In my First Post piece yesterday on gratuitously offensive journalism I wrote:
Journalism is following the path of British comedy where being shocking is deemed more important than making people laugh.
It seems the same thing is happening in US comedy.
The First Post carries the story of the outrage among Christian groups that so-called 'comedian' Larry David (above) has caused by urinating on a painting of Jesus Christ in his comedy show.
Deal Hudson, author and publisher of InsideCatholic.com is quoted saying. "Why is it that people are allowed to publicly show that level of disrespect for Christian symbols?" he asked. "If the same thing was done to a symbol of any other religions - Jewish or Muslim - there'd be a huge outcry. It's simply not a level playing field."
What new depths will tv 'comedy' in Britain and America plunge to next?
8 comments:
"If the same thing was done to a symbol of any other religions - Jewish or Muslim - there'd be a huge outcry. It's simply not a level playing field."
With that comment, Deal Hudson helpfully outs himself as an ignorant rentagob with no knowledge whatsoever of Larry David's work.
In all seriousness, can you think of anyone else who has dedicated so much of his career to ripping the piss out of Jewish people and their foibles?
And I distinctly recall him tackling Muslim taboos head-on too - wasn't there an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm revolving around a woman's burka?
Maybe Entyl's right. I don't know. I've tried watching 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' a few times because it seems to be highly regarded, and mostly because it's from HBO who come up with so many gems. But sorry - jews may find themselves infinitely fascinating, but I just don't find everything Brooklyn jews do cute and funny, and that seems to be the basis of nearly ALL NY jewish 'humour'. Mel Brooks is quite another matter, but he may be the exception that proves the rule. I saw a jewish woman comedian on tv the other night and every so often her act was punctuated by stuff like " here's me, a Jewish girl, in Mexico/ NY/...etc " , accompanied by that cute coy little mannerism they always do - take it away please!
Anyway, as I said, I don't know enough about Larry David to make any judgement on the matter in question, but I think Neil Clark is about right. Look at all the fuss about Mel Brooks' 'Passion...'. They seriously want us to censor the Bible to placate them. And worse still, the entire 'left' seem to support them!
Me, I regard religion as a form of mental illness generally, but it seems to be open season on Christian religion and culture. Recently I saw on tv a music video featuring the rap star Nelly ( ' it's getting hot in here, why don't you take off all your clothes'), which showed him 'singing' nailed to a cross, wearing a crown of thorns, with hip-hop babes dressed as Mary Magdalen et al fauning at his feet. Could we imagine the reaction if he was a heavy metal singer disrespecting Judaism or Islam so? There seems to be an extreme inverted racism thing going on here.
But sorry - jews may find themselves infinitely fascinating, but I just don't find everything Brooklyn jews do cute and funny, and that seems to be the basis of nearly ALL NY jewish 'humour'.
Do you seriously think Larry David's character (confusingly named 'Larry David') is supposed to come across as "cute and funny"?
The whole point of Curb Your Enthusiasm is that he's an obnoxious jerk, in much the same way that Basil Fawlty is an obnoxious jerk - we only achieve some kind of empathy with them because they say and do things that we'd secretly like to do in real life, but don't because they'd be excruciatingly embarrassing and lead to total social ostracism.
And in Larry David's case it's also because he's painfully honest about the drawbacks of middle age - in fact, if you look at the episode being complained about, specifically the circumstances that lead to him allegedly "pissing on Christ" (a ridiculously simplistic reduction of a much more complex chain of circumstances), this offers a classic example.
I don't know, Entyl. I don't know enough about Larry David to be for or against him, but I just can't get into it, as they say.
CORRECTION: in my post above, I meant Mel GIBSON's ' Passion...', not Mel Brooks.
I guess you would have to see the whole episode to know what it is about the clip I saw it was excess spillage from him taking a piss in the toilet rather than just taking a piss on the portrait of Jesus. Again without seeing the episode it sounds like the Life of Brian where they make fun of Christian followers rather than Jesus himself.
It is ironic however that an overtly Jewish show and character can defame Jesus but when Mel Gibson made The Passion there was an extensive campaign against him led by Jewish groups like the ADL in the US against him.
I guess you would have to see the whole episode to know what it is about the clip I saw it was excess spillage from him taking a piss in the toilet rather than just taking a piss on the portrait of Jesus. Again without seeing the episode it sounds like the Life of Brian where they make fun of Christian followers rather than Jesus himself.
Yes, that's a very fair description. Mind you, several very silly people thought that Life of Brian was blasphemous too.
It is ironic however that an overtly Jewish show and character can defame Jesus but when Mel Gibson made The Passion there was an extensive campaign against him led by Jewish groups like the ADL in the US against him.
It's only "ironic" if you've conveniently forgotten about the many, many instances of Christian protest against perceived anti-Christian blasphemy - The Last Temptation of Christ (a surprisingly staid and reverential film for all the fuss), Dogma, Jerry Springer The Opera and of course dear old Life of Brian, to which you yourself allude.
These people are nowhere near as meek and cowed, or prepared to turn the other cheek, as they'd like to pretend.
"The First Post carries the story of the outrage among Christian groups that so-called 'comedian' Larry David (above) has caused by urinating on a painting of Jesus Christ in his comedy show."
Yet they don't mind the US creating a Muslim state in Kosovo who have burned down over a hundred churches in Kosovo.
As deceased Senator Tom Lantos said:
"The first one: just a reminder to the predominantly Muslim-led governments in this world that here is yet another example that the United States leads the way for the creation of a predominantly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe. This should be noted by both responsible leaders of Islamic governments, such as Indonesia, and also for jihadists of all color and hue. The United States' principles are universal, and in this instance, the United States stands foursquare for the creation of an overwhelmingly Muslim country in the very heart of Europe."
This is just an escalation of the Jewish attack on Jesus. Every jewish movie or Tv show uses Jesus Christ as a profanity. This is intended to be an insult to Christians but also is a inside joke to Jews who enjoy a good laugh at Jesus's expense. Larry David gains favor amongst his tribe by belittling the Christian Religion.
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