Thursday, 9 February 2006

Islamic humour is an oxymoron

In the interests of 'balance,' I've linked here to:

1) The Anonymous Muslim Man Complaint Box. [Hat tip Eric O.] It's what you might call a 'Dear Al Abi' help-and-advice column for the Muslim Man of today. A sample:
My child was drawing pictures for school and this is forbidden. What makes the situation worse is that the picture was of our whole family and also blessed Mohammad. It was not a very clear picture of Mohammad and I think his likeness would be considered obscured by the scriptures. Just to be sure I hanged my son and burned his body and then my brothers burned the school and also hanged the teacher. What I want to know is what can be done about the ability to draw?
2) Anti-semitic humour from various Islamic sources. As the hosting site says:
A number of the countries [in which these were published] are regarded as moderate or allied to the West. Most print media in the Arab world are under the full or partial control of the ruling regimes.
You might notice two crucial differences between the humour you find at the two links:
1) One is funny, and intended to be.
2) The other is neither.

And note this too: As George Carlin says before setting off on a joke about rape, "I believe you can joke about anything. It all depends on how you construct the joke. What the exaggeration is. What the exaggeration is. Because every joke needs one exaggeration. Every joke needs one thing to be way out of proportion." Observe what the Islamofascists choose to exaggerate (or even manufacture out of whole cloth): bloodshed, holocaust memories, Nazi imagery.

I'd say the Islamofascist cartoons say more about themselves than they do about their targets. What do you think?

LINKS: The Anonymous Muslim Man Complaint Box - Something Awful
Cartoons from the Arab World - Tom Gross
Rape Can be Funny - George Carlin

2 comments:

Libertyscott said...

George Carlin link at the bottom doesn't work.

Peter Cresswell said...

Fixed. Ta.