Achmed, Dead Terrorist Santa

That is really ugly!

Peace, love, joy, and happiness to all on the earth and create fear in no one!  The aim of this

humor is a dark aim.  May his own prejudice and fear evaporate and no longer feed the world's hatred.

The relatively young and white audience is really soaking it up, leading to...?

Thanks for the post, we need to know what is being promoted so we can understand and work to overcome it.

I really love this form of humor because it ridicules terrorism instead of glorifying it or turning it into fearmongering (which was the false flag intent of the 9-11, terrorism kickoff)...

I understand your feelings about the humor. He is a good comedian and knows how to deliver his routine for good effect. What I am talking about is the use of humor, good or bad, to reinforce a stereotype putting a group of people in a bad light.

A question I might ask of those who found this to be humorous, “Would you recommend this video to your Muslim friends?”. I know I would not, as I feel this is a slap in the face for the whole Muslim culture. The use of the name 'Achmed' implies someone from the middle east. Why not use 'Timothy', the name of a good old white American terrorist?

The point is that humor is often used to put down, denigrate, make fun of, a culture or people. I am an old white man born during the great depression and I learned all the proper attitudes toward toward blacks and women. I heard many Rastus and Liza jokes, I saw Minstrel shows and enjoyed the 'Amos n Andy' show. All of these were humorous in their way but they perpetuated and reinforced stereotypes commonly held by the dominant white society and helped justify holding down the black population. In this regard, I think of the lines from the musical 'South Pacific':

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

Part of that teaching is the humor used in the dominant culture. There seems to be a rhetoric, creating a growing fear among American Christians, that Islam will try to take over and convert or kill those who do not convert. These people view all Muslims as 'out to get them', so to help keep them(the Muslims) in their proper place, humor is a handy tool.

As an old man, I remember a kind of popular song from my early adolescent years named 'Slap 'er down again Pa' which was about putting women in their place. We guys thought it was pretty funny, which would lead one to wonder what influence such things had on the attitudes we carried on to our marriages. I remember many jokes which made wife abuse pretty funny(for the men).

All of these attitudes I have had to work hard to dig out of my psyche, to become aware of their influence on my thinking and my actions. Fortunately, I have met and become friends with many wonderful people of different 'races' (a technical unreality), cultures, religions and nationalities, who lovingly helped me to become aware of my prejudices and supported me in replacing these attitudes with a more loving, inclusive, accepting attitude. This is a continuing work, requiring constant awareness and it is so very worth it.

The fact is that we are all one! To poke fun at any group, culture, religion, etc., denies our oneness. We each have the job of eliminating our prejudices, which is a wonderful effort, as it strengthens the bonds of oneness with all humanity. Terrorism can be seen as an expression of our own fears, our own sense of separation from others, so the more we lose our fears and our sense of separation the sooner will terrorism disappear.

“When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a stronger thought of love.” -Abdul-Baha

My wife, in her younger days, was a blonde and more importantly a well-educated and smart woman,and as you know there are many 'dumb blonde' jokes which, I imagine, we have all laughed at and she reminds me of the pain she feels that comes along with the humor. Yes, we are only joking and having fun, but we are also categorizing and demeaning a group of people for no good reason.

Let's laugh but not at the expense of others. I love you all!

Thanks you Son of dust, I agree. Watching this, all I can think is "But there really are children who have been blown up (mostly by U.S. forces) - how can anyone laugh at that????!

I seem to frequently have a problem with humor, I think it is frequently used to promote a lack of respect for others. Humor at the expense of others is why I gave up TV. It's used in the commercials constantly.

Even though I didn't think this was funny, I'm glad you posted this Noa. Like the pictures of blown up children in foreign lands, these people laughing out of ignorance is a sad truth that we should never turn away from.

No apology needed Noa, like I said, I think it's actually very interesting to see how the audience reacted. Also, I have to wonder if there's something about me that I seem to take it all so seriously.