Faith and begorrah, let's put these stereotypes to rest

In the mid-1800's,  the Irish - especially after they started fleeing the famine that devastated their country -  began immigrating in great numbers, they were the scary immigrants who were going to despoil America. Ignorant, scabrous, drunken papists. 

When depicted in cartoons - the pre-photography newspaper illustration - the Irishman was invariably shown with simian features, and often holding a bottle. 

Funniest thing. I've known an awful lot of Irishmen, women, and children in my life. Some of my best friends...Some of my best relatives, in fact... And I can't think of one who actually looks like an ape. 

Fast forward to the benevolent cartoon Irishman of the latter part of the twentieth century. He's no longer the ape-in-human-clothing that cartoonist Thomas Nast popularized. But, faith and begorrah, he's probably some version of the sly and ludicrous pipe-smoking, shillelagh carrying Boston Celtics' mascot. 

(I know that Pat Patriot, the old-school mascot of the New England Patriots isn't "technically" an Irishman, but there's no escaping the associating of the name "Pat" with Irish-hood. And the character - at least to me - had an unmistakably Hibernian look about him. A pugnacious, thuggish version of the Celtics' mascot.) 

And here we are, well into the twenty-first century, and it looks like the Irish stereotype is still among us, at least when it comes to A.I. 

When you type ‘Irish Man’ into a popular A.I. Image Generator, the results are, without exception, full of outdated and derogatory stereotypes. Every image generated shows a man that is ugly, aggressive, drunk, leprechaun-like or a combination of the above.

Artificial Intelligence showing us these misinformed images is a prime example of how many negative perceptions of the Irish still prevail globally. (Source: EPIC)

EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum, is located in Dublin - and I'm sorry I missed it on my May trip across the pond. (Next time for sure.) Part of their charter is working against these stereotypical portrayals' of the Irish. 

Since we first opened our doors, we at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum have worked tirelessly to challenge such stereotypes of the Irish. We continue to do so today, asking big tech why they still paint us in such a negative light.

Fair play to them! (As for A.I., well, that's a topic for another day.)