Don't Look Back

Don’t Look Back
Genesis 19: 15-38

The English make jokes about the Irish and use the word Irish as a term of opprobrium; it is a way of saying something is stupid. Other ethnic groups behave in similar ways; Portuguese people and Brazilians make jokes about each other. The Irish also make jokes about the English, sometimes turning their own alleged stupidity into canniness, thus inverting the logic of the humor, and it is also the case that the Irish make jokes about the Irish. But I am English, so my responsibility is to reflect on why we make jokes about the Irish. There is a general answer; everybody needs some other group to make fun of. And a specific answer lies in the history of England and Ireland: that is, it reflects the quasi-colonial position that Ireland has often occupied in relation to England and the related role of Irish immigration in England. Nowadays I stop myself using the word Irish as a term of opprobrium...