https://www.jpost.com/opinion/response-to-michael-ches-snl-joke-is-unreasonable-659839
On the most recent episode of NBC’s popular American television
show Saturday Night Live, comedian Michael Che dropped a stupid joke
about Israel and the coronavirus
vaccine: “Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their
population,” Che said. “I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half.”
It
was a bad joke, an insensitive joke, a joke that not only distorted
reality but played into all the ugly antisemitic stereotypes about
selfish Jews caring only about themselves. It’s a joke that would have
been better off left unspoken. It was also completely wrong. All
Israelis over 16 are eligible to receive the vaccine, and that includes
seven million Jewish citizens and two million Arab citizens.
But still, a little proportion is in order.
Did the American Jewish Committee really have to issue a statement, organize a petition, and demand an apology?
"Proportion"
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting word. Whenever Gaza shoots rockets into Israel and the army goes to respond, the UN says "Tut, tut, make sure it's a proportional response." Of course, if Israel were to then randomly fire rockets into population centres in Israel, exactly what Hamas and IJ do, the UN would shout bloody murder.
So let's talk proportion.
Pedro Pascal, star of Disney's The Mandalorion show, posts on Twitter comparing Trump voters to Nazis. No outrage.
His co-start, Gina Carano, posts that the Nazis didn't just jump to killing the Jews when they got to power. First they worked to delegitimize the Jews and get the population to the point where they wouldn't be outrages by mass murder or might even support it. She says she fears that the Left in the US is doing that to the Right. It might be a silly statement. It might be an exaggeration. It caused so much outrage that she was "cancelled" immediately.
In summary, the guy who actually compared people to Nazis gets no negative feedback. The girl who simply made an observation and avoided a direction comparison gets destroyed. Proportionate.
If Michael Che was a White comedian and had made a similar statement about Blacks, do you doubt that within 24 hours his life would be ruined? But the Black liberal comedian makes a comment about Jews and the liberal Jews, the ones who thought moving the US embassy to Jerusalem was anti-Semitic, have to run cover for him.
So of course only you have the wisdom as to what is proportional!?
ReplyDeleteAnyone with common sense can tell what's proportional.
ReplyDeleteIf Hamas fires rockets at population centres, a proportional response is for Israel to fire at Gaza's population centres.
If it's wrong for Gina Carano to invoke the Nazis, then it's wrong for Pedro Pascal.
If White guys can't make blanket statements about non-White groups, non-White guys can't make blanket statements about White groups or Jews.
It's simple consistency.
Oh, there are so many good ones. Here's a funny vintage SNL "anti-Semitic" joke (sic) from mid-90s, at 4:31-4:50.... Is very much along the "Elders of Zion" theme.... And gets me every time I hear it, b"H!
ReplyDeleteSomething very much wrong if we who practically invented stand-up comedy can't enjoy a good self-directed laugh. (What's the one about the Yid who preferred reading Der St眉rmer to the Jewish newspaper? LOL...!)
Blacjks use the N word amongst themselves, and in their rap songs. But if a white person dares, he loses his job and is attacked by all.
ReplyDeleteWell, in all fairness... same thing if a speaker, Jewish/Gentile, references "the Jews"... all a matter of context. Worse: "A Yid."
ReplyDeleteYid in Yiddish is not the same word that antisemites use in English.
ReplyDeleteBut there is a football team in London called Spurs with a large number of Jewish fan and they call themselves the yids. So there was a legal question on whether this is anti-semitism and for a short while it was banned but then they decided that supporters of that team could use it because it wasn't anti-semitic. 馃槀
I listened to MacDonald's joke here and I laughed. It was funny. It's clearly a joke.
ReplyDeleteI listened to Che's "joke," and I didn't laugh and don't find it funny at all. It's clearly meant as a political statement and a racial criticism that he is making. It serves the purpose of promoting hatred/resentment of Jews and particularly Israeli Jews, and it's frustrating that it's been determined that all other forms of hatred promotion are bad except this one category when it's directed at this one group (or against white people).
I don't know what the response should be. A petition and a demand for apology? Is that a solution to this problem? I don't think so. But there is definitely something wrong in this situation.
there was an Irish comedian called Dave Allen, who would make fun at the Catholic church in every show. However, he said that he can do Catholic jokes, but he can't do Jewish jokes, becasue he is not part of the culture, and leaves that to people like Mel Brooks to do.
ReplyDeleteBut that was decades ago, and today there is a woke culture, who are pushing BLM and IsLaM as being the pure and the righteous .
I think separately from being part of the culture or not, Che is making a racial attack dressed up in the disguise of a "joke," as opposed to simply making a joke about a group he isn't part of. The content and tone of this fake joke is tasteless and hostile and seems like a convenient way for him to promote his grievances.
ReplyDeleteAye, you & the ADL... Y'all folks gotta chill.
ReplyDeleteThis not as funny as Norm Macdonald's (few are), and a bit edgier politically, but it's still just a joke. "Light unto the nations" doesn't mean being annoying You-Can't-Say-That thought police.
Better response: Celebrate that the substance of the joke is not a reality, and that Israel ranks among the most humane of nations even towards its more dissident demographics. And then move on... without petitions, apologies, or any other emotionally self-involved B.S.
Did you read before responding? I do not agree with the ADL.
ReplyDeleteNow this is an example of mainstream media antisemitism. See the difference?
ReplyDeleteGot to hand it to Foxman this time. They're right on point blocking this stuff.
Not that one can't find such attitudes in the Hasidic community, of course... but choosing gratuitously to emphasize the worst in some fictional narrative meant for entertainment, well isn't that just what wanton character assassination is all about?
Po-tay-to, po-tah-to. It's not even worth condemning.
ReplyDelete