Huffington Post columnist responds to IrishCentral over anti-Irish jokes

Ha-ha, I love that bit: ""They [the British] envy us: our culture is strong and thriving while theirs is confused and in crisis. We have a strong sense of identity and kinship while Britain frets over its “broken society.”"" No comment needed from me.

During "The Troubles" in Belfast, A man was surrounded and asked if he was a Catholic or a Protestant. He answered that he was a Jew. Whereupon, he was asked if he was a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?

The huffington post is a joke!!!!

Paddy the Irishman, Paddy the Englishman and Paddy the Scotsman walked into a bar. Barman says, "Is this some kind of joke?''

Americans have jokes about 'limeys'? Like, um, maybe if this were 1949... In any case, Murray was being intentionally provocative in calling for Irish jokes, and went a bit farther than a mere defense of free speech. It was puerile. Sure some of those jokes are funny; that one about the Irish electrician burned to a crisp was frankly disturbing. Some ethnic jokes are harmless and entertaining; some open a little window into someone's hate-filled world. Murray had a totally valid point to make about being over-the-top in our sensitivities, but to deny that ethnic jokes sometimes arise out of (and can help to promulgate) hateful attitudes toward specific groups is sticking your head in the sand. We might like to think of the Irish as being so successful we're beyond ridicule, as Fitzgerald attests, but there are people still alive in the UK today who suffered terribly as a result of being Irish there in difficult times. A bit of balance is needed on both sides. Murray is right in saying that a society that polices the thoughts of its members is enormously dangerous, but that doesn't mean that we should never consider the sensitivities of others.

Everyone seems to agree that the irish have a good sense of humour and can tolerate "Irish" jokes and indeed promulgate them. But do the English have the same sense of humour? Is what is funny to an Irish person because of a twist in the interpretation of the story perhaps funny to an English person because of the sense of superiority derived? I have seen different appreciations of humour between Ireland, England and America. As to the comments about non-recognition of ethnicity from photographs, tell that to someone from Bosnia.

If the joke is funny, great! If not, it should not be told. Laughter is great medicine, if we can't laugh at ourselves, what can we laugh at? Ethnic jokes, whether Irish, Polish, Jewish, whatever have been funny all through times past. No reason they shouldn't be now.

It is true that a seperation between Irish and British cannot be seen in photos, they are very much the same people. For me the important people are the Irish, I would not walk across the street to spit on a Brit, but Irish jokes can be quite funny when they are not used to create a class distinction between the two peoples. The Irish have been treated like dirt by the brits and that is where the divide can begin. The Irish can laugh at themselves quite well, and usually do; but if the brits attemp to elevate themselves by beating doen the Irish then that is when it stops being funny. Old wounds can be painful and heal quite slowly.

We need to keep our sense of humor. The Irish are no longer at the bottom of the ladder, but lest we forget. We should never allow a joke to be made about the famine. We sometimes forget our own history, and those who came before us that gave us this opportunity to be so much better off than most of our ancestors. Keep an open mind and a sense of humor, but have the courage to speak up an honor those who had been left behind.

Its the Irish sense of humor that has saved them throughout a very sad history. No one enjoys a good irish joke more then the irish themselves.

I can't believe (pinch me) that I agree with the 'Huffy Post' on anything however, this is a first. It's important to be able to laugh at ourselves and I don't want to be like the blacks who upon every big of criticism make it a crusade for retribution.

I think that British people have a lot of respect for the Irish and particularly since the Celtic Tiger was born 20 years ago.We have beaten all the Home Countries in rugby Union Football over the past few years and we played a big part in the Ryder Cup wins over The US in recent times.Young people are more confident and don't carry 1916 on their backs anymore.The people have learned to move on and accept the occasional joke at their expense.

I'm all for jokes as long as g-d's ain are treated equally. Let's give ample airing to those goy jokers with chutzpah to be so bold. Now wait and you'll see the fit hit the shan. Have a nice day.

The Irish are the last ethnic group on earth who maintain a sense of humor. Irish jokes are a staple of growing up in an Irish family, an Irish community, or at Irish gatherings. I get almost daily a round of jokes from my Irish friends. My departed Irish Mother said, "There is nothing worse than an Irishman without a sense of humor."

there are Irish jokes that should not be repeated or published like all jokes, but Irish jokes are kown to be the best in the world. We need to share them,