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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2374
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:12 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Israeli group announces anti-Semitic cartoons contest!

February 14th, 2006

A Danish paper publishes a cartoon that mocks Muslims. An Iranian paper responds with a Holocaust cartoons contest -- Now a group of Israelis announce their own anti-Semitic cartoons contest!

Amitai Sandy (29), graphic artist and publisher of Dimona Comix Publishing, from Tel-Aviv, Israel, has followed the unfolding of the “Muhammad cartoon-gate” events in amazement, until finally he came up with the right answer to all this insanity - and so he announced today the launch of a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves!

“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”

The contest has been announced today on the www.boomka.org website, and the initiator accept submissions of cartoons, caricatures and short comic strips from people all over the world. The deadline is Sunday March 5, and the best works will be displayed in an Exhibition in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Sandy is now in the process of arranging sponsorships of large organizations, and promises lucrative prizes for the winners, including of course the famous Matzo-bread baked with the blood of Christian children.

For more info contact:
Amitai at amitaiss@yahoo.com or 972-54-316-4117
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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6789
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:19 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Frankly, this is offensive and moronic. Buch of childish idiots.
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Dave
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Username: Dave

Post Number: 8667
Registered: 4-1997


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:19 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

http://wip.warnerbros.com/lookingforcomedy/LFC_content.html
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2375
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey Dave, that's pretty hilarious too.
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Kiba
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Username: Radical_kiba

Post Number: 44
Registered: 12-2005


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:18 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think cartooning has just sunk to a new low.D:

way to go you two. *glares at israel and iran*
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CageyD
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Username: Cageyd

Post Number: 597
Registered: 6-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 3:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Paris, I think you miss the point of this. It is directly parallelling Iran's Holocaust cartoon competition. By holding their own such competition Israel is taking the power out of Iran's anti-semitic posturing - for now. IF the person you're making fun of is also laughing, there is no joke.
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notehead
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Username: Notehead

Post Number: 3052
Registered: 5-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 4:37 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cagey, don't waste your time. It's like explaining spheres to a circle.
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Dr. Winston O'Boogie
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Username: Casey

Post Number: 1928
Registered: 8-2003


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 4:57 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

we've been over this before. someone has a major irony deficiency.
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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6790
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 5:05 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Anti Semitism is not a joke. There is nothing funny about an attempt "counter" those who wish death to Jews.

What's next, cartoons drawn by blacks of Martin Luther King eating a bucket of fried chicken and a watermelon?

It's disguisting and anyone who supports this foolishness is a moron.
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Dr. Winston O'Boogie
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Username: Casey

Post Number: 1929
Registered: 8-2003


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 5:15 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

these Israeli cartoonists are doing this to mock the Muslims who are rioting. if anyone thinks the sponsors are self-hating Jews, then this whole thing has gone completely over your head.
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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6791
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 5:36 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Doc the troll.

If you can't partipiate in a conversation without any other purpose other than to get my attention, look elsewhere for your entertainment. By the way since you endorse these cartoons, I will conclude that you may very well be an anti-Semite. Just another reason why you've reduced yourself to troll status on MOL.

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tjohn
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Username: Tjohn

Post Number: 4051
Registered: 12-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 5:52 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think the Israelis are entitled to a bit of gallows humor. Anybody who has been under threat of destruction for as long as they have is so entitled. And surely, the Israelis, more than anybody, know this game is deadly serious.
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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 539
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:01 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'm with Hiltonberry on this.

Obviously anti-Semitism exists on a long continuum, some instances less serious than others. But I see nothing funny about the more extreme variants of anti-Semitism, like Holocaust-deniers or Nazis.

I was never able to find anything funny about Seinfeld's term "Soup Nazi" or Mel Brook's "Springtime for Hitler."

I think this contest caters to the extreme and is therefore in very bad taste.

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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6792
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:03 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Tjohn I Disagree,

Those such as my very good friend Benny who fought in the Israeli army and saw those close to him slaughtered by terrorists has nothing nice to say about these cartoons. He understands the danger in Jews who promote self hate, even if for comedy purposes.

Paul, I 100% agree with you. Excellent points.

The cartoons are in bad taste and its creators are out of line.
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Dr. Winston O'Boogie
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Username: Casey

Post Number: 1930
Registered: 8-2003


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:04 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I don't endorse these (as yet undrawn and unwritten) cartoons. But who am I to say that a group of Israeli cartoonists are wrong to make fun of their own religion?

and I can only conclude from your responses, that you either really just don't understand anything that has a tinge of irony or dark humor, or you're just pretending to be dense so you can have an excuse to call someone an anti-Semite.
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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6793
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:07 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Doc says anti-Semitic cartoons offer a "tinge of irony or dark humor."

(Oh that's right, Jews created these drawings so it's ok and actually hilarious.)

Nope, don't think so pal.

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tjohn
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Username: Tjohn

Post Number: 4052
Registered: 12-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:10 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I think I'll defer to the Israelis on this one. It doesn't seem to funny to me, either, but I haven't been under threat of attack for forty years.
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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6794
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:16 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The bottom line is this. Any contest that promotes the drawing of anti-Semitic cartoons, PROMOTES THE DRAWING OF ANTI-SEMITIC CARTOONS!!! This in and of itself is a dangerous idea.
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slipknot (slippy)
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Username: Zotts

Post Number: 255
Registered: 7-2004


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 7:13 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Jews are funny because they understand pain, and they take the hate from others and make it their own and control it. As Jews have always done they find the humour in the tragic, which makes them great.

Paris the ultimate wannabe WASP is once again unable to understand anytype of humour. I mean he takes Cheney seriously for christs sake.
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CageyD
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Username: Cageyd

Post Number: 598
Registered: 6-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 7:58 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I heard an interview with the cartoonist who came up with this idea. He has an interesting attitude, basically that it takes courage to make fun of yourself - something that - in his opinion Arabs are unable to do. Also, he felt that anything that keeps the holocaust on people's minds is a good thing since genocide still occurs today.
One of the cartoons submitted thus far was rather cute -
An image of Moses coming down from the mountain holding tablets of commandments. Overhead a voice from god speaks to Moses saying "don't forget to mention the 11 commandment "Thou shalt own and dominate all media outlets."
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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6795
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 8:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yes, exactly the type of cartoon (and message) that will filter down into the Arab communities. Frankly, MANY OF THESE ARAB'S WON'T GET THE JOKE. Stupid, stupid, stupid..
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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 540
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 8:54 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just a reminder, that it's not "the Israelis" who are endorsing these cartoons. It's "some Israelis." For a detailed discussion on the confusion created by using the term "Israel" instead of "Sharon" or "the Israeli Government," etc. scroll down to the thread:

Palestinians Leaning Toward a Two-State Solution.

I may be updating this soon with Tom Friedman's excellent column in yesterday's NYT.

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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2376
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:58 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"I was never able to find anything funny about Seinfeld's term "Soup Nazi" or Mel Brook's "Springtime for Hitler.""


Well. That's quite a disclosure.
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Dave
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Username: Dave

Post Number: 8687
Registered: 4-1997


Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 12:02 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Springtime for Hitler is genius! (Then again, I saw it on Broadway with the original cast)
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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 541
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 5:33 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dave,

Obviously there are many who agree with you. But for me, I see nothing funny about the name Hitler or what it represents.
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Bob K
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Username: Bobk

Post Number: 10717
Registered: 5-2001
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 7:54 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

While a heck of a lot of American Jewish humor (I am not familar with Israeli humor) mocks a lot of stereotypes and is often self-depreciating, this cartoon contest seems over the top.

But what do I know, I am a goy. :-)

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Gordon Agress
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Username: Odd

Post Number: 345
Registered: 8-2004
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 8:31 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"I was never able to find anything funny about Seinfeld's term "Soup Nazi" or Mel Brook's "Springtime for Hitler.""

And you found amusement in neither Frau Blucher nor Dr. Strangelove.



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Stuart0628
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Username: Stuart0628

Post Number: 225
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 8:45 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

We Jews have been poking fun at ourselves for hundreds of years--part of a survival mechanism.

Perhaps this contest is different from the usual laughing at ourselves, perhaps it is not. I think there is a good chance that poking fun at ourselves in public might help to defuse the cartoon brouhaha. Until and unless the contestants are demonstrated to cross a very distant line, I can't get worked up over this.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2377
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 10:20 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"MANY OF THESE ARAB'S WON'T GET THE JOKE."

Sure. But that's not something that can be changed or affected in any way by Jewish outrage, is it.

It may be that I've been paying close and alarmed attention to the rise of antisemitism for several years now, and have sort of cycled through rage and dismay, to arrive at a kind of perpetual state of mordant, black hilarity. Evidently, Israelis, too, can readily find the humor in Jew-hating Muslims' digressions off the map of anything approaching rationality.

But to your concern: I don't see the point in worrying about what a show of Israeli cartoons will make humor-deficient Arabs think, when this is the sort of thing they think already:


Special Dispatch - Syria
February 16, 2006
No. 1094

Syrian Gov't Daily Suggests Israel Created, Spread Avian Flu Virus


On January 31, 2006, the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra published an article by columnist Abd Al-Rahman Ghunaym suggesting that Israel created the avian flu virus in order to damage "genes carried only by Arabs." The article further speculates that Israel may have planted the virus in East Asia in order to mislead the world, and that this is why the disease first appeared in that remote region. Another possibility given is that the virus was created to attack "the yellow race - especially in China and Vietnam" which are "rising powers" threatening "American hegemony over the world."

The following are excerpts from the article:


Avian Flu May Have Been Developed by Israel, to Damage Arabs' Genes

"On November 16, 1998, the British newspaper Sunday Times published details about what was later dubbed 'the Israeli race bomb.' It reported that Zionist experts were trying to identify genes unique to Arabs, in order to create, through genetic engineering, dangerous viruses and bacteria that would exclusively attack these genes. The paper stated that the race bomb program was being carried out in the secret Nes Ziona Institute, near Tel Aviv, which specializes in production of chemical and biological weapons. In October 1999, the newspaper again emphasized that the Zionist entity was increasing its scientific efforts [to develop] the race bomb.

"At the time, no explanation was given regarding the nature of this virus that was being genetically engineered to realize the Zionist goal of harming the Arabs. It was also not specified what agent would be used to transmit the virus [to the Arab population]. The word 'bomb,' in this context, is merely a label... since the [attack] might involve mice, rats, birds or any other agent that can be used to spread the disease. The weapon, when ready, would therefore be used without declaring war or moving troops. It would look as though the [disease] broke out naturally, and not through [human intervention] - as though it were being spread by natural elements and not through a despicable and cunning plot."


Israel May Have Released the Disease in a Remote Region to Avoid Suspicion

"The question that arises today is whether the virus chosen by the Zionists for their 'Israeli race bomb' is the avian flu virus. Some might hasten to object by saying: 'But this virus first appeared, in 2003, only in east and southeast Asia, and spread to Asia Minor [i.e., Turkey] only in 2006!' This is a correct observation, but it does not rule out [the possibility that Israel first spread the virus] in that remote region out of several motivations, including [the following]:"


"The AIDS Virus was Developed to Serve as a 'Race Bomb' Against the Blacks"

"1. [Israel wished to] test the effects of the virus on the special genes of the yellow Asian race, which is highly specialized. In addition, the yellow race - especially in China and Vietnam - is a rising power [which threatens] the exclusive American hegemony over the world. We cannot refrain from mentioning that the AIDS virus was developed to serve as a 'race bomb' against the blacks, though after its release, it also [infected] white people, albeit in smaller numbers.

"2. Indonesian society constitutes a particularly suitable environment for testing the [avian flu] virus on [various] races, including [people] of Arab descent. This is because most Indonesians are of Arab or Yemenite descent, or have mixed blood through intermarriage with Arabs.

"3. The virus may have been released in this remote part of Asia in order to obscure the truth by shifting the world's attention to that distant region... and in order to make its transmission through birds seem like a natural phenomenon.

"But the [manner in which] the virus spread directly from east to west Asia (i.e., to Asia Minor) raises many questions. Firstly, birds do not migrate from east to west Asia, but from the northern [regions] of the world to the southern [regions]. If we assume that the disease spread horizontally because birds in each region came into contact with one another, we would expect to see the disease appear in China, Tibet, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Iran and the Caucasus before it appears in Turkey. These are wide and extensive regions, so how could the disease skip [over them] like that?

"Therefore, we are led to the inescapable [conclusion] that there must have been a northern point of origin from which the virus spread, or in which it was planted, at a time which corresponded with the southbound migration of the birds. This point of origin may have been on the northern [shore] of the Black Sea or in east Turkey...

"The suspicion regarding a link between the avian flu and Israel's 'race bomb' is compounded by a report from the Palestinian Authority, regarding 85,000 good chickens that were buried [by Israel] in fields in the West Bank, and by the fact that the Palestinian Authority was not allowed to take samples from these chickens for testing. [Another telling fact] is what happened later - the case of a young Arab from one of the villages around Jerusalem [who caught the disease]. This means that the disease appeared in a new location, this time in the West Bank, simultaneously with the discovery of a new case in northern Iraq."


Arafat, Too, was Assassinated by Israel With a Biological Weapon

"The American newspaper Herald Tribune published a report which truly reveals the terrifying [nature] of 'Israel's race bomb'... The newspaper reported that after years of serious and intensive research, experts from universities have attained the capability of manufacturing the flu virus.

"The newspaper accused the [U.S.] Department of Health and Human Services of 'committing a very stupid and foolish act' when it published details on the Internet regarding the method of manufacturing this virus, which is more dangerous than an atomic bomb. The newspaper expressed concern that the information might fall into the hands of some 'terrorists' - as though an unskilled terrorist, with no laboratory, can make any use of this information, which is now in the hands of the Nes Ziona Institute, and as though the Institute was not [in fact] the one who attained the capability of making the virus, and who [persuaded] the American [Health] Department to... publish the accurate details. [Israel's intention was] to place the blame for planting this epidemic on the terrorists rather than on the Zionist terrorists...

"[Even] if this virus is meant to affect specific genes [carried only] by Arabs, the damage it causes will not be restricted to the Arab regions. It will also reach countries that we think of as 'remote,' and they will find themselves in the midst of the disaster when the disease [is no longer limited to] small, isolated danger spots, but becomes a raging epidemic.

"Tampering with Arab genes [without affecting] the white race is very difficult. But the Zionists are capable of attempting this [risky] adventure if [they have] a preventive treatment or a [cure for the disease]. Recall that the assassination of Yasser Arafat was carried out by means of biological weapons. The attempt on the life of the fighter [Hamas leader] Khaled Mash'al [likewise] involved a biological [agent] which [is countered by] a secret antidote that only the Zionists possess."

-MEMRI.org


I mean, honestly. Larry David could not make this stuff up.
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Scully
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Username: Scully

Post Number: 162
Registered: 8-2005
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 10:44 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Uh, aren't Arabs also Semitic? So anti-semitism could also cover anti-Arab (not that I want the hate to spread out any farther).

'Of, relating to, or constituting a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language group that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic.'

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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6798
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Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 10:54 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What? Stop already. Being Anti-semitic means you hate Jews..

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Paul Surovell
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Post Number: 542
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Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 12:54 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gordon,

Please enlighten as to the relevance of Frau Blucer.

Yes, Dr. Strangelove is very funny. No, Hitler is not funny.

Lenny Bruce did a bit about Hitler as a failed actor who is re-created by a talent agency. The bit can be taken as symbolic of how Hitler came to power with the assistance of powerful forces in German society. There's dark humor in the bit, but it only deals with how a nobody can be turned into a person of power if they have the right connections.
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Gordon Agress
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Username: Odd

Post Number: 346
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Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 1:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

So Nazi references are funny in critiques of American militarism? But of course, I should have known. My bad.

As for Frau Blucher -- she's not funny. Neither is the rest of "Young Frankenstein" -- its mockery of stereotyped German authoritarianism, the disabled and the mentally ill is simply beyond tasteless, since it regrettably fails to say anything critical of mainstream American institutions.

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Dave
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Post Number: 8698
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Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 1:40 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

j
Funniest Joke in the World

Opening Scene:
A suburban house in a boring looking street. Zoom into upstairs window. Serious documentary music. Interior of small room. A bent figure (Michael Palin) huddles over a table, writing. He is surrounded by bits of paper. The camera is situated facing the man as he writes with immense concentration lining his unshaven face.

Voice Over:
This man is Ernest Scribbler... writer of jokes.
In a few moments, he will have written the funniest joke in the world... and, as a consequence, he will die... laughing.

Ernest stops writing, pauses to look at what he has written... a smile slowly spreads across his face, turning very, very slowly to uncontrolled hysterical laughter... he staggers to his feet and reels across room helpless with mounting mirth and eventually collapses and dies on the floor.

Voice Over:
It was obvious that this joke was lethal...
no one could read it and live...

Ernest's mother enters. She sees him dead, she gives a little cry of horror and bends over his body, weeping. Brokenly she notices the piece of paper in his hand and picks it up and reads it between her sobs. Immediately she breaks out into hysterical laughter, leaps three feet into the air, and falls down dead without more ado. Cut to news type shot of commentator standing in front of the house.

Commentator:
This morning, shortly after eleven o'clock, comedy struck this little house in Dibley Road. Sudden... violent... comedy.
Police have sealed off the area, and Scotland Yard's crack inspector is with me now.

Inspector:
I shall enter the house and attempt to remove the joke.

About now an upstairs window in the house is fiung open and a doctor, rears his head out, hysterical with laughter, and dies hanging over the window sill. The commentator and the inspector look up and then continue as if they are used to such sights.

Inspector:
I shall be aided by the sound of sombre music, played on gramophone records, and also by the chanting of laments by the men of Q Division...

(Points to a group of dour looking policemen standing nearby)

The atmosphere thus created should protect me in the eventuality of me reading the joke.

(He gives a signal.)

The group of policemen start groaning and chanting biblical laments. The Dead March is heard. The inspector squares his shoulders and bravely starts walking into the house.

Commentator:
There goes a brave man. Whether he comes out alive or not,
this will surely be remembered as one of the most courageous
and gallant acts in police history.

The inspector suddenly appears at the door,
helpless with laughter, holding the joke aloft.
He collapses and dies.
Cut to film of army vans driving along dark roads.

Voice Over:
It was not long before the Army became interested in the military potential of the Killer Joke. Under top security, the joke was hurried to a meeting of Allied Commanders at the Ministry of War.

Cut to door at Ham House.
Soldier on guard comes to attention as dispatch rider
hurries in carrying armoured box.

Notice on door:
"Conference. No Admittance"

Dispatch rider rushes in.
A door opens for him and closes behind him.
We hear a mighty roar of laughter...
A series of doomphs as the commanders hit the floor or table. Soldier outside does not move a muscle.

Cut to a pillbox on the Salisbury Plain.
Track in to slit to see moustachioed top brass
peering anxiously out.

Voice Over:
Top brass were impressed. Tests on Salisbury Plain confirmed the joke's devastating effectiveness at a range of up to fifty yards.

Cut to shot looking out of slit in pillbox.
Camera zooms through slit to distance where a solitary figure is standing on the windswept plain.
He is a bespectacled, weedy lance-corporal (Terry Jones) looking cold and miserable.
Pan across to fifty yards away where two helmeted soldiers are at their positions beside a blackboard on an easel covered with a cloth.
Cut in to corporal's face-registening complete lack of comprehension as well as stupidily.
Man on top of pillbox waves flag.
The soldiers reveal the joke to the corporal.
He peers at it, thinks about its meaning,
snickers, and dies.
Two watching generals are very impressed.

Generals:
Fantastic.

Cut to a Colonel talking to camera.

Colonel:
All through the winter of '43 we had translators working, in joke-proof conditions, to try and produce a German version of the joke. They worked on one word each for greater safety. One of them saw two words of the joke and spent several weeks in hospital. But apart from that things went pretty quickly, and we soon had the joke by January, in a form which our troops couldn't understand but which the Germans could.

Cut to a trench in the Ardennes. Members of the joke brigade are crouched holding pieces of paper with the joke on them.

Voice Over:
So, on July 8th, I944, the joke was first told to the enemy
in the Ardennes...

Commanding NCO:
Tell the... joke.

Joke Brigade:
(together)
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!...
Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

Pan out of the British trench across war-torn landscape and come to rest where presumably the German trench is. There is a pause and then a group of Germans rear up in hysterics.

Voice Over:
It was a fantastic success. Over sixty thousand times as powerful as Britain's great pre-war joke...

Cut to a film of Chamberlain brandishing
the "Peace in our time" treaty.

...and one which Hitler just couldn't match.

Film of Hitler rally. Hitler speaks; subtitles are superimposed.

Hitler:
SUBTITLE
MY DOG'S GOT NO NOSE

A young soldier responds:
SUBTITLE
HOW DOES HE SMELL?

Hitler:
SUBTITLE
AWFUL'

Voice Over:
In action it was deadly.

Cut to a small squad with rifles making their way through forest. Suddenly one of them sees something and gives signal at which they all dive for cover. From the cover of a tree he reads out joke.

Corporal:
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!...
Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

Sniper falls laughing out of tree.

Joke Brigade:
(charging)
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!...
Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.

They chant the joke.
Germans are put to fight laughing, some dropping to ground.

Voice Over:
The German casualties were appalling.

Cut to a German hospital and a ward full of casualties still laughing hysterically.
Cut to Nazi interrogation room.
An officer from the joke bngade has a light shining in his face.
A Gestapo officer is interrogating him; another stands behind him.

Nazi:
Vott is the big joke?

Officer:
I can only give you name, rank,
and why did the chicken cross the road?

Nazi:
That's not funny!
(slaps him)
I vant to know the joke.

Officer:
All right. How do you make a Nazi cross?

Nazi:
(momentarily fooled)
I don't know... how do you make a Nazi cross?

Officer:
Tread on his corns.
(does so; the Nazi hops in pain)

Nazi:
Gott in Hiramell That's not funny!
(mimes cuffing him while the other Nazi claps his
hands to provide the sound effct)
Now if you don't tell me the joke, I shall hit you properly.

Officer:
I can stand physical pain, you know.

Nazi:
Ah... you're no fun. All right, Otto.

Otto starts tickling the officer who starts laughing.

Officer:
Oh no - anything but that please no, all fight I'll tell you.

They stop tickling him.

Nazi:
Quick Otto. The typewriter.

Otto goes to the typewriter and they wait expeaantly. The officer produces piece of paper out of his breast pocket and reads.

Officer:
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!...
Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.

Otto at the typewriter explodes with laughter and dies.

Nazi:
Ach! Zat iss not funny!

Nazi burts into laughter and dies.
A German guard bursts in with machine gun,
The British officer leaps on the table.

Officer:
(lightning speed)
Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!...
Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput.

The guard reels back and collapses laughing.
British officer makes his escape.
Cut to a film of German scientists working in laboratories.

Voice Over:
But at Peenemunde in the Autumn of '44,
the Germans were working on a joke of their own.

A German general is seated at an imposing desk.
Behind him stands Otto, labelled "A Different Gestapo Officer". Bespectacled German scientist/joke writer enters room. He clean his throat and reads from card.

German Joker:
Die ist ein Kinnerhunder und zwei Mackel uber und der bitte schon ist den Wunderhaus sprechensie. 'Nein' sprecht der Herren 'Ist aufern borger mit zveitingen'.

He finishes and looks hopeful.

Otto:
We let you know.

He shoots him. Film of German sdentists.

Voice Over:
But by December their joke was ready,
and Hitler gave the order for the German V-Joke
to be broadcast in English.

Cut to 1940's wartime radio set with couple anxiously listening to it.

Radio:
(crackly German voice)
Der ver zwei peanuts, valking down der strasse, and von vas... assaulted! peanut. Ho-ho-ho-ho.

Radio bunts into "Deutschland Uber Alles".
The couple look at each other and then in blank amazement at the radio.
Cut to modern BBC 2 interview.
The commentator in a woodland glade.

Commentator (Eric Idle):
In 1945 Peace broke out. It was the end of the Joke.
Joke warfare was banned at a special session of the Geneva Convention, and in I950 the last remaining copy of the joke was laid to rest here in the Berkshire countryside, never to be told again.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2378
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 1:50 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Uh, aren't Arabs also Semitic? So anti-semitism could also cover anti-Arab..."

But it does not, Scully. The term has never, since it was first coined, referred to anything but anti-Jewishness.

What you are repeating here is a piece of propaganda, circulated for several years now by apologists for Arab antisemitism. But the argument (as it is usually expressed) that Arabs "can't" be antisemitic because they are themselves Semites is really quite silly. It's sort of like saying that white people can't be racists because we all came from Africa.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2379
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 1:51 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"As for Frau Blucher -- she's not funny. Neither is the rest of "Young Frankenstein" -- its mockery of stereotyped German authoritarianism, the disabled and the mentally ill is simply beyond tasteless, since it regrettably fails to say anything critical of mainstream American institutions."


Hehhehehheh!
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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 543
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 3:15 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gordon,

Two questions:

(1) Are you equating "German authoritarianism" with Nazism? (2) Did I say or suggest anything anything about American militarism?

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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 544
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 3:33 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Dave,

That's a very funny sketch, but it's really about war and the arms race, not about the Nazis and the Holocaust.
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joel dranove
Citizen
Username: Jdranove

Post Number: 65
Registered: 1-2006
Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 4:44 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ahh, mysterious powerful forces put him in power.
Sounds like the Zionist conspiracy to me.
Maybe he got elected on a platform of racial superiority, no more second rate nation for us, we all hate the Jews, and will get rid of them and fix our problems, while having no intention of ever giving up power once democratically elected.
A fascist, parallel to Islamist "democrats."
jd
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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 545
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 7:07 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Joel,

Your rendition of Hitler's rise to power is simplistic and naive.

The powerful forces that supported Hitler's rise to power are not "mysterious" -- they're well known and documented.

Here's one example (excerpts):


Quote:

Alfred Hugenberg
born June 19, 1865, Hannover, Hanover [Germany]
died March 12, 1951, Kükenbruch, W.Ger.

German industrialist and political leader. As the head of a huge newspaper and film empire and a prominent member of the conservative German National Peoples' Party, he exercised a profound influence on German public opinion during the Weimar Republic period (1918–33) and materially contributed to Adolf Hitler's rise to power.

Hoping to exploit Nazi successes at the polls for his own political ambitions, Hugenberg in 1931 formed the Harzburg Front, an alliance between nationalist, conservative elements and Hitler, to attempt to topple the government of Heinrich Brüning. He proved unable to manipulate the Nazis for his own ends, but the large contributions from German industrialists that flowed, after the Harzburg agreement, into Hitler's party treasury aided the Nazi Party's growth substantially.


http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9041412


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Gordon Agress
Citizen
Username: Odd

Post Number: 347
Registered: 8-2004
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 8:28 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Very helpful Paul. Could you please provide some documentation of the powerful forces behind the rise of Neville Chamberlain?

Thanks.

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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 546
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 9:28 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gordon,

I'd be happy to if you would be please explain why this is relevant to the discussion at hand.
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Gordon Agress
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Username: Odd

Post Number: 348
Registered: 8-2004
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 11:53 am:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Well, I'm confused myself. What exactly does one foolish industrialist's support of Hitler have to do with anything? Why is a discussion of the evils of industrialism okay, and a discussion of appeasers not? You tell me.




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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 547
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 12:16 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gordon,

Go back up the thread. My post was a response to Joel Dranove's, which was a response to my post about a Lenny Bruce bit about Hitler.

Also, please advise -- on what basis do you leap from the specific case of German industrialist support for Hitler to the general conclusion that we're having "a discussion of the evils of industrialism?"
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sbenois
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Username: Sbenois

Post Number: 14622
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 12:28 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

No soup for you.
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Dave
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Username: Dave

Post Number: 8705
Registered: 4-1997


Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 12:35 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

ger
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Dr. Winston O'Boogie
Citizen
Username: Casey

Post Number: 1935
Registered: 8-2003


Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 12:55 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Don't mention the war. I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right."
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Gordon Agress
Citizen
Username: Odd

Post Number: 349
Registered: 8-2004
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 4:43 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

My leap is probably the same as Lenny offered his audience. There's no point in talking about Hitler and ad men unless the story says something to Lenny's American audience, and certainly you seem to think his routine explores some deeper truth. I can't see why you care about a German industrialist unless you want us to make that leap too, so I assume that's your purpose. But perhaps you do have some other reason.

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anon
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Username: Anon

Post Number: 2606
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 5:02 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

If Muslims in Iran or Pakistan or Saudi Arabia were able to respond to a negative cartoon of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper by sponsoring a contest among Muslims to create funnier cartoons about Muhammad, rather than responding by rioting, the world would be a much better place.
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J. Crohn
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Username: Jcrohn

Post Number: 2380
Registered: 3-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 5:45 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

"Joel, Your rendition of Hitler's rise to power is simplistic and naive."


It would appear Paul has inadvertently posted his application for employment as Joel's straight man.
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anon
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Username: Anon

Post Number: 2610
Registered: 6-2002
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 6:40 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

J. Crohn: Now that is funny!
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Paul Surovell
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Username: Paulsurovell

Post Number: 549
Registered: 2-2003
Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 7:03 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Gordon,

Whatever.
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Bob K
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Username: Bobk

Post Number: 10740
Registered: 5-2001
Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 12:01 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I wonder how this contest will be interpreted by the Arabs? I rather suspect the irony will be lost and they will spin it as Israelis publishing "the truth".

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Paris Hiltonberry
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Username: Strawberry

Post Number: 6810
Registered: 10-2001


Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 12:21 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

bingo..

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