Hey, there! Log in / Register
Unfortunately, the meal is potatoes, lots of potatoes
By JohnAKeith on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:41pm
A local acting gig is available for a National Geographic documentary on the Titanic, for 9 men, "preferably Irish looking".
Old, young, we are looking to fill the positions for men aged between 15-40.
Compensation: $200 for 2 days with meal included.
Neighborhoods:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Charleston Navy Shipyard
That's a long haul to stay without being there overnight.
What's "Irish looking," exactly?
Would this guy qualify?
Gingers. I think it means
Gingers. I think it means they want gingers.
My father used to say "He's
My father used to say "He's got the map of Ireland written across his face."
And
some people around here think that Irish = "white" or "belongs in this neighborhood" or "nice person" and will decide that people are "Irish" without knowing anything about them.
It seems fairly common that an Irish-identifying person will describe the person they spoke with at my job or person they met at my house or something as "Irish girl, about 25..." or "kind of short, Irish kid" or something, when the person they're describing is a white person who doesn't actually identify as having Irish heritage.
"Irish" just means Irish
"Irish" just means Irish looking.
It's not another discriminatory conspiracy.
I grew up here and the term, in the use you describe, has always just meant features common to people of Irish descent.
And guess what, we grew up with them and went to school with them and could identify them.
But it wasn't to exclude others as you imply.
Maybe it's a vestige from when the Irish were being discriminated against and had to stick together
Maybe you'd understand that.
But mostly it was used as shorthand for my friends when describing hot girls.
Nice Irish girl was understood as being fair-skinned and dark-haired.
(Redheads would be specified.)
To think I was part of a cabal all these years. The horror.
Except the collective "you" can't identify "them"
if you actually read what I said.
I didn't say that I take any issue with someone saying that someone "looks really Irish to me," because that's a descriptor, and it's fine to describe people.
I said that a lot of people will use "Irish" to mean "white" as if it's a given that the person must be Irish, when the white person they're describing is actually of different European heritage and doesn't have any mannerisms to suggest Irish Irish or Boston Irish.
It *is* exclusionary to be so unaware of groups other than your own that you don't realize that a lot of white people aren't Irish.
Are you a mind reader? You
Are you a mind reader?
You know that these people are using Irish to mean white?
No, you do not.
You're just making an assumption based on your own biases and experiences.
Just like they are.
Ever consider that it could be an honest misjudgment? Without the "White" or"belonging here" or "nice people" that you think they're implying but is actually nowhere to be found in there speech?
Of course not, because then they're be no victim and no townie bad guy.
Zzzzzz.
Right, right. Stuff is never insensitive unless the person outright meant to offend and harm. People aren't allowed to notice patterns because only an omniscient being can truly know what goes on. Sorry, forgot. My bad.
I'll send them my younger son
He blended in to the woodwork in Galway and Halifax alike.
I'll wait until they call for "Mediterranean looking" or "Balkan" folks to send the older one.
Funny how genes work.
Your experience...
Your experience is certainly different than mine, because in all my years growing up in Boston, I never heard the term "Irish" used to simply describe just any old random white person.
There is certainly what can be considered a generalized "Irish look" of sorts, though by no means does it mean that all or most Irish folks look that way. Just like one might say "he looks Italian", or a casting director may want "an Italian type", meaning a dark and swarthy European look or some such. And while that "Italian look" might exist to some extent, there are also blonde Italians, etc.
But no, I've never heard "Irish" used to just mean "white".
It's all in the qualifiers
Sure, I think we all say "he looked Irish to me..." or "she looked like she might be Italian or Greek..." Those are descriptors.
I'm thinking of the people who say "Irish" to mean anyone who appears white American, Bostonian, doesn't have any sort of other accent or mannerisms. With no qualifier such as "looks Irish to me" and with a noticeable pattern in which it's used to describe every white person.
I can think of many people I've worked with who routinely used this as a designation, including in constructions such as "Was it a Black gentleman you spoke with?" "Nope, Irish" or "my kid has one Black teacher and the rest are Irish" (when the rest are white of various ethnicities).
Incidentally, these people also frequently mislabeled people of less-white ethnicities; I had one coworker at a former job who I noticed described everyone as "Spanish" who had darker skin and an accent, including one person with a name much like, say, Olga Smirnoff.
No, I don't think these people were doing this sort of thing because they were evil or intended harm to anyone, but it does show a lack of bothering to learn about what people's background might be.
Anti-Irish bigotry?
One can only imagine the reaction if a conservative blogger posted that National Geographic was looking for black men for a documentary on the Amistad, then inserted his own tongue-in-cheek, "lots of watermelon, collard greens and fried chicken will be served." Yikes!
You get watermelon from
You get watermelon from 'Irish looking?' There's a reason why analogies are used on intelligence tests.
(No subject)
my thoughts exactly: if they
my thoughts exactly: if they were filming a doc about the tuskegee airmen, would the call be for "fried chicken and watermelon"?
OH WAIT HA HA I GET IT IT'S HUMOR
lame
yeah some conservatives are
yeah some conservatives are pilloried for being racist when in fact they're just being racist.
You're right OFISHL
Up to a point.
The difference is the Irish-American and the African-American histories are so dissimilar.
The legacy of slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow, and other almost genocidal examples of racism in American history puts racist jokes way beyond the pale.
Comparing these to ethnic jokes is apples and oranges.
I'm trying to figure out
How a documentary about the Titanic has anything to do with Boston? There is a Halifax in Massachusetts, but the recovered bodies were buried in Halifax Nova Scotia. The living passengers were brought into New York, for what reason would NG have to film here? Unless it's a science fantasy where Old Ironsides suddenly sprouts wings and is able to warn Captain Smith of icebergs ahead?
Maybe they'll fill the Filene's Hole with water and ice
And recreate the sinking of the Titanic there.
I don't see what it has to do with South Carolina either
but that's where they are filming this, according to the Craigslist ad.
The Titanic was built in
The Titanic was built in Belfast. Any chance the ad has a typo, and NG is filming in or near dry dock (in accordance with the yard's mission to "interpret the art and history of naval shipbuilding")?
Cripes.
I'm geeking out a bit
on seeing a post from "Cripes" that doesn't in any way suggest that people get off his/her lawn, yet ends with the classic "Cripes."
I think I may have a bit of a braincrush on Cripes.
The last survivor
The survivor of the Titanic who was the last to die is interred in Mt Auburn Cemetery. Boom. Connection!
Also, news flash...but films and TV don't often film on the same exact location.
What about Black Irish
would this guy qualify?