www.ditl.org

I can see both sides of the situation but to be honest I'm falling on the side of Rochey on this one.
Oh and here's a few Irish Potato related humor

How many potatoes does it take to kill an Irishman?

None
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Like most Irish poker players, my great-grandfather lost all his chips during the potato famine.

Yeah, Famine jokes are all over the place around here. Same with jokes the Brits, jokes about Northerners and jokes about the IRA. Maybe we just have a warped sense of humour *shrug*.

Though on that same note the Brits often joke about the most destructive war in history and their various harships. And I think the fact that they dubbed 30 years of IRA terrorist bombing "The Troubles" indicates something as well.

Now that I think of it, it may simply be an issue of culture. Prior to 9/11, the US's only real kick in the balls had been Pearl Harbour, which they promptly repaid in force. 9/11, while hardly the first terrorist bombing in the US, was the first on a large scale. Being unfamiliar with the situation, the US reacted as we saw, and still maintain much the same attitude today.

Contrast that experience to any country in Europe, which has been invaded, fought guerilla campaigns, invaded by someone else, gained freedom, been subjugated yet again, experienced ethnic cleansing and genocide, been invaded by Germany, been bombed to the ground and undergone campaigns of terrorist bombings for decades and 9/11 seems.....well, it's not "tame", but nothing world-changing. I think Europe has simply gotten so used to being bombed every other day by anyone with a grudge that we've simply grown more or less acustomed to large quantities of people dying horribly. As such, we simply don't treat these events with the same sort of respect and reverence that Americans do. So instead of seeing them as events we must always treat with respect, we simply make tasteless jokes about them. I think it's sort of our way of coping with it. Rather than cry, we laugh darkly.

Tsukiyumi wrote:So, can we make jokes about the potato famine, or as I illustrated, the Madrid train bombing? How about the London bus bombings or that gas attack in Tokyo? After all, those were years ago as well.

I just find it to be in poor taste, that's all.

As do I, but I also don't get overly upset about people making jokes about it, I just kinda shake my head and move on.

That was better than the movie.

I don't think anyone went haywire over the joke, just expressed an opinion of it being in poor taste. Rochey may be right - we have two big oceans insulating us. For me, as I mentioned, it was more about the situation involving the death of a friend. JK - I got no pic.

Contrast that experience to any country in Europe, which has been invaded, fought guerilla campaigns, invaded by someone else, gained freedom, been subjugated yet again, experienced ethnic cleansing and genocide, been invaded by Germany, been bombed to the ground and undergone campaigns of terrorist bombings for decades and 9/11 seems.....well, it's not "tame", but nothing world-changing. I think Europe has simply gotten so used to being bombed every other day by anyone with a grudge that we've simply grown more or less acustomed to large quantities of people dying horribly. As such, we simply don't treat these events with the same sort of respect and reverence that Americans do. So instead of seeing them as events we must always treat with respect, we simply make tasteless jokes about them. I think it's sort of our way of coping with it. Rather than cry, we laugh darkly.

Americans never laugh about that stuff, never forgive and never forget. We get mad as hell, then we come for payback, then we move on. Thats the American way. Mess with us again, you'll get the same twice over.

I myself wasn't upset, but I did find the joke in bad taste.

Deepcrush wrote:Americans never laugh about that stuff, never forgive and never forget. We get mad as hell, then we come for payback, then we move on. Thats the American way. Mess with us again, you'll get the same twice over...

Strangely enough, that's also how I handle trouble in my personal life.

An interesting cultural difference. We tend to just shrug and continue to go about our daily routines while the government handles taking care of the bad guys.

Rochey wrote:An interesting cultural difference...

It really is.

Back to funny pictures!

Rochey wrote:An interesting cultural difference. We tend to just shrug and continue to go about our daily routines while the government handles taking care of the bad guys.

Really? Bombing civilian targets because of their relations to England/Protestanism is your "daily business," then?

No, of course not. What I meant is that we simply don't treat such occurances with the same sort of attitude that Americans seem to.

They just shrug it off better with time than Americans...at the time they might be upset/angry, but they don't hold the same reverence for those kinds of things that Americans do.

Lt. Staplic wrote:They just shrug it off better with time than Americans...at the time they might be upset/angry, but they don't hold the same reverence for those kinds of things that Americans do.

Honestly, I'm glad the majority of Americans hold a grudge the same as I do. It makes me feel slightly less out of place.

As I said in another thread, if I love someone, it's permanent. Same goes for hate.

Lt. Staplic wrote:They just shrug it off better with time than Americans...at the time they might be upset/angry, but they don't hold the same reverence for those kinds of things that Americans do.

Hm... I must be unAmerican then. Maybe I should move to Europe.