Well there is no doubt about it Paul we are in sensitive times. Only the other week we had that massive kerfaffle about Gray and Keyes, which in a previous era would have been overlooked or met with some minor admonishment. We also had that Brand and Ross episode previously which resulted in more sackings.
Yes I heard this story about the Mexican joke which called all Mexicans lazy always asleep etc.etc.
Its fairly tricky all this. Through the seventies, seems like many moons ago now, all us Irish were considered, if you were to listen to the half wit comedians at the time , as thick and useless. This too became dinner table fodder! We shrugged it off as there didnt appear to any choice. On the other hand though I didnt reckon I was any thicker than the next guy in the street!!?
Somehow anyway all those jokes suddenly stopped pouring forth from our TV screens and it wasnt a bad thing. I think it went beyond saturation point and into main stream dinner table thinking. I refer to Baroness Varsi who made the same point last week.
Times changed and as I said those kind of jokes stopped..also the Larry Grayson gay era came to a sudden halt likewise...but is the barometer swinging too far the other way. It could be.
We still enjoy the odd Irish joke on our Jokes page and they are very funny, as are all the other jokes. But not everyone is this way. For example Willie Walsh Irish head of British Airways, has stated any number of times how he finds any similar references offensive. Im a bit more relaxed but others are not. But its the ones who are not relaxed who shout the loudest.
