The Inside Assyria Discussion Forum #5

=> Bill Maher...

Posted by pancho (Moderator) - Sunday, February 26 2012, 4:51:10 (UTC)
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I just realized that he's a comedian, a satirist...he isn't a politician or a guiding moral light...he's an entertainer, like Bill O'Reiley is...they are similar though at opposite extremes...and here I've been getting angry at him for his prejudiced, hate-filled comments against Islam...."why does he only highlight the extremes", I wondered...and then realized that as a comic he deals exclusively in extremes in outrageous behavior in stark, black and white terms...there isn't anything funny about Edward Said...what jokes can you make about moderate Muslims? But you CAN poke a lot of fun at Arab "extremists"...because they are EXTREME.

However, to put it in perspective, I can't imagine him making fun of Jews, not in the same way...he has nothing bad or funny to say about Israeli extremism...it could be very funny, and biting, and hurtful...but he steers clear of it.

And then I wonder...would we excuse a German comic in the 1940s who joked about Jews with big noses...who smelled...who charged too much interest...would we say it was just satire...just some jokes "don't be so serious"...if we knew what it led to?

In that context I think most of Maher's audience would not find him funny...and, no doubt, after we've killed enough Muslims and devastated enough Muslim countries we just might feel sorry...and on that day Bill Maher will no longer make fun of Muslim extremists....but not till we've killed enough to arouse our Christian conscience, wherever we keep it.

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