MR O BRIAIN'S MORAL HIGH GROUND
Dara Ó Briain says there are two reasons he does not do jokes about Muslims 1) because he does not know anything about Muslims and 2) apparently neither do we.
Well this may well be the case, though Mr Briain should be wary assuming that everyone else shares his real or pretended ignorance. For in this multi cultural society is it not a bit lame to say you know nothing about Islam. But surely the key point here is that he omits a third, far more important reason, why he does not want to tell jokes about Islam, that is that he does not wish to have his throat slit whilst leaving the theatre one dark night by some crazed fundamentalist fanatic.
This may not be brave, but it is a very legitimate concern. Moreover not being over endowed with physical courage my self I am hardly in a position to criticize. No the really cowardly thing here is to dress up your legitimate concern for your own safety as some sort of high moral stand and in so doing help to disguise the real level of fear based censorship currently taking place. His comments are music to the ears of the censoring Imam's who can see how effective they have become, we’ve not silenced him he is simply acknowledging his ignorance of Islam.
In a Telegraph article he implies that those who criticise his refusal to tell jokes about Islam are all hate filled members of the 'Christian Right' and that it is not his job to fuel that hatred. Well I for one am not interested in demonising and belittling any section of the community. But nobody believes that comedians like our Mr Briain who made jokes about Catholicism are demonising all catholics. There is all the difference in the world between a joke that portrays all Muslims as potential suicide bombers and a joke that satirises suicide bombing or the beliefs of suicide bombers, or a joke that satirises sharia law. Though of course Mr Briain knows nothing about suicide bombers and sharia law.
Here then is a joke that Mr Briain could tell if he where not encased in a cloud of ignorance.’Did you hear about the Islamic petty criminal who had to change his name from Fingers to Lefty to Hoppy to Stumpy.’ This is I admit a bit of a lame joke, pardon the pun, but its target is the barbarism of sharia law not Muslims in general and I am sure the talent of British comedians could do better than this, but they do not do so, because they are afraid.Their fear is understandable but they cannot be silenced in this way and still imagine themselves to be daring and edgy.
If we are to live in a free and open society there can be no areas off limits to criticism or humour even humour in bad taste, the best humour often is.
To comment on this article please click the comments button below.
Well this may well be the case, though Mr Briain should be wary assuming that everyone else shares his real or pretended ignorance. For in this multi cultural society is it not a bit lame to say you know nothing about Islam. But surely the key point here is that he omits a third, far more important reason, why he does not want to tell jokes about Islam, that is that he does not wish to have his throat slit whilst leaving the theatre one dark night by some crazed fundamentalist fanatic.
This may not be brave, but it is a very legitimate concern. Moreover not being over endowed with physical courage my self I am hardly in a position to criticize. No the really cowardly thing here is to dress up your legitimate concern for your own safety as some sort of high moral stand and in so doing help to disguise the real level of fear based censorship currently taking place. His comments are music to the ears of the censoring Imam's who can see how effective they have become, we’ve not silenced him he is simply acknowledging his ignorance of Islam.
In a Telegraph article he implies that those who criticise his refusal to tell jokes about Islam are all hate filled members of the 'Christian Right' and that it is not his job to fuel that hatred. Well I for one am not interested in demonising and belittling any section of the community. But nobody believes that comedians like our Mr Briain who made jokes about Catholicism are demonising all catholics. There is all the difference in the world between a joke that portrays all Muslims as potential suicide bombers and a joke that satirises suicide bombing or the beliefs of suicide bombers, or a joke that satirises sharia law. Though of course Mr Briain knows nothing about suicide bombers and sharia law.
Here then is a joke that Mr Briain could tell if he where not encased in a cloud of ignorance.’Did you hear about the Islamic petty criminal who had to change his name from Fingers to Lefty to Hoppy to Stumpy.’ This is I admit a bit of a lame joke, pardon the pun, but its target is the barbarism of sharia law not Muslims in general and I am sure the talent of British comedians could do better than this, but they do not do so, because they are afraid.Their fear is understandable but they cannot be silenced in this way and still imagine themselves to be daring and edgy.
If we are to live in a free and open society there can be no areas off limits to criticism or humour even humour in bad taste, the best humour often is.
To comment on this article please click the comments button below.
