Muslims Mock Daesh

Speaking of helping delegitimize the terrorists, did you know that our Muslim allies and non-allies alike, as well as Israelis, are making fun of Daesh (ISIS) through sketch comedy and songs?  Check out these, from Kurds on TV in Iraq, Palestinians, and Israelis (warning, some rude content):

They may not be the same jokes our culture would have come up with (the Kurdish one involves, er, farm animals, and apparently the worst insult the Palestinians can think of is to imply that Daesh is part of the international Zionist conspiracy)—though I love the terrorist shredding on a Kalashnikov instead of a guitar, and that song is catchy!—but this is true multiculturalism: a diverse rainbow of genuinely different cultures, all mocking the Daesh terrorists.

That takes courage, and it’s serious business.  Alice Guthrie argues, “for the arabophones trying to resist Daesh, humour and satire are essential weapons in their nightmarish struggle.”

Maybe American artists should join them.  Mark Steyn comments on some of what English and American culture have come up with so far, and it’s not a flattering comparison.

I’ve never seen John Oliver’s HBO show, but Scaramouche draws my attention to his reaction to the Paris attacks . . . .

This is telly “edginess” — edginess with no edge. The [rude words] function as euphemism, piling up profanity as a form of polite evasion — as a way of avoiding saying anything. It’s the residual pose of edginess in a craven culture. Thus the paradox of our times: to say anything other than [obscenity] might offend someone. And it surely doesn’t get much more pathetic than that.

Update (November 27th, 2015):  For another interesting comparison, consider what American culture produced during the Second World War: the zany anti-Nazi song “Der Fuehrer’s Face”, and the related Donald Duck cartoon (original title: “Donald Duck in Nutsy Land”):