What has happened in this country

[auckleyflyer]

The debt which was to the Rotheschild family who also made millions out of slavery and in interest over the loan period, was extended twice once for each world war!!! The debt endured until 2015 but to say all those working have paid for the original is a huge stretch but that's how all sides operate "not strictly true but neither false"
The truth is out there for every side

[phil old leake]

Hound I now live and work in Northern Ireland and I’ve heard more Irish jokes told here by the locals than I did recently in the uk
Maybe we should apologise to Liverpudlians for work jokes (notice I didn’t refer to them as scousers in case it upset someone) or we should all be apologising to ourselves every time a Yorkshireman is referred to as tight
In my case the cap does fit

[SydneyRover]

I wonder if you'd hear the same number of Irish jokes in Ireland Phil?

[drfchound]

Hound I now live and work in Northern Ireland and I’ve heard more Irish jokes told here by the locals than I did recently in the uk
Maybe we should apologise to Liverpudlians for work jokes (notice I didn’t refer to them as scousers in case it upset someone) or we should all be apologising to ourselves every time a Yorkshireman is referred to as tight
In my case the cap does fit

Phil, I don’t have an argument about people telling Irish, Yorkshiremen etc jokes.
The point I was trying to put forward is why is that not considered to be racist but telling a joke about a Pakistani person now is.
I see that Ant and Dec have issued a public apology for dressing up as black people and speaking in a West Indian accent back in 2003.
Should people who say, dressed up a a Scotsman, wearing a ginger wig and a kilt for example, and speaking in a Glaswegian accent, apologise for that.
With no disrespect intended to anyone I just think that some things being said just now are taking the racist theme too far.
People have to be able to see the funny side of some situations and be able to laugh.
Before anyone piles in and says I can’t see the bigger picture, of course I can and I have great sympathy for some of the things that have and do happen in the World.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Tend to agree people are going too far with it. Have we reached the point where nobody can be mocked ever at all?

I think it's fine to have humour and even some humour based on skin, hair colour etc or nationality as long as there is balance.

Should we alongside that promote equality etc? absolutely. Is removing an old comedy or statue going to make much difference? Symbolic perhaps but does very little to address real issues does it?

With TV comedies let people make their own minds up, the past is just that.  Most young people wouldn't find most of them that funny as times have changed so they will naturally disappear in many cases anyway but give people that choice.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Hound.

It is really, really simple and I do not understand why anyone struggles to get this.

Comedy that is predicated on stereotyping weaker, more marginalised groups than the people who are making or laughing at the comedy, and doing it in a way that is designed to belittle is just not funny. It is bullying.

So the GGM "English" sketch was funny. The one in the Young Ones (now cut) where the police officer with sunglasses on is giving racist abuse to a white man because "I thought you was a nigger" is funny.

Jim Davidson doing his Chalky White act wasn't funny. Bernard Manning doing his "So there were this Paki" jokes wasn't funny. Little Britain doing Vicky Pollard wasn't funny.

[tommy toes]

My Jimmy Saville impersonation used to have them rocking in the aisles.
Wouldn't dream of doing it nowadays.
Let's hope there's no skeletons in the cupboard about James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart or James Mason.
My repertoire will be in tatters!

[drfchound]

BST, the point is that just because you don’t find it funny doesn’t mean it isn’t to others.
The Bernard Manning stuff and the Jim Davidson stuff was funny at the time and people laughed at it.

How is that any different to the “I thought you was a nigger” sketch any different.
It uses the N word but you find that funny?
Is that because it was being said to a white man?

I am in no way a racist person and have some very good black and Asian friends but I do think that the current situation is being taken too far.

[drfchound]

My Jimmy Saville impersonation used to have them rocking in the aisles.
Wouldn't dream of doing it nowadays.
Let's hope there's no skeletons in the cupboard about James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart or James Mason.
My repertoire will be in tatters!

TT, if you did a good Rhett Butler then that has gone with the wind too.

[IDM]

Bernard Manning wasn’t funny, even at the time (70s) many people considered him to be OTT.

[drfchound]

Bernard Manning wasn’t funny, even at the time (70s) many people considered him to be OTT.

Yes they did IDM but his shows always sold out so I guess that many people did find it it funny.
I wasn’t a fan of his by the way.

[Ldr]

The Germans episode of Fawlty towers gone now

[Filo]

The Germans episode of Fawlty towers gone now

Yes it’s getting stupid now

[tommy toes]

The Germans episode of Fawlty towers gone now

Yes it’s getting stupid now

Oh I don't know. I watched that episode recently and the racism was truly shocking.
Right to ban it imo.

[phil old leake]

How about banning all Samuel l Jackson movies That typify black people as hard criminals
All tv and films that identify all native Americans as the oppressed
We might consider banning the Hobbit because it might upset short people
Or take the music of randy Newman off the radio because of his record short people He obviously doesn’t like them
The list could go on and on and on
Ban meat adverts in case it upsets vegetarians or totally ban social media as it’s full of shxxe
The most important thing to ban could be Britain’s got talent as it basically chooses individuals to ridicule(that would be a result)

[phil old leake]

Hound you are wrong about Ireland

[SydneyRover]

SongFacts

The Guardian newspaper July 28, 2008 asked Newman if realized from the start that this song's irony would be a tough sell. He replied: "I didn't. I thought, all you gotta do is listen. It's not like it's James Joyce. [Then] I realized the medium wasn't great for that. People don't listen to music like that, where they're actually listening. They're doing all kinds of things. It's just an irritation."

He put it this way when he spoke with Rolling Stone in 2017: "Because it was a hit, the song reached people who aren't looking for irony. For them, the words mean exactly what they say. I can imagine being a short kid in junior high school. I thought about it before I let the record get out. But I thought, 'What the hell?' I know what I meant – the guy in that song is crazy. He was not to be believed."

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/randy-newman/short-people

[BillyStubbsTears]

BST, the point is that just because you don’t find it funny doesn’t mean it isn’t to others.
The Bernard Manning stuff and the Jim Davidson stuff was funny at the time and people laughed at it.

How is that any different to the “I thought you was a nigger” sketch any different.
It uses the N word but you find that funny?
Is that because it was being said to a white man?

I am in no way a racist person and have some very good black and Asian friends but I do think that the current situation is being taken too far.

Hound.

Are you for real? You honestly don't see the difference between using the N word to focus on the fact that a black person is black and make that the butt of the joke, and one that uses it to make the racists attitudes of others the core of the joke?

Honestly?

It is always and everywhere about intention and context. Always.

[selby]

  Should people be considering  chucking the Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volkswagon  cars they drive about into the dock, after all they were big supporters of the most racial ruling government ever put on Earth in Europe.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

  Should people be considering  chucking the Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volkswagon  cars they drive about into the dock, after all they were big supporters of the most racial ruling government ever put on Earth in Europe.

I'm sure they never drink coca cola products either.  And here is the problem, times have changed, move on and deal with the here and now.

[Ldr]

Uncle Ben uses slave imagery, time to ban those products too?

[Iberian Red]

Anyone joining Fat Lads Alliance protests tomorrow?

[drfchound]

Hound you are wrong about Ireland

What did I say about Ireland?

[phil old leake]

That I wouldn’t hear Irish jokes in Ireland

[drfchound]

Hound.

It is really, really simple and I do not understand why anyone struggles to get this.

Comedy that is predicated on stereotyping weaker, more marginalised groups than the people who are making or laughing at the comedy, and doing it in a way that is designed to belittle is just not funny. It is bullying.

So the GGM "English" sketch was funny. The one in the Young Ones (now cut) where the police officer with sunglasses on is giving racist abuse to a white man because "I thought you was a nigger" is funny.

Jim Davidson doing his Chalky White act wasn't funny. Bernard Manning doing his "So there were this Paki" jokes wasn't funny. Little Britain doing Vicky Pollard wasn't funny.

BST, Reading through your above post again, the way I understand what you are saying is that racist comedy aimed at weaker or more marginalised groups is not funny (and therefore racist).
Then, comedy aimed at a wider and stronger group is ok, such as the going out for an English sketch or the policeman using the N word at a White man.
That reads to me that you think  it is ok to aim racist comments at say, the white English group of people.

But back to my original point of view on this issue, I was simply saying that the racism card is being played too often, something that it would appear that other posters are in agreement with me now.
It really is getting silly to ban and remove some of the stuff that it is happening to.

[drfchound]

That I wouldn’t hear Irish jokes in Ireland

I think you need to look again Phil.
I haven’t said anything of the sort.

[phil old leake]

Apologies it was Sydney Rover

Please don’t be too upset and ban me or feel aggrieved

[drfchound]

I’m not sure why you have included that last line Phil.

I was of the opinion that our exchanges had always been of a civilised nature.

[selby]

That's a thought, I wonder if old Syd has his house parked on a bit of real estate that some poor old indigenous Ausie really owns. Would he just vacate or come over all white supremacist?
   And old Iberian benefiting from all that lovely Inca and native South American native gold. I don't blame him for not demonstrating in Madrid against it. From what I saw of the Spanish police in Barcelona last year they are not that bothered about taking a Knee themselves, but are not adverse to putting someone on their back with a sore head.
  Nothing to get upset about it wasn't police brutality the same in Paris it happened in the EU so it is OK.

[phil old leake]

Only a joke