What is responsible for “violent extremism” in the world, today? Is it:
A) George Bush
B) The legacy of George Bush
C) Guantanamo
D) CIA “torture”
E) Abu Ghraib
F) Operation Iraqi Freedom
G) All of the Above
E) Climate change Denial
F) Donald Trump
G) Islamism
WTH) Tom and Jerry
And the answer is…….*Drum roll*……………
………….WTH! No, seriously. The answer is WTH:
If a well-loved children’s cartoon were to ever epitomize the Islamic State’s boundless appetite for violence, it would be Tom and Jerry. In nearly every episode, the cat-and-mouse duo find new ways to butcher each other, using weapons ranging from guns and explosives to household objects like lawn mowers and waffle irons.
Actually, I think Tom and Jerry is more for Islamists. Itchy and Scratchy Show– now that one is right up ISIS’ and AQI’s alley.
This week, Salah Abdel Sadek, chairman of the Egyptian State Information Service, said the show, which was first shown in 1940, has desensitized youth to violent acts and is partially to blame for rising extremism in the Middle East.
The cartoon “portrays the violence in a funny manner and sends the message that, yes, I can hit him … and I can blow him up with explosives. It becomes set in mind that this is natural,” Sadek said at a conference on “Media and the Culture of Violence” at Cairo University.
Tom and Jerry is popular across the Middle East and is regularly broadcast via satellite channels into both active and smoldering crisis zones, including Iraq. One Egyptian doctor and self-described historian even claimed that Walt Disney stole the idea for it from the ancient Egyptians.
Following Sadek’s speech, Egypt’s privately owned Youm7 newspaper outlined why Tom and Jerry causes terrorism: allegedly, it acclimatizes children to bad habits, including smoking, drinking alcohol, and stealing; shows a lopsided concept of justice in which the mouse is always right; plants ideas for “sinister plans” into the impressionable minds of children; and spreads violence through its depictions of knife and ax attacks.
Of course, complaints about cartoon violence isn’t unique to Sadek’s opinion. Violent cartoons along with video games and Hollywood movies have been criticized for their negative influences.
But, I dunno….
Which is more inspirationally influential to the defective mind:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/JWHvysF9IBw[/youtube]
Or
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV9M3mmqOII[/youtube]
[youtube]https://youtu.be/6i8pJCqs6L4[/youtube]
And of course, if Tom and Jerry’s popularity in the Middle East is “partially” responsible for “violent extremism”, there is answer “Gee” worth considering for the whole of that factor:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/MtmUtfT3MF8[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvBlmqLTaKc[/youtube]
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.