Have you ever experienced hibernophobia?

Fratton Fred

philologos wrote: »

I think this never ending list of phobias just produces an idea of victimisation that Irish people could do without perpetuating further.

People in England booing when Ireland score = Hibernophobia.

People in Ireland booing when England score = light hearted banter.

FTA69

I've been living in England for a few years and unfortunately anti-Irish sentiment does exist. Any Irish person who has lived here for a length of time may not experience outright hostility (although they will eventually), but they certainly will experience patronising and belittling behaviour based on their nationality or accent at some stage.

Like all forms of racism, anti-Irish sentiment can take many forms; some subtle and some not so subtle. The far-right anti-everyone brigade do exist in England and more than once have I encountered it. It's also important to remember that this particular strain isn't limited to the poorer working class but also the "Middle England" crowd who are suspicious of anything that isn't white British. Similarly many people will engage in p*ss-taking over your accent, making crude imitations in faux-paddy tones or insinuating you're some sort of loveable gobsh*te. I've been in pubs and restaurants and actually had complete strangers sitting next to me saying "potato potato" to each other and p*ssing themselves laughing. When I first came here at age 19 I was at a party and the minute I opened my mouth people started bursting their arse laughing at the way I spoke, something that isn't the most pleasant of experiences to say the least.

On top of the above you'll often get English people who simply don't get the fact that Ireland isn't a part of the UK, or that Ireland isn't a nation in its own right. This behaviour is a product of a centuries-long attitude of superiority that unfortunately exists whereupon the south of England is the centre of the universe and Scotland, Ireland etc are simply extensions of that.

Interestingly enough an article about this was published in the Irish Times and the comments section was full of claims about how anti-Irish sentiment doesn't exist and everyone just has a giant chip on their shoulder etc. This is b*llocks to say the least and people pretending there aren't swathes of British society that look down on us are bloody deluded to say the least.

FTA69

It's also worth noting that blind anti-English prejudice exists in Ireland for obvious reasons, but it's no more justified than any other example of bigotry that manifests itself. The biggest racists I know over here are Irish and some of the sh*t directed toward Eastern Europeans and Africans I saw while working with other Irish in construction was unbelievable.

Ush1

I've never had really any negative reaction towards me for being Irish but I deal with a lot of English people in my job and sometimes it's funny to see them over compensate.

"Oh I really love Ireland and the Irish, really really. I mean, who cares about the past etc...."

FTA69

Ush1 wrote: »

I've never had really any negative reaction towards me for being Irish but I deal with a lot of English people in my job and sometimes it's funny to see them over compensate.

"Oh I really love Ireland and the Irish, reall really. I mean, who cares about the past etc...."

"My best friends are all black..."

philologos

Fratton Fred wrote: »

People in England booing when Ireland score = Hibernophobia.

People in Ireland booing when England score = light hearted banter.

Leaving aside the trivialities. There is a heck of a lot more anti-English sentiment in Ireland than there is the other way around. Mostly it is lighthearted joking towards the Irish here. For example stuff like pronunciation, or words used whenever I bring out an unfamiliar Dublinism but this "hibernophobia" concept should never gain traction. This victimisation culture adding phobias on and on without any good reason is utterly daft.
I'll never be using that term irrespective of what happens.

FTA69

philologos wrote: »

Mostly it is lighthearted joking towards the Irish here. For example stuff like pronunciation

That's all well and good when your friends are doing it. It's a completely different concept when random strangers are doing it and laughing in your face when you speak. People wouldn't walk into a corner shop and start speaking like Apu from the Simpsons but yet many will do it to Irish barstaff etc. And whether they think that's banter or not is irrelevant, it's arsehole behaviour at the end of the day.

but this "hibernophobia" concept should never gain traction.

The word is thick I'll agree with you there. But anti-Irishness in Britain has been around for years, it isn't a recent invention and it hasn't gone away.

fryup

philologos wrote: »

Leaving aside the trivialities. There is a heck of a lot more anti-English sentiment in Ireland than there is the other way around.

i agree, an english person living in ireland would get alot more hassle than an irish person in england

remember this from a few years back


and another thing there's over 3 million irish living in the UK so surely the british can't be that "hibernphobic":rolleyes:

FTA69

fryup wrote: »

and another thing there's over 3 million irish living in the UK so surely the british can't be that "hibernphobic":rolleyes:

There's a lot of Mexicans who live in the USA. By your logic there can thus be no anti-Hispanic racism in America.

fryup

FTA69 wrote: »

There's a lot of Mexicans who live in the USA. By your logic there can thus be no anti-Hispanic racism in America.

im not saying it doesn't exsist but if irish people are getting such a raw deal in the uk why don't come back? nobody is making them stay over there...would the irish allow 3 million english to live over here? i doubt it

philologos

FTA69 wrote: »

philologos wrote: »

That's all well and good when your friends are doing it. It's a completely different concept when random strangers are doing it and laughing in your face when you speak. People wouldn't walk into a corner shop and start speaking like Apu from the Simpsons but yet many will do it to Irish barstaff etc. And whether they think that's banter or not is irrelevant, it's arsehole behaviour at the end of the day.



The word is thick I'll agree with you there. But anti-Irishness in Britain has been around for years, it isn't a recent invention and it hasn't gone away.

By the by I think that Northeners (north England) get much more a slagging than I ever have. I think one of the best strengths of Irish people is the gift of self-denegratory humour and knowing how to take a joke. Let's not ruin that. The strongest people are those who can laugh at themselves rather than getting protective about it.

Fratton Fred

fryup wrote: »

i agree, an english person living in ireland would get alot more hassle than an irish person in england

Depends how thick skinned you are. If you can handle the odd "aw roit mayte" crap English accent thrown at you, the "anyone but England" brigade and constantly being treated like a tourist, there is very little hassle for English people here.

You meet the odd dickhead but the same twats would start on a lamp post if they thought they could get a reaction..

FTA69

im not saying it doesn't exsist but if irish people are getting such a raw deal in the uk why don't come back?

Nobody said we're getting a raw deal, rather that anti-Irish sentiment exists in England and takes a variety of forms. That's all. I'm not saying it's a major issue in the lives of the Irish over here.

philologos,

By the by I think that Northeners (north England) get much more a slagging than I ever have. I think one of the best strengths of Irish people is the gift of self-denegratory humour and knowing how to take a joke. Let's not ruin that. The strongest people are those who can laugh at themselves rather than getting protective about it.

True enough. I personally couldn't give a sh*t about barbs or p*ss-taking, I've a hairy enough arse when it comes to these things. However, there's a difference between humour and banter amongst friends and being laughed at by a complete stranger who feels it appropriate to take the p*ss. Someone openly laughing in your face shouldn't necessarily be tolerated on the basis of "taking a joke." Similarly the whole "potato potato" bullsh*t isn't necessarily a gas joke that you should be laughing at in the name of self-deprication.

As I said above, if people have a problem then leave them off. Life's too short to be leaping to the barricades over every eejit you come across but at the same time it's important to stand up for yourself when people start taking liberties.

Solair

The Northern English (especially with stronger accents) get an awful time in London,

A good friend of mine from Yorkshire regularly got openly mocked about her accent and asked to say certain phrases! One wagon in the office even corrected how she pronounced her own name !

They don't do that to Irish, Scottish, Americans, Aussis etc

The main reason I think is because we're not included in the class system as they can't place us.

However, a strong regional (especially Northern urban) accent = working class and they immediately switch into "you're working class" mode.

There's also an attitude that its ok to abuse northerners but its racist / xenophobic to abuse Irish, Scottish or Welsh people (and they might deck you).

There's also an assumption that the north of England is "behind the times". I'd a Londoner patronisingly explain to my friend from yorkshire what Sushi is!!!!

You'd swear she'd only ever eaten Eccles Cakes and Yorkshire Pud, bye gum!

ashers222

Its rare in the flesh but I remember years ago a friend who had grown up in London but is living here had a brother visit and he was getting thick about the Irish after a few pints down the pub. (IRA etc etc) It was the middle of summer and there was a festival going on in the town where we were and as we were walking out the pub door a firework exploded overhead and your man hit the deck and let out a big girly wail. Thought it was a bomb going off and he nearly shít himself.

Grayson

FTA69 wrote: »

"My best friends are all black..."

As for women, I have binders full of women.

philologos

I think the assumption that all Northerners are working class is a bit off. It's nothing to do with class.

April O Neill

philologos wrote: »

I think this never ending list of phobias just produces an idea of victimisation that Irish people could do without perpetuating further.

Attaching phobia to a nation isn't just an Irish thing. Anglophobia, Francophobia etc. etc.

fryup

Solair wrote: »

The Northern English (especially with stronger accents) get an awful time in London,

A good friend of mine from Yorkshire regularly got openly mocked about her accent and asked to say certain phrases! One wagon in the office even corrected how she pronounced her own name !

You'd swear she'd only ever eaten Eccles Cakes and Yorkshire Pud, bye gum!

and here's the proof....;) (.30 in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRjIC51UILc

kunst nugget

fryup wrote: »

i agree, an english person living in ireland would get alot more hassle than an irish person in england

remember this from a few years back

A bunch of rebel song singing planks on a building site isn't indicative how Irish people normally deal with English people. There's arseholes on both sides of the Irish Sea incapable of being anything but knuckle dragging xenophobes but that's no excuse for tarring everyone with the same brush. Remember a couple cünts doesn't represent an entire country.

tipptom

It did not really bother me in england when I used to get the pronunciation lessons(three and tree,thirty three and a third etc)and when some of my english friend would call me paddy for the crack but it did bother if some random lorry driver would arrive on site,jump out of his cab with his stash of porno mags cascading after him "awight pat,where do I drop this.

philologos

April O Neill wrote: »

Attaching phobia to a nation isn't just an Irish thing. Anglophobia, Francophobia etc. etc.

I know it isn't but I think the concept is a touch ridiculous. Assigning a phobia to every single possible people group for very trivial reasons that is.

looksee

kunst nugget wrote: »

A bunch of rebel song singing planks on a building site isn't indicative how Irish people normally deal with English people. There's arseholes on both sides of the Irish Sea incapable of being anything but knuckle dragging xenophobes but that's no excuse for tarring everyone with the same brush. Remember a couple cünts doesn't represent an entire country.

Well said, and the same applies to the 'hibernophobia' stuff as well.

kunst nugget

looksee wrote: »

Well said, and the same applies to the 'hibernophobia' stuff as well.

Sorry, that's what I was trying to get across, I mightn't have been that clear on it.

old hippy

Plenty of times. I remember we were in Brighton about 18 months after the bombing and we were made feel very uncomfortable in a restaurant there.

As for being corrected on how I speak, I do get that occasionally from a colleague. A Sun reading, xenephobic born again Christian. Does that mean I think all Sun reading, xenephobic born again Christians are all ignorant?

Let me get back to you on that one...

philologos

old hippy wrote: »

Plenty of times. I remember we were in Brighton about 18 months after the bombing and we were made feel very uncomfortable in a restaurant there.

As for being corrected on how I speak, I do get that occasionally from a colleague. A Sun reading, xenephobic born again Christian. Does that mean I think all Sun reading, xenephobic born again Christians are all ignorant?

Let me get back to you on that one...

A Sun reading xenophobic born again Christian, really?

You might want to get him to consult his Bible and also to take a look around him. There's probably a lot of immigrants attending his church.

Quite entertaingly my pastor a few weeks ago in a sermon said that God hates the Sun (seems off topic but considering the topic of the sermon it was bang on IMO )

summerskin

Solair wrote: »

The Northern English (especially with stronger accents) get an awful time in London,

A good friend of mine from Yorkshire regularly got openly mocked about her accent and asked to say certain phrases! One wagon in the office even corrected how she pronounced her own name !

They don't do that to Irish, Scottish, Americans, Aussis etc

The main reason I think is because we're not included in the class system as they can't place us.

However, a strong regional (especially Northern urban) accent = working class and they immediately switch into "you're working class" mode.

There's also an attitude that its ok to abuse northerners but its racist / xenophobic to abuse Irish, Scottish or Welsh people (and they might deck you).

There's also an assumption that the north of England is "behind the times". I'd a Londoner patronisingly explain to my friend from yorkshire what Sushi is!!!!

You'd swear she'd only ever eaten Eccles Cakes and Yorkshire Pud, bye gum!

I'm from northern england, and got turned down for a promotion at the first company i worked for in London because i was "too northern"! had they said "too irish" or "too jamaican" it would have been seen as racism, pure and simple.

philologos wrote: »

I think the assumption that all Northerners are working class is a bit off. It's nothing to do with class.

I used to get this all the time, some southerners were amazed, or even didn't believe, that i was privately educated. they thought we were all "darn't pit" from the age of ten.


On the other hand, i've seen irrationally hatred of the irish up close, and from a friend. 14 of us were on holiday when one lad started on about how much he hated catholics, and the irish were a set of bombing cúnts who should never have been allowed to leave the UK.

It was then pointed out to him that on holiday with him were 2 Guilfoyles, 2 Garretts, a Maders, a Kearns and a Brennan. he was soon taught a lesson...

I grew up near manchester in the 70s and 80s and early 90s, through the time of the bombings, and never came up against anti-irish sentiment, despite having an irish name and irish family.



Now, since I moved to ireland 6 years ago I've had a fair few anti-english comments(as has my wife, who despite her english accent is born and bred in dublin with 100% irish ancestry). Been told to fúck off back to England numerous times, called a black and tan bastárd and a few other digs too.

Strangely I've also had to put up with it in business when dealing with directors/senior management of some very large companies. One told me "If you want to do business the English way, you should have stayed in England, you English bastárd" because i politely reminded him that his company had owed us over €100k for 6 weeks beyond their agreed payment date after invoice.

old hippy

philologos wrote: »

A Sun reading xenophobic born again Christian, really?

You might want to get him yo consult his Bible and also to take a look around him. There's probably a lot of immigrants attending his church.

Quite entertaingly my pastor a few weeks ago in a sermon said that God hates the Sun (seems off topic but considering the topic of the sermon it was bang on IMO )

The person involved is very myopic in their views, let's put it that way.

Anyway, let's stay on topic

Solair

summerskin wrote: »

I'm from northern england, and got turned down for a promotion at the first company i worked for in London because i was "too northern"! had they said "too irish" or "too jamaican" it would have been seen as racism, pure and simple.




I used to get this all the time, some southerners were amazed, or even didn't believe, that i was privately educated. they thought we were all "darn't pit" from the age of ten.


On the other hand, i've seen irrationally hatred of the irish up close, and from a friend. 14 of us were on holiday when one lad started on about how much he hated catholics, and the irish were a set of bombing cúnts who should never have been allowed to leave the UK.

It was then pointed out to him that on holiday with him were 2 Guilfoyles, 2 Garretts, a Maders, a Kearns and a Brennan. he was soon taught a lesson...

I grew up near manchester in the 70s and 80s and early 90s, through the time of the bombings, and never came up against anti-irish sentiment, despite having an irish name and irish family.



Now, since I moved to ireland 6 years ago I've had a fair few anti-english comments(as has my wife, who despite her english accent is born and bred in dublin with 100% irish ancestry). Been told to fúck off back to England numerous times, called a black and tan bastárd and a few other digs too.

Strangely I've also had to put up with it in business when dealing with directors/senior management of some very large companies. One told me "If you want to do business the English way, you should have stayed in England, you English bastárd" because i politely reminded him that his company had owed us over €100k for 6 weeks beyond their agreed payment date after invoice.

Being turned down for a job because you're 'too northern' is basically some kind of classism/regional-racism type thing.

Discriminating against someone like that because of where they're from should be illegal, end of.

I remember reading some EU survey about people's experiences of being discriminated against in the work place / job interviews and it was interesting that in Ireland the major issue coming up was discrimination because of your address. It also cropped up in the UK and France, but in most of the rest of Europe it was racism, sexism and ageism coming up.

I think both Ireland and Britain both suffer from severe parochialism (maybe most of Europe does). I know you certainly get a lot of mocking of accents in France, very much in the same way as you get it here.

The anti-Catholic thing that very occasionally gets spouted in England and Scotland is just bizarre though. There's the odd time you'd swear you've been transported back to about 1613 instead of 2013. Northern Ireland obviously being a LOT LOT worse, but they've made it a local hobby.

I always find it a bit annoying that people in England assume I'm a devout Catholic just because I'm Irish. I mean, I don't immediately assume they're all like the flock of the Vicar of Dibley or something.

They also tend to blame conservatism in Ireland on catholicness when it's actually identical to Victorian conservatism / puritanical movements in the UK too and they convienently tend to forget that countries like France and Italy are rather heavily populated by Catholics not to mention large chunks of Germany..

It's also infuriating to see things like media outlets indulging in that kind of thing too. I've seen a few articles trying to link the economic crisis to "catholic countries" while completely ignoring the fact that Greece is Greek Orthodox mostly. Spain and Portugal were recent dictatorships which are only starting to economically recover and Ireland wasn't really in much better shape, despite being a democracy and completely ignoring the fact that say Austria's largely catholic and one of the most boringly well-run economies in Europe.

Most of Europe's development / lack of development still largely follows the lines of access to coal/iron resources (Britain, Germany, parts of France - Core of industrial Europe) or control of trade routes (Netherlands and Britain, but also France and a few others). It's all very easy to just completely ignore economic history and put it down to national characteristics and religious philosophies. Some EU countries were just a lot luckier than others when it came to what resources they had at their disposal.

It's just some kind of bizarre cultural anti-catholic bias that seems to exist in parts of the UK and I'm not even catholic so shouldn't be offended by it. I'm just neutrally observing it as an atheist

Here's a nice piece of BBC journalism from the 16th century : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18789154 to illustrate my point about their obsessing about this particular issue.

I suppose all I can conclude is that most European countries / regions dislike most of their neighbours most of the time, albeit mostly with a sense of humor rather than actually waring with each other these days.

I know it's AH, but ... I think you just have to accept that Europeans are kinda like a big in-fighting family with endless baggage and have no problem dragging up with some guy did in the 12th century or whatever when it suits them

pickarooney

What's the word for a fear of winter?

Fratton Fred

Ive heard the theory of protestants countries fairing better than catholic ones discussed in Irish media. Maybe it's because protestants make their own clothes and bake their own bread, or whatever the stereotype is.

Solair

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Ive heard the theory of protestants countries fairing better than catholic ones discussed in Irish media. Maybe it's because protestants make their own clothes and bake their own bread, or whatever the stereotype is.

Hmmm.. Yeah, those catholic French types know nothing about either clothes/fashion or bread...

The main reason those countries fared well / poorly was almost 100% down to access to mineral resources / energy i.e. iron/coal - became steel industries, chemical industries (all originally spun out of textile industry seeking dyes), manufacturing industries etc etc and you build up a whole industrial society on top of that.

Ireland pretty much had grass, Spain had some of that (but only around the Basque country) and you can see that wealth distribution remains the same - the Basques are loaded compared to the rest of Spain. Italy - same story ... Portugal - Same story ... Greece - didn't even have a lot of farmable land, never mind mineral wealth.

Fratton Fred

Solair wrote: »

Hmmm.. Yeah, those catholic French types know nothing about either clothes/fashion or bread...

The main reason those countries fared well / poorly was almost 100% down to access to mineral resources / energy i.e. iron/coal - became steel industries, chemical industries, manufacturing industries etc etc and you build up a whole industrial society on top of that.

Ireland pretty much had grass.

Absolutely, the whole theory is just idle speculation.

This whole protestant work ethic thing certainly failed on me!

Solair

pickarooney wrote: »

What's the word for a fear of winter?

Maybe Chionophobia - intense fear of snow?

Hibernophobia's accepted to mean fear of all things Irish.

The only known cure is to lock the suffer into a room with Michael D. reading poetry in Irish set to uilleann pipes until they eventually have a breakdown and after that you can bring in a 'craic team' of psychologists

fryup

Solair wrote: »

It's also infuriating to see things like media outlets indulging in that kind of thing too. I've seen a few articles trying to link the economic crisis to
It's just some kind of bizarre cultural anti-catholic bias that seems to exist in parts of the UK and I'm not even catholic so shouldn't be offended by it. I'm just neutrally observing it as an atheist

but are you a catholic atheist

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Ive heard the theory of protestants countries fairing better than catholic ones discussed in Irish media. Maybe it's because protestants make their own clothes and bake their own bread, or whatever the stereotype is.

because protestants are honest and catholics are shady (;))

Solair

fryup wrote: »

but are you a catholic atheist

No, I'm not

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

fryup wrote: »

but are you a catholic atheist

Is that actually possible...?

summerskin

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Is that actually possible...?

My wife's one. Totally atheist but still goes up for the Jesus biscuits at weddings etc.

Catholic for life, even if you don't believe.

ScumLord

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Is that actually possible...?

I would say it is. We're brought up with Catholic values so that has to influence us in some way. Sort of in the same way you have Irish Americans, they were Irish but are now Americans but the Irish bit still influences their character.

SparkySpitfire

summerskin wrote: »

My wife's one. Totally atheist but still goes up for the Jesus biscuits at weddings etc.

Catholic for life, even if you don't believe.

Plus they don't let you officially leave the church now anyways :P

cournioni

Yes. In Northern Ireland.

Seaneh

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Is that actually possible...?

I know a heap of people who claim they are "atheist jews", makes as much sense as atheist catholic.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Bertie Woot wrote: »

Queen Elizabeth II and her entire extended royal family are all gingers. Most have their hair dyed regularly, with Prince Harry being the only member of the Windsor household to not care.

Yes... that's why he's the only ginger one in the family...

FTA69

Solair wrote: »

The Northern English (especially with stronger accents) get an awful time in London,

A good friend of mine from Yorkshire regularly got openly mocked about her accent and asked to say certain phrases! One wagon in the office even corrected how she pronounced her own name !

They don't do that to Irish, Scottish, Americans, Aussis etc

The main reason I think is because we're not included in the class system as they can't place us.

I see the point you're trying to make but I have to disagree nonetheless. What you're describing is a type of regionalism you get in every country, i.e. Dubs giving out about culchies and other counties in Munster giving out about Cork. This is markedly different from anti-Irish racism which is a well-documented form of xenophobia found in the Anglophone countries the Irish emigrated to.

With British colonisation also came a propaganda campaign within Britain itself that the Irish were thick savages, prone to alcoholism and violence, that needed to be civilised etc; a narrative that goes back centuries. This is why you saw all those cartoons in popular British magazines up until the early 20th century featuring the Irish as an ape-like people bent on mindless destruction. While those days are thankfully gone by and large, the notion of the Irish as a thick and unsophisticated people endures in the minds of some unfortunately, and this is often what leads some Brits to think it's fine to do the "potato to be sure" act by way of humour.

The Irish community still remains a target of the British far-right as has been proven by recent attacks on events in Liverpool and it was only as recent as the 1960s that Irish and black people were compared with dogs.

To be honest that's a far cry from someone being mocked because they're from Lancashire. There's no comparison between the two.

philstar

FTA69 wrote: »

With British colonisation also came a propaganda campaign within Britain itself that the Irish were thick savages, prone to alcoholism and violence, that needed to be civilised etc; a narrative that goes back centuries. This is why you saw all those cartoons in popular British magazines up until the early 20th century featuring the Irish as an ape-like people.

even though spike milligan professed to be a proud irishman (although he never lived here) his comedy could be deemed as contributing to the whole thicko paddy image..yet he's loved by many over here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJSrVNKnr0

Fratton Fred

James Lemon Mercury wrote: »

Yes... that's why he's the only ginger one in the family...

Princess Di's brother is ginger as well (and when he was 30 looked just like Harry does today)

kunst nugget

philstar wrote: »

even though spike milligan professed to be a proud irishman (although he never lived here) his comedy could be deemed as contributing to the whole thicko paddy image..yet he's loved by many over here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJSrVNKnr0

We'd better ban Father Ted so because that's obviously as bad Spike Milligan. I feel so oppressed just thinking about it.

Fratton Fred

FTA69 wrote: »

Solair wrote: »

I see the point you're trying to make but I have to disagree nonetheless. What you're describing is a type of regionalism you get in every country, i.e. Dubs giving out about culchies and other counties in Munster giving out about Cork. This is markedly different from anti-Irish racism which is a well-documented form of xenophobia found in the Anglophone countries the Irish emigrated to.

With British colonisation also came a propaganda campaign within Britain itself that the Irish were thick savages, prone to alcoholism and violence, that needed to be civilised etc; a narrative that goes back centuries. This is why you saw all those cartoons in popular British magazines up until the early 20th century featuring the Irish as an ape-like people bent on mindless destruction. While those days are thankfully gone by and large, the notion of the Irish as a thick and unsophisticated people endures in the minds of some unfortunately, and this is often what leads some Brits to think it's fine to do the "potato to be sure" act by way of humour.

The Irish community still remains a target of the British far-right as has been proven by recent attacks on events in Liverpool and it was only as recent as the 1960s that Irish and black people were compared with dogs.

To be honest that's a far cry from someone being mocked because they're from Lancashire. There's no comparison between the two.

What attacks in Liverpool?

FTA69

philstar wrote: »

even though spike milligan professed to be a proud irishman (although he never lived here) his comedy could be deemed as contributing to the whole thicko paddy image..yet he's loved by many over here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJSrVNKnr0

It's different when Irish people do it though. For instance Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle do a number of sketches that wouldn't be acceptable for a white comedian to do.

FTA69

Fratton Fred wrote: »

FTA69 wrote: »

What attacks in Liverpool?

http://www.ir-news.net/2013/02/anti-irish-racism-reported-on-the-increase/