tirade about really offensive MADTV skit

[rm]

Did anyone just see that unbelieveably offensive skit on MADTV? I'm really appalled and may even write a nasty letter.

The gist of it was an Al-Jazeera version of the Price is Right.

And it was the most shockingly ignorant and anti-Muslim thing I've ever seen.

I can't even really begin to list the ways in which I was appalled right now because I am so shocked, but among other things it made a really crappy joke about female genital mutilation, and attributed the practice to the Arab world.

FGM is mainly performed by _Christians_ in _Africa_. And has abhorent as the practice is, it is not done to punish women. And somehow the skit misunderstanding these two things, and deciding it didn't need to try to be funny, because blaming Muslims for stuff is just funny in and of itself, just made me insane.

When I was in 6th grade I had an elderly white British woman as my sixth grade homeroom teacher who taught us about Islam because she said that as the world got smaller we'd eventually understand that we were and had alays been the minority. She explained to us about Islamic art, the reasons for Islamic dress and the Arab world's contributions to math and science. In everything that has happened in these last four years I have never forgotten learning as a child of these things and having affection for them -- and that's not been easy to express a lot, as someone who is also a Jew and a New Yorker and isn't supposed to feel or say certain things. I expect people to holler at me, and it makes me sad.

But... fuck. MADTV just stepped so far over the line, and I am someone who can get into equal opportunity racial/religious/cultural humour, but... that was disgusting.

Comments

[orobouros.livejournal.com]

I'm beyond impressed with your 6th grade teacher.

I only wish there were, and had been, more of her.

I haven't watched MadTV in years. But then, I don't really watch much of anything on tv these days.

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

MadTV has on more than one occasion been found insulting by me, thus I don't watch it anymore.

[aynatonal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was yelling at the TV about the genital mutilation "joke" too. Idiots.

ummm

[(Anonymous)]

You obviously dont know anything. I oppose the war, and am pro-muslim as I have many friends who are muslims. But the practice of genital mutilation, while yes does take place in Africa, is commited by the Muslims who run the countries. The Christian world is no better mind you and I am not defending it, but the muslims of Rwanda, and Sudan are the fascist dictatorship oppressing the Animists of Africa. The muslims there are the ones commiting this disgusting thing in record numbers. Seriously get your facts straight, christian bashing makes you no better than the muslim bashers.

Re: ummm

[rm.livejournal.com]

1. If you have something to say to me and possess an LJ account, use your name. And if you're on my friends list, name yourself and get the hell off unless you can explain why you're afraid to and incapable of having an adult debate with me. If I've made a mistake, which is entirely possible, what not just simply cite a source for your argument?

2. I said mainly, not entirely.

3. Even if I were utterly wrong about everything in this post, it does not negate my other knowledge.

4. Did you see the fucking skit? There was a lot more wrong with it than the FGM thing.

5. I wasn't bashing Christians in the least. You're being defensive and prickly (gee and now so am I). It's not bashing anyone if I said, "some people of this group, in some places, do something that offends me." No where did I state that Christianity supports, condones or engages in FGM as a widespread practice. No where did I say that Christians where inferior to Muslims. ANd no where did I address the many tennants of the major sects/groups of Islam, Christianity and Judaism that offend and/or puzzle me.

Re: ummm

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

And we are to be impressed by your wisdom? You start off by insulting someone anonymously, offer no proof that your assertions are true, and are noticeably inconsistent with your capitalization of religious names (most notably lower-casing "Muslim" much more than "Christian").

Cowardly attacks on people whose opinions you don't care to hear are not convicing.

Sad to say..

[labellerose.livejournal.com]

I think your amazing sixth grade teacher would have the Patriot Act
zealots all over her today.

And yet she was teaching so much of what American kids really need to hear.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite clear as to why Mad TV is still around. It's outlived most sketch comedy shows by years. I don't watch TV anymore, but sometimes when I'm in a hotel room, in an airport, or other situations I do have some limited exposure. The last time I saw Mad TV it wasn't at all amusing much less funny. Lately when exposed to tv it's the same to me as going to the mall. I take in small snippets of it to remind myself why I don't do it anymore.

I'm a fan of many over the top bits of humour, but even I would draw the line at this one.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm not quite clear as to why SNL is still around. At least MAD TV is still sometimes funny. —meta (http://www.pobox.com/~meta/)

[facewitha-moon.livejournal.com]

I read your post last night and then read this: http://www.livejournal.com/users/missmoth/

Check it out if you want a bit of another angle. missmoth gets to deal with this type of 'Skit' on a fairly regular basis right here in the US of A.

And that Anon. commenter needs to take a class in reading comprehension from your old teacher... Among other things.

[el-christador.livejournal.com]

I didn't see the skit and I have no doubt about your assessment that it was unfunny, idiotic and offensive, but even so I have doubts about your claim that FGM is primarily practised by Christians in Africa. A little cursory research putting {female genital mutilation} into Google gives me the impression that it is in fact primarily practised by Muslims in Africa, and that it does also to some extent in some Arab countries (to the extent to which it's discussed, people indicate that it is not a mainstream practice in Arab countries, typically saying things like "in some small communities" or "among some communities" when they give any information.)

I must qualify this: it's not like I found anyone that says "it is practised primarily by Muslims", it's just that when religion is mentioned at all they are usually talking about Islam: e.g. discussions of whether or not it is prescribed/condoned/sanctioned by Islam, or e.g. in the first link below, as they describe the procedure they mention parenthetically that it is usually carried out on a Sunday (in the case they consider), which, they explain, is a work day for Muslims. Or the Amnesty International link below, which discusses its relation to religion, addresses Islam first and foremost, and then mentions the practice among Christians, Jews (in Ethiopia), and Animists almost as an afterthought.

Let me make clear that all sources agree it has absolutely nothing to do with Islam and predates the arrival of Islam in the areas (well, ok, in some places where it's practised the people claim it's part of the religion, but it sounds as if this is a retroactive addition i.e. since they were doing it anyway they decided to reinterpret their religion to include it as a part.) It sounds as if it just happens to be the case that Islam is the popular religion in the areas where FGM is common.

Certainly, all sources agree with your statement that it is not performed as a punishment.

And although I'm sure people can go to Google and search just as well as I can, here are a handful of the "sources" I refer to, just because I expect that if I don't give any links they'll be requested...

http://www.cirp.org/pages/female/pieters1/ (http://www.cirp.org/pages/female/pieters1/)
http://www.cirp.org/pages/female/ (http://www.cirp.org/pages/female/)
http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/inter/fgm.htm (http://www.feminist.com/resources/artspeech/inter/fgm.htm)
http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm#a11 (http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm#a11)

[el-christador.livejournal.com]

it is in fact primarily practised by Muslims in Africa

Oops, I better clarify that. What I mean is (it sounds as if) "of the people who do it, most are Muslims".

I realized after posting that another possible interpretation would be "it is a thing that all/most/many African Muslims typically do", which is not something I mean to say; I encountered no information one way or the other on the fraction of African Muslims who are FGM practitioners.

[ladypeculiar.livejournal.com]

http://www.irfi.org/questions_answers/female_genital_mutilation.htm

http://albionmonitor.com/0502a/femalegenitalmutilation3.html - Talking about the practice in Iraqm though I have no sources on the the validity of this site, and it should be taken with several grains of salt.

http://www.transafricaforum.org/reports/female%20mutilation.pdf

Another couple things for you to look at-- you're right in that Islam comes up far more frequently when doing web searches on the practice-- though in large part because FGM is so frequently attributed to Islam (wrongly), not because it is practiced by more tribes that practice either Christianity or Islam. It predates both religions by several thousand years.

Which is why in the context of the sketch the quote about clitoredomy was so offensive (I was watching it too), and why it stood out the way it did-- it gave the impression that it was a widespread, and everyday practice among the Muslim people. It wasn't the worst thing about the sketch-- kind of everything was the worst thing about the sketch. I just wanted to clarify the context a bit.