more, as you did forty of 50 years ago. They will never go away, but they've gone underground, along with the jokes about blacks with big willies, "smelly" Pakistanis, "penny-pinching" Jews and thick Essex girls with bottle blonde hair and a relaxed attitude towards sexual restraint. And the internet is one of the few places these jokes can live now.

Personally, I find most of Paul's cut and paste Irish jokes unfunny, but that's because I heard most of them when I were a lad back in the 1970s. They are but dusty, cobwebbed relics of a long-gone era.

And I bet he wouldn't go into a genuine (as opposed to faux or themed) Irish pub and tell one...

Kevin,

   yes a lot of the jokes are old hat ( as one would expect when you are my age) however recycling jokes sometimes brings them to a newer generation, so there may be some value is posting.

As a resident of Ireland, i concur with your comment.

Tarquin, a quick look at your profile shows your key interest is MOANING

enough said. i will not be getting into a protracted discussion

out

Of course not.

I'd hope thats because you realise that, as mentioned, such "jokes" are best left in the 1970s.

As worthy as that sounds, its not the case.

Why should anyone feel able to abuse another ethnic group? Casual racism is still racism. It can be seen as worse than overt racism of the KKK / EDL variety, because it somehow intimates that its OK to be just a little bit racist.

After all, why should someone be offended just because they're the butt of racist "humour"? Its a free society!

Paul

Hows about you start a thread and call it.....LETS ALL BE BLOODY MISERABLE...... and its a good job your not Irish otherwise you could take offence at your own jokes.

Mista h

Hilarious - now I know who can fill the boots of the late Eddie Braben.

Its not miserable to point out racism. You've read Pauls comment about being a resident of Ireland as meaning he's Irish, which s probably what he intended.

Bloody Romans

"You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time."

Abraham Lincoln

I think this quote just about sums up the general argument here.

Have just had a look at Tarqers profile.....under interests the first thing he lists is MOANING,now that has taken me by suprise. This will my last post on this matter so come back all you like.

Shocked of Croydon

Steve...still not heard from mayday hospital RE the biopsy they cut out my stomach so they have either lost my notes(again) or its no big deal

I think you've accidentally published a PM, rather than commented on the issue.

Something I wrote some time ago - and still relevant to my opinion.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...889#1566878604582889

As my action/reaction prompted this thread I would add:

In the specific case of the joke about Angelina Jolie's 'tits' -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22520720

I had heard the news that morning and, in addition to some private and personal thoughts, found the question 'I wonder if some **** will post a joke about this on the forum?" bothering me.

I removed the post - in the hope that the action would prompt a reconsideration of its suitability and be the end of the matter.

It wasn't and I reacted as I did.

It is unlikely that Ms Jolie would ever see this joke so my concern was less directly for her but more the tone of the forum - and to indicate that some would find such unthinking, crass reactions insensitive.

If you fall in the street with a heart attack I don't believe that you would welcome the crowd standing around, laughing and filming you on their mobile telephones - to post on You Tube.

I would also hope you would feel the same lack of approval toward that crowd if it were not you.

I probably should not have said what I did - I cannot change what I think of such casual insensitivity.

I never saw the Jolie tit joke but I've already heard enough of them to last a lifetime, and most of them aren't especially funny. I agree that it was probably a good idea to remove the joke for reasons of tone.

I don't actually have a problem with that, what I object to is the idea - expressed openly or implied by a number of members on this thread - that people don't have the right to post or laugh at sick/poor taste jokes. They do.

To look at it another way: Holocaust deniers or creationists might be absurdly, barmily, offensively wrong but they still have the right to be wrong. If you know what I mean.

That's not what I said. Please read the post again, in full, and stop taking quotes out of context.

My post is entirely in context with your comment.

If you've not understood it, thats another matter.

You say:

"what I object to is the idea - expressed openly or implied by a number of members on this thread - that people don't have the right to post or laugh at sick/poor taste jokes. They do"

Are you saying I don't have the right to point out that a "joke" is racist, and should be left in the 70s?

I hope it's the latter mista h.

Something like this service will be offered by my Youth Summer Camp module - 'Smallpox and Polio'.

I read "Cbr600"'s "joke" about the Jewish Taxi driver and thought to myself "Why does he have to be Jewish?" Then I read his next two jokes and thought "Oh. Riiiiight..."

Currently searching for a punchline to: "Have you heard the one about this racist twunt who kept posting garbage on a NAIM forum?"

Any suggestions?

No idea what thats supposed to mean.

@ Mike - its not racist, you have no sense of humour. 

Wink smiley.