The humor is at once offensive, hilarious, and necessary.

It is offensive to some non-terrorist Muslims who see it as stereotyping and demeaning to their religion. In fact, an advertisement featuring Achmed has been banned in South Africa for precisely this reason.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,431866,00.html

Offensive is not even close to a strong enough word for the emotion that humor invoking the images and language of terrorism must evoke in those who have lost family members in real-life terrorist attacks. It is impossible to imagine that Achmed would draw much laughter at a meeting of 9/11 survivors who lost precious family members to Islamic terrorists.

And yet Achmed, and Jeff (or should that be Jeff and Achmed), is hilarious. Dunham a skilled ventriloquist and an even more skilled comedian. The absurdity of a skeleton who doesn't know he's dead, wearing only a big turban and bugged out eyes, and making powerless threats is funny, as are Dunham's jokes. His delivery is flawless, and his cutting edge regularly pushes the envelop with several other characters. It's how he became rich and famous. It's his niche, his uniqueness. Millions of paying customers and youtube groupies prove that finding humor in Dunham's portrayal of Achmed is wildly popular.

Laughing at those who intimidate and terrorize us is a long accepted coping strategy. The ultimate test of humor surviving the worst of situations, on an individual level is so common it has a name, Gallows humor. People who are about to die somehow find strength to make light of the situation, allowing them to proceed to their demise without losing their minds. On a group level, humor has been documented as playing an invaluable role in Holocaust survival. When we laugh at terrible things, it is as if we are saying, "some of us are going to die, we can laugh, we can cry, we can lose our minds, we can face this in any way possible, and if it means a little so-called inappropriate humor, so be it"

Didn't we have this same debate two year ago when this very funny video had Muslims and survivors up in arms?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeDDb5VYwbY
Source(s):
http://www.laughterremedy.com/article_pdfs/Using%20Humor%20to%20Cope-Part%2...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,431866,00.html

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