Muslims Are Funny

I’ve been doing some Muslim jokes lately. On the Net I’ve been making fun of Muslims. A few weeks ago I read in an internet forum where Muslim men were supposedly “immoral“. It was a typical Islamphobia opinion. I responded that Muslim men had “immorally bad beards and footwear, but nothing more“. And then it dawned on me that I'd just made fun of Muslims. I've always defended them, but never had I joked. But there it was, a bit of humor, albeit lame humor.

Two years ago I wouldn’t have joked about Muslims. Five years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of making fun of them. But the last week or so Muslims have been a joke target, along with, among others, midgets, carnies, jugglers, and of course myself. I’ve always made fun of such characters as jugglers, ventriloquists, and myself, but Muslims are new on the list.

I make fun of people who are okay, but in some way, shape or form are often on the outside looking in. Muslims are now okay. They probably always were okay, but now it’s official. Before 9/11 Muslims weren’t even on the radar. They couldn’t be made sport of because, like Catholic priests, at the time they were not part of the landscape. The word “Muslim” could not be used in a punch line because it was impossible to find any humor that anyone could understand. Then 9/11 came along and no one could poke fun at them. Folks were either overly politically correct about Muslims, or overly mad at them. Personally, for a year or so I had no idea how to view them. After all, they were new to my radar.

To be perfectly honest, I doubt I could ever be a close friend with 99% of all Muslims. Anyone who is too religious worries me. And it seems like to be a Muslim, a person has to be highly religious. There doesn't seem to be very many non-devout Muslims. But I won’t open my door for a person clutching a Bible. So it isn’t just about Islam, per se. But I think I’d have a tough time chumming around with a guy who suddenly had to stop and bow in some specific direction. It would cramp my style and ruin the fun. But the fact that I now make sport of Muslims means that I’ve kind of given them my own personal seal of approval. I mean, my sisters have been the butt of my jokes an infinite number of times, and we have Thanksgiving dinner together every year.

So Muslims have gotten to the stage where they are the subject of humor. That’s good. The next step for Muslims is to become so mainstream that they no longer are a viable joke target. This might take both time and work. I can joke about Republicans, but Methodists and Baptists just don’t lend themselves to comedy. It’s because unlike Republicans, we know what those Methodists are all about. And the term “radical Methodist“ sounds downright sill… Hey wait, maybe Methodists can be funny.