Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humor. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, May 01, 2009
Making Fun of Iranian Leader
I've posted this video before. I think it's very funny. Many Middle Easterners, however, do not see the humor in it, and some people are probably offended by it. My Iranian Austrian American ex girlfriend did not laugh and she told me that it's going too far. Many Arabs seem to agree. One of the things I love about America is that we are allowed to make fun of people, especially stupid people in government, and we make fun of stupid Americans all the time. In Iran I might be executed for posting this.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Humor and Respect
What is humor? Humor is different things to different people. Americans may find something to be very funny, and Iraqis may find it not so funny. Sometimes some of us try to be humorous and end up offending many people - I think am guilty of this, even if I did not intend to offend. I have thought more about my comments on hijab, and why women wear it, and I decided that perhaps I crossed the line and disrespected overweight women. If I did, I apologize. Women - ALL women - should be allowed to wear whatever they want.
So how does one judge whether a cartoon or video is humorous? How far can we go in making fun of each other? In America and Europe we have great freedom - we are allowed to say whatever we want. We are allowed to make fun of each other. We can make fun of the President. We also make fun of foreign Presidents, like Ahmedinejad being gay in NYC. Many people like to push the limit on humor, and Borat has done a good job of that. I have not seen the movie, but it looks too silly, and some parts look disgusting. The actor - Sacha Baron Cohen, has done some great comedy. He became famous as Ali G, and I still think his best skit was Throw the Jew Down the Well, which I wrote about more than a year ago. The audience must have been deceived to think the singer was authentic and really did come from Kazakhstan. But Borat the movie looks bad.
How far can we go when making fun of each others' religions? Some people, especially Shia, might find this video to be offensive. I see humor and disrespect in the video at the same time. The maker of the video (with music) probably did not know who Mohammed Baqr al Hakim was.
My cousin Mohammed in the UK sent me this video, which is an example of an American soldier respecting the Iraqi Shia. The title of the video is "American soldier becomes Shi'i Muslim." Some people may also find it humorous.
So how does one judge whether a cartoon or video is humorous? How far can we go in making fun of each other? In America and Europe we have great freedom - we are allowed to say whatever we want. We are allowed to make fun of each other. We can make fun of the President. We also make fun of foreign Presidents, like Ahmedinejad being gay in NYC. Many people like to push the limit on humor, and Borat has done a good job of that. I have not seen the movie, but it looks too silly, and some parts look disgusting. The actor - Sacha Baron Cohen, has done some great comedy. He became famous as Ali G, and I still think his best skit was Throw the Jew Down the Well, which I wrote about more than a year ago. The audience must have been deceived to think the singer was authentic and really did come from Kazakhstan. But Borat the movie looks bad.
How far can we go when making fun of each others' religions? Some people, especially Shia, might find this video to be offensive. I see humor and disrespect in the video at the same time. The maker of the video (with music) probably did not know who Mohammed Baqr al Hakim was.
My cousin Mohammed in the UK sent me this video, which is an example of an American soldier respecting the Iraqi Shia. The title of the video is "American soldier becomes Shi'i Muslim." Some people may also find it humorous.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, December 02, 2006
In My Country There Is Problem
Too often I have heard Arabs and Muslims blaming their problems on 'the Jews'. I think that these prejudices about Jews stem largely from the way Palestinians have been treated by Israel since 1947 (I will write about this subject in more detail in another post), and I still believe that Arab nationalism only became popular because of the Palestinian Diaspora, but so many Arabs talk about Jews as if all Jews are evil, and in some countries like Saudia Arabia, the demonization of Jews is bizarre. Even in Iraq, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived together in peace for thousands of years, to call an Iraqi a Jew is insulting, as in 'le tseer Yahoodi!' (don't be a Jew). But it's not just Arabs who do this. Americans also have stereotypes about Jews, as in 'I got Jewed' – meaning 'I got ripped off'. I cringe when I hear an Arab say that this war benefits 'the Jews', but it doesn't help when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that the Iraq war was good for Israel. Many Arabs are unable to differentiate between Jews and Israelis, or between Israelis who fight for Palestinian rights and Israeli settlers who attack olive-harvesting Palestinian farmers or human rights workers who help Palestinians.
Not all Jews think or act alike, just as not all Arabs think or act alike. I am impressed with the Arab governments that have protected their Jewish citizens. Tunisia has gone to great lengths to ensure that their Jews are safe, and if Synagogues in Tunis are damaged, the Tunisian government repairs the Synagogue. During the holocaust when the King of Morocco was asked to supply a list of Jews in his country, his response was: 'We have no Jews in Morocco, only Moroccan citizens.'
Someone recently told me about a a mosque that sheltered Jews during the holocaust.
In an account written by Annette Herskovits (today she is a champion for Palestinian human rights) she says that Algerian Muslims hid many Jewish children in their mosques. One sad message that those Muslims distrubuted amongst themselves after the Nazis arrested many Jews went as follows:
"Yesterday at dawn, the Jews of Paris were arrested. The old, the women, and the children. In exile like ourselves, workers like ourselves. They are our brothers. Their children are like our own children. The one who encounters one of his children must give that child shelter and protection for as long as misfortune - or sorrow - lasts. Oh, man of my country, your heart is generous."
Making fun of simple minded people who have prejudged all Jews can be a dangerous thing to do, and maybe only a Jew can get away with it. Two years ago I saw this skit by Sacha Boren Cohen on the Ali G Show, and I think it's his funniest. He does a good job of making fun of people who have silly preconceived notions that all Jews are bad people. Every Arab should watch it. Notice that the audience in the video is American - the skit was filmed in Tuscon, Arizona. I don't think that everybody in that crowd really believe in 'throwing the Jew down the well'. I like to believe that most people in the audience, like most people who have seen this skit, were laughing at the satire itself, and don't actually agree with what Borat was singing. I guess this is the important question: who laughs at this skit because of the satire and who laughs or ponders it without laughing because they believe it has any truth to it?
Throw the Jew down the well...
Not all Jews think or act alike, just as not all Arabs think or act alike. I am impressed with the Arab governments that have protected their Jewish citizens. Tunisia has gone to great lengths to ensure that their Jews are safe, and if Synagogues in Tunis are damaged, the Tunisian government repairs the Synagogue. During the holocaust when the King of Morocco was asked to supply a list of Jews in his country, his response was: 'We have no Jews in Morocco, only Moroccan citizens.'
Someone recently told me about a a mosque that sheltered Jews during the holocaust.
In an account written by Annette Herskovits (today she is a champion for Palestinian human rights) she says that Algerian Muslims hid many Jewish children in their mosques. One sad message that those Muslims distrubuted amongst themselves after the Nazis arrested many Jews went as follows:
"Yesterday at dawn, the Jews of Paris were arrested. The old, the women, and the children. In exile like ourselves, workers like ourselves. They are our brothers. Their children are like our own children. The one who encounters one of his children must give that child shelter and protection for as long as misfortune - or sorrow - lasts. Oh, man of my country, your heart is generous."
Making fun of simple minded people who have prejudged all Jews can be a dangerous thing to do, and maybe only a Jew can get away with it. Two years ago I saw this skit by Sacha Boren Cohen on the Ali G Show, and I think it's his funniest. He does a good job of making fun of people who have silly preconceived notions that all Jews are bad people. Every Arab should watch it. Notice that the audience in the video is American - the skit was filmed in Tuscon, Arizona. I don't think that everybody in that crowd really believe in 'throwing the Jew down the well'. I like to believe that most people in the audience, like most people who have seen this skit, were laughing at the satire itself, and don't actually agree with what Borat was singing. I guess this is the important question: who laughs at this skit because of the satire and who laughs or ponders it without laughing because they believe it has any truth to it?
Throw the Jew down the well...
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