Sadly, instead of inhabiting the transformative role comedy has the potential to play, much Israeli comedy right now seems to compliment, rather than scoff at, the injustices of perpetual occupation and apartheid. Take the IDF (please!). This past weekend, a group of soldiers uploaded a video to YouTube that they may be facing disciplinary reprisals for (the real farce is getting disciplined for making memes rather than, say, demolishing homes). In the video, a group of soldiers is patrolling in Hebron, guns drawn, the Muslim call to prayer playing in the background. Suddenly, the prayer is replaced with the Ke$ha song "Tick Tock", featuring lyrics such as "Don't stop, make it pop / DJ, blow my speakers up" (if only the 'blowing up' the IDF commits were merely audio, not visceral). The soldiers then proceed to engage in what the sharp analysts at Haaretz call a "Macarena-like dance", suggesting the soldiers are veterans of virtually any mid-to-late 90's bar mitzvah. It would be one thing if this was just another ill-conceived scene in the Disaster Movie franchise, but these are actual soldiers currently engaging in an illegal and immoral occupation, potentially provoking the besieged local Muslim population by drowning out their prayers with cheesy American electropop. Forgive me for not LOLing.
Another comedy gem, "We Con the World", skewers the activists murdered aboard the Mavi Marmara, topically released only 4 days after the massacre, recorded before the bodies were even in the ground. In the video, a satire of "We Are the World", a poorly-wigged ensemble portraying activists, Arabs, and Bruce Springsteen sing about how there is no humanitarian crisis, interspersed with actual footage from the raid. Some sample lyrics:
There comes a time / when we need to make a show / For the world, the Web and CNN / There's no people dying / So the best that we can do / Is create the greatest bluff of all
We must go on pretending day by day / That in Gaza, there's crisis, hunger and plague / Coz the billion bucks in aid won't buy their basic needs / Like some cheese and missiles for the kidsThis possibly marks the first time in history that deniers of human suffering have chosen the song parody as the medium with which to communicate their repugnant message. Perhaps the Turkish government can learn something from this, and release a song parodying that other all-star 1980's charity single, re-purposed for the Armenians: "Do They Even Know It's Not Genocide?" At over 2 million views, "We Con the World" has proven itself as a model for disseminating truly sick propaganda worldwide, giving a whole new meaning to the term 'viral video'. Don't be mistaken though, this was no amateur project made by some kid with a Youtube account. It was produced by (and starred) Caroline Glick, a senior member of the DC-based Center for Security Policy, Deputy Managing Editor of The Jerusalem Post, and a former foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu. It's like Goebbels channeling "Weird Al" Yankovic and "David After Dentist".
To make matters worse, the Israeli Government Press Office forwarded the offensive clip to hundreds of foreign journalists, then claimed it was an accident and issued a half-assed apology: "Press Office director Danny Seaman said the video did not reflect official state opinion, but in his personal capacity he thought it was 'fantastic'." One is reminded of Michael Scott, the boss on TV's "The Office", known for his reckless forwarding habits. Echoing Seamen, Scott defends his offensive behavior in a brash manner befitting either a TV sitcom or the Israeli Press Office: "When I said that I was king of forwards, you got to understand that I don't come up with this stuff. I just forward it along. You wouldn't arrest a guy who was just passing drugs from one guy to another."
Perhaps Seaman truly deserves the title 'king of the forwards', as just two weeks earlier his office was responsible for forwarding another email to journalists detailing a high class restaurant and Olympic-sized swimming pool in Gaza. Although the restaurant's English-language menu highlighted the fact that it was aimed at foreigners and perhaps some corrupt Palestinian bureaucrats, the email's agenda was to belittle the fact that the vast majority of Palestinians are suffering greatly from the Israeli blockade. Seaman was even more flippant in his comments this time around, stating that, "Serious journalists understood it for the irony involved and laughed at it. Those who were insulted by it, I guess they deserve to be insulted," adding 'deserved' insult to the Palestinian's 'deserved' injury.
Israeli comedy programs also add to this insulting stance towards people they have already dispossessed, bombed, and brought to the brink of starvation, caricaturing whole populations as terrorists. Case in point, the Glick-produced LatmaTV which features a "Daily Show" type news segment called "The Tribal Update". A typical 'joke':
"The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the High Court to prevent the extension of the Trans-Israel highway because it will cross illegal Bedouin villages. Our reporter also found out that another petition is in the works to remove the locks from all doors in the country so as not to harm burglar's livelihoods, and young women will be required to walk alone in dark alleys to protect the interest of rapists."Another segment features a comedian donning blackface to bizarrely portray strong Israel-supporter Barack Obama as hating "those dirty Jews" and planning Israel's destruction, in song. A sample lyric: "Blow up now, cease to be / or go drown in the sea / So the Koran can rule / yes rule us all." Truly as hilarious as it is accurate.
Israel's more moderate "Daily Show" derivative, "Eretz Nehederet" (or "Wonderful Country"), frequently contains racially offensive material (such as their skit about the Haitian earthquake), and although the Israeli state and military are also open targets for satire in addition to Palestinians and human rights activists, ratings come before truly thought-provoking content. Says Noa Yeblin of the Maariv newspaper, "Such skits may make Israelis laugh but they are unlikely to really make them think. If anything, the show's wartime performance underscores the absence of hard-hitting satire at a time when it is badly needed."
When Israel was founded, the Zionists saw the state as sparking a golden age of Jewish culture. If that's the case, how come Israel's cultural production when it comes to comedy is so embarrassingly inferior in comparison to the comedic output of 'diaspora' Jews? Beyond the tastelessness and the propaganda, Israeli comedy just seems to lack the wit and ingenuity of legendary Jewish talents such as Groucho Marx, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, Larry David, Philip Roth, Isaac Babel, Sholem Aleichem, Sarah Silverman, David Cross, Jon Stewart, and countless more. Although Ashkenazic ethnocentrism tends to focus on the cultural contributions of Jews of European descent, Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewry has also produced an impressive array of comedic talent, including Jerry Seinfeld, Sasha Baron Cohen, Peter Sellers, Hank Azaria, and Jon Lovitz, to name a few. Israel's top comedic achievement, on the other hand, seems to be some guy named Dovale Glickman, who claims he invented Borat's 'wa wa wee wa' catchphrase.
Some insight into this question can perhaps be gained by examining the history of Jewish humor, which was developed over hundreds of years of living with anti-Semitism and poverty, where jokes kept people 'laughing to keep from crying.' Some elements of what comprises traditional Jewish humor are discussed by William Novak and Moshe Waldoks in The Big Book of Jewish Humor:
"Jewish humor tends to be anti-authoritarian. It ridicules grandiosity and self-indulgance, exposes hypcrisy, and kicks pomposity in the pants. It is strongly democratic, stressing the dignity and worth of common folk."It seems as if the cost of coming into a position of power over others via having a state has not just been on the spiritual level for Israelis, but on the comedic level as well. To put it in vaudevillian terms, Zionism was a flop. They traded the ability to zing for the ability to possess, rubber chickens for machine guns. The slapstick lunacy of the Three Stooges tragically morphed into the lunatic violence of bombs dropped on schools and hospitals.
Perhaps Israel can learn something from another aspect of Jewish comedy: self-deprecation. Sigmund Freud wrote on Jewish comedy, "I do not know if there are many other instances of a people making fun to such a degree of it's own character." Rather than this humor being self-hating, as some Zionists claim ("[Woody Allen] exemplified a pathetic, anal-retentive Jew and now suggests that the brave Israeli soldier behave the same"), it can positively be seen to reflect a healthy self-critical analytic lens that Israel could certainly use more of.
I'm sure there are many individual Israelis who are funny (certainly there are funny Israeli Arabs), but until their comedic cultural production is more endeared to empathy, their comedy will likely always feel false and disingenuous, like the mean-spirited taunts of a schoolyard bully.
As Lenny Bruce said, "The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can't fake it... try to fake three laughs in an hour - ha ha ha ha ha - they'll take you away, man. You can't."
By the way, if anyone does know of any good, critical Israeli (or Palestinian) comedy, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Yeah, Israeli culture and Jewish culture are not synonymous. How hard is that to understand? And there are good Israeli comedians, take Sayed Kashua for example, who writes with an ironic wit and self-deprecation often missing in the typically jocular environment of mainstream Israeli culture. Often he assumes a critical eye towards both the Arab and Israeli culture in which he was raised, and is able to do so while retaining his biting edge: http://www.haaretz.com/news/moreover-my-enemy-s-enemy-1.164602.
ReplyDeleteAlso, LOLocaust, and Goebbels, where does the Holocaust come into this discussion exactly? Unless it's assumed that underlying the whole discussion of Jewish humor and Israeli humor is the Holocaust? Either way, that would be an example of a poor deployment of humor.
Once again, it might be useful to step away from the assumptions that were made by Zionists about what they were or weren't doing for Jewish culture, and to question whether there is such a thing as an actual Jewish culture, beyond the bagels-shmeer-Woody Allen Ashkenaz ethnocentrism that somehow acts as a critical foil to the blatant stupidity and offensiveness of portions of mainstream Israeli society.
in terms of jewish culture, i use the term 'jewish humor' broadly to apply to the humorous output of a multiplicity of diasporic jewish cultures. you're right about the existence of ashkenazi ethnocentrism in typical discussions of anything 'jewish culture' related though. i updated the post a tiny bit to address that issue, but expect more written on that subject in general in future posts. the yiddish and ashkenazic references on this blog are a representation of the specific positions we're coming from, but by no means represent the totality of jewish experience. i just gotta have my shmeers.
ReplyDeletei will check out sayed kashua. i generalized a bit about israeli comedy based on trends i've noticed in the culture's mainstream, but i'm always interested in hearing outsider, dissident voices that may not be as accessible to american observers.
as for the holocaust references, i've thus far tried to stay away from obvious holocaust comparisons, not to say that some of them aren't legitimate. goebbels comparisons are commonly used to signify propagandists (such as glick), so i don't think that's controversial. 'LOLocaust' is used here to refer to israel's repression of good comedy, rather than ethnic cleansing or constructing ghettos (though it is my understanding that the nazis were also famously unfunny). i understand if the pun is offensive to some people, but it's relatively tame compared to the holocaust-themed humor of many jewish comedians and not nearly as offensive in it's intent as the racist israeli humor i'm referring to.
Yeah, I don't think it's the repression of good comedy so much as a lot of Israeli humor just isn't very funny, offensive or not. As to the Tik Tok video, I hadn't watched it until today, and besides the implications of military occupation, I thought it was funny in a kind of absurd way. I think that it's meant to parody the typical "Hebron image," of Israeli soldiers patrolling empty streets( streets empty due to patrols) while a Muezzin's loudspeaker plays prayers more than anything else. Obviously the video can't escape overtones of occupation, but it's intent is relatively light-hearted I think compared to more blatantly offensive clips, such as the "We Con the World" video( which isn't technically Israeli, more AIPAC and American Zionist humor, equally unfunny), but yes, a lot of Israeli comedy when focused on Palestinians is often racist.
ReplyDeleteAs to the Holocaust, point taken, although I would never compare Nazi propaganda to Israeli propaganda, the scope and intent is different, as well as the human cost.
Mr. Rambler, in reading this blog recently I've noticed your consistent critical eye and certain watchfulness of these (deemed by some respondents) "scant" or "only technical" Jew bloggers.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have not agreed with everything you've said, I've been glad to see a real back and forth discussion happening.
However I find it interesting and perhaps a little disturbing, even somewhat illuminating, that you cannot compare Nazi propaganda to Israeli propaganda. How are the scope and intent different? How is the human cost different?
It seems to me that any oppression of a people should be abhorred - that to rate each one on levels of justification would be an exercise in arbitrary prejudice.
I am curious to know what evidence you have that proves the lesser value of Palestinian human suffering than that of a Jew. No, the situation in Gaza is not a holocaust, but what does history show if not a tendency toward escalation of violent conflict spun by propaganda and the slippery slope that is the violation of human rights.
Kim, the scope and intent are different in that, statistically, nowhere near 11 million people have been killed in the Israeli occupation. It is an argument to claim genocidal intent on the part of Israel, not a fact as it is with regards to the Nazi genocidal program.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Israeli intent has varied, but that mostly expulsion and mistreatment have been made in the name of expanding the Israeli state and ensuring a Jewish majority. I would say that Israel has been guilty of wide-spread suppression of Palestinian agency, politically, socially, and economically, but I would never say that Israel has tried to wipe Palestinians off the map completely. There have been political programs in Israel which have favored that, most notably the Kach party founded by Meir Kahane, which favored the mass deportation of Palestinians into neighboring Arab countries( obviously a ludicrous and appalling suggestion). Kach was outlawed in 1985.
That doesn't mean that there haven't been programs of expulsion, nor that Israel hasn't encouraged Palestinian migration out of Israel. I'm appalled by the treatment, but I would never go so far as to call Israeli tactics Nazi-like, it does an injustice to the victims of the Holocaust, and also distorts the reality of the Palestinian plight. Like the Gazans who are frustrated when the main focus of protest against the Israeli blockade is subsistence rather than the denial of movement, joblessness, and general inertia which the blockade has caused, it is essential that the treatment of Palestinians by Israel is focused on in its own right, without recourse to comparison, in order to best assess the situation, in order to honestly and plainly point out the misery that Israel has caused. Any other way, especially those which use frequent Holocaust comparison, are politically useless and do nothing but guarantee that your voice will not be heard
Rambler, you're a champion of the status quo.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to worry about what's happening in this world today than to make rules about which sorts of comparisons bring injustice to the victims of the Holocaust (who have most certainly already suffered much greater injustices than any I could do them with the statements I'm making).
In fact, although neither you nor I can say, never having lived through such an experience, perhaps a Holocaust or Genocide victim (Jewish or otherwise) would be more focused on the dangerous implications of "wide-spread suppression of Palestinian agency, politically, socially, and economically..." than they would be concerned that viewing current human rights violations as crucial situations or even comparing them to previous conflicts might somehow downplay previous historical tragedies.
I think you make a good point in saying that, if I may paraphrase, looking at the situation in Gaza in its own right is the starkest way to see it, and therefore might offer the clearest view of its current state and the best path forward.
However my point is that history should be used to guide us in the present and the future. Would you prefer a venn diagram to a simple comparison? There are obviously many differences between these cultures of intolerance. But where does this fear come from that the validity of past injustices is threatened by current ones or the way we speak about them? When did the reverence paid to the past come to overshadow the actions or opinions we take today?
Why do you think it is that a Holocaust comparison is politically useless? Maybe it's because you are indoctrinated into the commerce- and violence-driven type of politics favored by so many leaders and their cronies. Fortunately, I am not. Therefore I will continue to have opinions based on my observations and beliefs, rather than shape my voice into something you will do me the service of proclaiming politically useful and worthy or capable of being heard.
One last thing. I don't really care whether or not Israel has genocidal intent. I think the intent they have matters less than the effect they produce. To continue the way they are, Israeli powers do a disservice not only to Palestine, but to Israel as well.
But, while we're on the subject, if Israel ever has to defend her lack of genocidal intent, I don't know that you would be the best lawyer for such a purpose. When I hear you boil it all down to "expulsion and mistreatment... made in the name of expanding the Israeli state and ensuring a Jewish majority," I begin to feel like genocide stew is on the stove.
Yeah, I don't see how you would come to the conclusion that I'm the champion of the status quo when my focus is on the best and fastest way to ensure the situation changes. I never said Israeli intent was harmonious or kind, merely that it wasn't accurate to call it genocidal or intelligent( from both a pragmatically political as well as moral view) to compare it to Nazism. Genocide stew may be on the stove, especially with people like Avigdor Lieberman in the Israeli government, but the best way to ensure
ReplyDeletethat premonitions of such catastrophe go unheard is to begin talking about the Holocaust. This is simply because just as the Holocaust stands as a major impetus to far-left thinkers to point out Israeli crimes and their supposed descent from the Nazi genocide, on the far-right it is used as an impetus to further persecute Palestinians under the supposed aegis of preventing another Holocaust. It's a dumb and useless game, played between individuals like Norman Finkelstein and the American Jewish community, and ultimately it ends zero-sum, unable to settle on the claim of who can be more aggrieved and who has more of a right to play the Holocaust card.
As to indoctrination, you go from praising my language to championing your own supposedly enlightened view. To my thinking, such self-congratulation is as useless as my contention that comparisons to the Holocaust do a disservice to the dead, it's about enacting change in the most immediate venues possible, and that involves an engagement with the ugly and appalling business of international politics. I agree with the morality behind your statement, but I also recognize that morality generally plays very little of a role when it comes to actually enacting change, and that subversive political action, often taking advantage of the mess and contradiction of international politics, does often make the difference.
As to history, yes, it is very important, but it's also important to be precise, to make the tough decisions where they must be made, and the means an immediate engagement with the present. If the past is so important, and so pivotal to justifying the present, than Israeli and Jewish arguments involving the Holocaust's relevance to current Israeli action might become valid, and that is something which would justify the mistreatment of millions of Palestinians. This is what I mean by politically useless, it ultimately comes down to so many words which are spouted off by both sides while those who suffer continue to suffer.
I worry for the future of Israel, as a Jew and human being, as well as the future of the Palestinians. I can't imagine a State who claims to represent my religion acting in an overtly genocidal manner, although with the possibility of such action looming in the near future( let's say 10 to 20 years, as the Israeli-Arab, Palestinian, and immigrant communities overtake the Jewish majority demogrphically), I fear the worst, making effective political action that much more pivotal.