The Welsh Being The Butt Of All Jokes Again.....Though This Time From An Unexpected Source

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I've written before about the Welsh people and their culture becoming the butt of all jokes from people who assume they're "safe" in making fun of them when it would be considered unacceptable if directed to any other race.

Well it has come again from an unexpected source comedian Omid Djalili , a Londoner born of Iranian parents, tweeted a "joke" about the Welsh language. I won't repeat it. But let's say it's predictability contrasted with the person who tweeted it out.

What's actually worse than the original tweet appears to be the response to the backlash against him. Which roughly summarised seems to be of the old "you can't take a joke" previously used against women, people of colour and, Mr Djalili, Muslims.

And yes let's focus on Muslims. There are Muslim comedians, they make jokes about their faith, but they instinctively know where the line is when humour becomes offensive. With the Welsh however the attitude seems to be "Who cares"?

So why did Mr Djalili do this?  Well of  course I don't know. What I'm going to say now is merely conjecture. But speaking generally the Welsh people have become the last nation to be the butt of this sort of "humour" from English comedians. Whether it's that subconsciously they feel safe because the Welsh voted for Brexit in the EU Referendum is debatable. My guess is that's a factor. But not the only one.

My suspicion, as I've written about before, is that taken as a whole the Welsh are just too nice. Consequently they've been taken advantage of. Or that jokes can be made against them and their culture because they just accept it. Which makes Mr Djalili's response all the more interesting. Because what it made clear was that he hadn't expected the backlash.

I've written before that Wales is a changing nation. Certainties that used to exist have gone. Independence is no longer a concept for the political fringes. With that change comes a change in attitude. If you cause offence you have to accept anger and not acquiescence in return.

This is the most encouraging thing. Perhaps what it shows is that no longer can English comedians make jokes about the Welsh people and their culture for granted. Perhaps English comedians will use the line between humour and offence that they would put on any other [insert nationality here] on Wales and the Welsh people.

Perhaps. We live in hope.

Until the next time.