Joking about the Jihadists

BBC WHYS asked, Is it invigorating or tasteless to mock fundamentalism?

There is a Moroccan proverb which says, “Too much worries makes one laugh “. Laughter is a defensive means to face up a stressful situation or to make the best of a worst one. Political crises or government failing are portrayed in cartoons and jokes.

Terrorism or jihad has become a source of worries around the world, particularly in areas hit by attacks or still threatened by them. One way to keep normal and not to keep as seeing the world as a hell is to squeeze laughter out of what can come. Jihadists in this sense will become just like a scarecrow that no longer frightens as it has just the appearance without substance.

But there is the risk if threats from terrorists become just a source of laughter without being coupled with vigilance. It is the duty of everyone to know how to counterattack it with iron fist but without losing smiling teeth. Teeth should be used to show a smile as well as a good bite.

Joking about Jihadists can get out of control if it becomes an attack on the religion they belong to. It’s interesting to see that this kind of jokes about Bin Laden

and the rest didn’t stir any ferocious feeling among the Muslims contrary to the cartoons about Prophet Mohammed. This shows that Muslims don’t care about which joke is made about Islamists. Even in Muslim societies, there are jokes about the Jihadists. In Morocco, many jokes were made about the May 16th terrorist attacks which killed 44 people and injured many more. There are countless jokes about the Islamists like this one, “An Islamist discovered that he was gay. He put on a veil”.

If some Jihadists are driven by despair or illusion to carry their acts in what form it takes, ordinary people should carry their lives booing and jeering at them instead of taking to their heels and bury themselves in fear. It’s better they become a joke than they turn in monsters populating every part of the earth.