The “Court Jester Effect” – Using Comedy and Ridicule

Here is a thought:

Imagine Muslim comedians actively ridiculing Jihadists for all the contradictions in their ideology, their living standards, ideas and practices be they with regard to women, other Muslims or as in the case of Ahmed Ahmed the whole “martyrdom gets you 72 virgins” line we hear so often about. In his skit, Ahmed wonders whether you get help in choosing the right terrorist group (there being so many of them) and ponders whether these try to recruit people to their side by promising more benefits than the others. Ahmed imagines the Muslim Brotherhood telling a kid that he should join them and not al Qaeda because unlike al Qaeda, they offer not only 72 virgins, but also 1 whore, and a goat.

Hearing the laughter the joke above elicited, from a primarily Muslim audience, it seems that comedians would become the most fear enemy of Jihadists, because nothing rattles a true believer more than to see his ideology mocked and made to seem ridiculous. Anyone remember the uproar on the right following Stephen Colbert’s act at the Correspondents Dinner? The reason for it, was that in very direct terms he took what President Bush considered his strengths, and turned them into objects of ridicule; from “thinking from the gut” to his “stay the course” mentality. It upset many people, so much so that Colbert was not invited back the next year. [Link: New Yorker in DC]

The post has youtube links to the performances which were pretty funny.

The post is well written showing how comedy and ridicule can be used as part of a war of ideas – something the US seems to be bad at for now.

The post author uses the term”Court Jester Effect” which I rather like.