Burzyum

Varganic

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widgette replied to your video: This is kind of insane, no? I’m surprised there…

Your last line induced an audible teeth-suck “ohhhh” moment, sorta like when I read an article where this dude called TED talks the Urban Outfitters of the idea world- which is a good thing, obviously. God I hope this makes sense.
I also had an “ohhhh” teeth-sucking moment when I thought about my Outfitters-bought Levi’s but that’s a solid TED knock. Every now and then I wonder if their criteria is the ability to powerpoint in the alotted time, but thinking of it as a content-aggregator like HuffPo also makes sense. Anyways, thanks! To elaborate on that last line, It’s not like he’s Ali Farzat or anything, which really undermines what makes satire potent: STAKES. Not that a comedian’s sketchy shtick needs to put them in a life threatening situation, but he’s not doing much to engage either his ethnic background or adopted nationality.
Found out yesterday he guest starred on the Simpsons as an ill-tempered Israeli tour guide with a victim complex, which for a moment seemed to mean i’d have to eat the part of my words about him only putting other people’s business in the street. I watched it, though, and it’s not that far out his comfort zone. Also unfortunate the Simpsons decided that, in an episode about Israel, all Muslims should be portrayed as mostly silent extras from Lawrence of Arabia, while including zero mention of Palestinians. It makes Zohan’s politics look post-Zionist in comparison, though the jokes are on a similar level (i.e. “The Gaza Strip Club”, a krav-maga fight scene, jokes that appeal primarily to American Jews whose only experience with Israel is birthright). There is a kind of biting joke where Ben-Gurion airport luggage terminal has a sign that reads “Paid for With Your American Tax Dollars” but the riling stops there as the tour guide’s final words are:
“What, Israeli people are pushy? How about you experience a couple of genocides and see how laid back you are! You stay there, surrounded by your great enemy, Canada! Try Syria for two months — then we’ll see who’s pushy!”

While this isn’t portrayed with the strained melodrama of a Leon Uris adaptation (it’s an improvised caricature punchline that causes Marge to shrug at him), the lack of counter-narrative suggests fear the ADL would cause the same drama that Brazil did for the Blame it on Lisa episode.

A longer version of this post would see something on the Birthright sketch from Israeli comedy show Eretz Nehederet (which, in the span of 10 minutes, manages to poke fun at holocaust tourism, manipulative Israeli fundraising, the flotilla massacre, and the casual racism of entitled American Jews). While equally guilty of stereotypes (such as a Brazilian wannabe-lothario) and crudeness it’s more evenhanded in its assault. Though Birthright (perhaps in an attempt to save face) seems to think it’s an honor to be roasted by the program, and the main criticism seems to be that it targets non-Israeli Jews in the same way those insane Ministry of Immigration ads did. A longer post would probably also go into the Palestinian chicken episode of Curb Your Enthusiam, which, insanely problematic as it was, managed to be bolder in 22 minutes than Sascha Baron Cohen’s entire career. But it’s midterms (just kidding, writer’s blooock!)

  1. widgette reblogged this from burzyum and added:
    huge brain crush
  2. burzyum posted this
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