Posted on 11/09/2005 1:59:51 AM PST by Crackingham
Sony Pictures got upset about a "bad" word. They demanded it be taken out of the title of a movie. The word is "Muslim." Give me a break. Do we have to be that sensitive? Or fearful?
The movie is "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World." The writer and star of the movie, Albert Brooks, says he made the movie because he was concerned that, in the wake of 9/11, Americans hated even the word "Muslim." "A part of me always thought," Brooks said, "what are there, a billion-and-a-half Muslim people on this planet, and I never thought that all of them wanted us dead."
Brooks thought he could put his professional skills -- he's a comedian -- to work on the problem. "I thought, what could I do to make a movie in . . . my style to sort of soften this subject."
He imagined himself given a special assignment by the U.S. government: "Maybe the only way to really understand somebody is to see what makes them laugh," he is told. "Go to India and Pakistan, write a 500-page report, and tell us what makes the Muslims laugh."
What's controversial about that? The movie is a comedy about humor and cultural differences. Brooks performs his stand-up routine in India:
"Why is there no Halloween in India? 'Cause they took away the Gandhi!"
The audience doesn't laugh.
Says Brooks: "I steered clear of religion in this movie. There's no mention of the Koran -- the whole point of the movie is looking for comedy, not looking for God. I was allowed to film in the biggest mosque in India, and when I told the imam the plot of the movie, he started to laugh."
Sony officials liked the movie, too, Brooks told me, and planned to premiere it last month. "Posters were made, trailers were made, and then about three months later, on a Monday morning, I get this phone call, we can't release the movie with the title."
The call came shortly after a Newsweek story claimed that soldiers at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Koran down the toilet, and rioting broke out in the Middle East. It turned out that the Newsweek story was wrong. They retracted it. And it turned out that the rioting may have been a previously planned anti-American demonstration that had nothing to do with Newsweek's story. But Sony's president still said he wouldn't release a film called "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World."
How cowardly. Hollywood used to make lots of big-star, big budget movies about Arab terrorists, like "Executive Decision," "Rules Of Engagement," and "True Lies" ... but not after Sept. 11. Tom Clancy's best-selling novel "The Sum of All Fears" is about Palestinian terrorists, but Hollywood morphed them into European neo-Nazis.
You see, the rules of political correctness are very clear: No one's allowed to associate Muslims with anything bad. Even "The Siege" -- which said repeatedly that Muslim American leaders were patriotic, featured a heroic Muslim FBI agent, and put more emphasis on a federal elite inattentive to individual rights than on the threat of terrorism -- was the victim of an "educational" campaign by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "The Siege" dared to say that a few Muslims are, in fact, terrorists.
And it came out before 9/11.
And now Sony won't even use "Muslim" in a title. Even CAIR doesn't object to the movie, although I bet they'll object to this column.
"Mr Brooks, I do not understand your jokes. I will blow you up now. But, please to understand, this is not because you are a bad comedian. It is because you are a steeeking Jooo."
Dude, that is so cold. Cold, but funny as he!!. Funnier than Mr. Brooks is capable of being.
He's right of course, moderate Muslims are tolerant. Both of them.
The last time I saw anyone from H'weird poke fun at a mooselim's expense was when Seinfeld suggested to Babu that he change his restaurant menu from varied ethnic cooking to only Pakistani. Of course, Babu lost all his customers and had to close the restaurant.
Babu: Quiet!! You shut up! You make me change restaurant, but nobody comes! You say make Pakistani, Babu Bhatt have only Pakistani restaurant. But where are people? You see people? Show me people. There are no people!
Jerry: You know, I think I'll just take the check.
Babu: You bad man! You very very bad man! [leaves]
Jerry thinking: Bad man? Could've my mother been wrong?
Now THAT was funny.
How about "Muslim Men Don't Shower"? You know, kind of like "White Men Can't Jump". Everybody got a big laugh of of that one. Surely, we can laugh at the fact that muzzies hiding in cave don't shower?
Because hate destroys us not them. Think about it, when you hate- Does the other person feel your hate?
Sorry, but I'm not loving the Muslim religion.
If I live to be two hundred, I can never buy into the stupid notion that the percentage of a population wanting to kill me determines my opposition to them.
All Germans did not want to kill Americans; neither did all Japanese.
It did not take a unanimous vote of the Saudi Arabian people to send 19 of their killers to New York... just the existence of their madrassas and the unlimited financial and religious support of those billion-and-a-half.
How do you create a comedy routine out of that reality?
You can ignore the advice of the greatest man ever to live, but you do so at your peril. By hating our enemy we are ignoring Jesus' command to do unto others as they would do unto you, and so as we hate others we are wishing them to hate us.
We are becoming what we hate.
Al, you are a Jew. Take a poll and you will find a large percentage of those Muslims indeed would like to see you dead.
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That is a slanderous comment to make about any Jewish person. What proof do you have?
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When your hate drives you to smash his head in with a brick I think so, yes.
I'll bet, it's not allowed in their religion.
pretty hard to justify any religion with an offshoot
that encourages/condones sending their own kids to kill themselves.
The order drinks and sit quietly for a a while...
Then one said to the other " Lets blow this place"
KABOOM!
(news at 11)
Sorry if I came off harshly...perhaps I can better illuminate by repeating my response to a Freepmailer:
They wrote:
"One question, how many Muslim people do you really know? How much time have you ever spent around them? How many have you sat down and really had an in-depth conversation with? Judging from the above statement I think it's safe to say....ZERO.
I met hundreds and worked closely with about a dozen or so the 14 months I was in Iraq and I can say without hesitation that most were some of the most gracious people I have ever met. You have no clue as to what they endured under Hussein, none. They are miserably poor because of him and yet most would still give you the shirt off their back. They have family values that have been essentially lost in this country. There are bad apples in every population. Remember Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols? And they usually are the ones that get the most press. To make broad sweeping statements based on these bad apples is PURE IGNORANCE.
Stop allowing the lamestream media poison your mind with propaganda."
My reply:
"I don't know many Muslims, but know that the few I know are "bad" Muslims because they wish to get along and don't possess the hatred to get motivated for Jihad. I don't want to know "good" Muslims - too many of those are blowing up our troops with cowardly IEDs.
Most Islamic followers are that due to their happenstance of environment and surrounding culture - no more threatening than your average Methodist. According to their own garbled scriptures all milquetoast followers are unworthy of Paradise. I truly feel sorry for good people caught up in a bad cult. From my Christian point of view I suspect "Allah" is not another name for God - it is the ultimate deceit "shaiten" is employing to dupe millions into accompanying him to the Pit. Think about it. There is no love in Islam...merely blind unquestioning obedience.
Check this translation out if you have the time:
BTW - Your Nichols and McVeigh reference is way tired. Two exceptions out of half a million terrorists doesn't excuse Islamic terrorists. While not all Muslims are terrorists almost every terrorist is Islamic. Get around that one."
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Do you always misunderstand what you read?
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