The joke is on us

[Ray]

The joke is on us

Jeremy Clarkson's humour is so right-wing that he is seen by many as an oaf in blue denims who makes a living by driving around and saying stupid things. Last month, when British unions organized a huge strike,the 'Top Gear' presenter tried to mock it. "I'd have them all shot in front of their children," Clarkson said about the striking workers. Of course, the unions demanded his head and Twittersphere erupted in outrage, but British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to condemn Clarkson. "It was a silly thing to say," Cameron said. While some people wondered if Cameron was being too soft on his buddy Jeremy, media commentator George Eaton put the debate to rest. "It was an unfunny joke that required no comment from anyone. If you don't like Clarkson's brand of humour (I don't ), switch over," Eaton wrote in his blog.

Switching over or learning to ignore jokes - good, bad or ugly - is something alien to India's political class and some compulsive agitators, who seem to be always on the lookout for jokes that "offend" us. Whether it's Clarkson's inane jibe at Indian toilets, Jay Leno's harmless humour about the Golden Temple, the Bhagavad Gita case in Siberia or Salman Rushdie's visit to a literary festival, the government has been quick to react. It has shot off letters of protest to foreign governments, discussed the issue in Parliament and floated stories about imaginary assassins so that some "sentiments are not hurt".

Why is the government being so prickly? Are we not becoming a joke ourselves by raising these issues? "The government has no business getting involved in such matters. These should be left to civil society. But the government gets involved because of a misplaced sense of commitment to the agitational tactics of certain groups or individuals," says Ranjit Gupta, a former diplomat. "The Jay Leno joke is not a foreign policy issue. It's not a bilateral issue between India and US. Why is the government raising it with the US state department? It doesn't make any sense."

Many serving diplomats also feel "embarrassed" by the government's stance on Clarkson, Leno and Rushdie, but they can't talk about it openly. "This government is showing a high level of intolerance. We are in danger of being dubbed another China," says an Indian ambassador posted in Europe. "We can't just keep talking about being the world's biggest democracy; we have to behave like one by showing our commitment to free speech."

It is not just freedom of expression that has come under attack in recent months, the idea of India as a liberal society has been shaken by those who are supposed to protect it. "Governance in India comes in the iron-clad armour of bureaucracy. Anyone in uniform considers it his or her right that we regard them as some sort of deity. I am not talking here of grand legislations or draconian laws but instead of an attitude of absurd arrogance," says Amitava Kumar, USbased academic and writer who, along with three other writers, had to leave Jaipur after they read passages from Rushdie's Satanic Verses.

At Jaipur, as a bunch of anti-Rushdie protesters issued threats, the government merely watched while the writers and organizers felt the heat. "The whole Rushdie affair was a government failure. There are more serious issues at home that demand its attention but it's busy raising nonissues with foreign governments," says Gupta, the former diplomat.

Why this touchiness? Is it the arrogance of an emerging power? Or has the GOI suddenly lost its sense of humour, if it had one to begin with? Whatever the reason, India is in danger of becoming a censorious society where jokes are not tolerated by the government even if people don't mind a good laugh. "Indians have a fantastic sense of humour. The problem is with the government which is too sensitive about issues it shouldn't be. We are not only the world's biggest democracy but also the world's biggest hypocrisy," says stand-up comedian Papa CJ. "If an Indian talk show guy shows the Vatican as the summer home of a politician, do you think the Vatican would react? No. They understand humour. Here, politicians get offended on behalf of others."

And when it comes to religion, the politicians have perfected the art of getting offended. "We live in a cynical system where the powerful are able to exploit the demand of the aggressive few, from whichever religion or group, to bargain for more power or cynical advantage," says Kumar.

This cynicism has few takers. In a survey conducted by this newspaper on the eve of the Republic Day, most young people said they saw dynastic politics and muscle and money power as the biggest threats to Indian democracy. No one saw Leno or Clarkson as a threat to the idea of India.

But if the government really wants to shut them up, it could start by providing toilets to the 650 million people who defecate in the open. Till then the joke is on us - the people of India.
The joke is on us - The Times of India

Are we, as Indians, losing our sense of humour?

Are we, as Indians, losing whatever little tolerance we had?

If so, why?

Is it because the political class has used the intolerance for their votes, wherein we have merely without realising been sensitised?

 

[Ray]

Freeze speech? In US, it's still free speech

The words are so hallowed and carry so much conviction and gravitas that they are consecrated in marble - one ton per word - in front of the Newseum on Washington DC's Pennsylvania Avenue. Simply known as the First Amendment, this paean to free speech is an article of faith for every American, some of whom have turned this sacred right into a profane excess. There are occasional challenges to limit this right, but few countries allow its citizens to push the envelope of free speech as much as the United States.

From the founding of the country to its principles and its president itself, nothing is sacrosanct in America, thanks to the First Amendment. The United States' ability to laugh at itself - and consequently at others - is unique, perhaps also spurred on by its status as sole superpower; and/or its lack of civilizational ethos. "America is one of the finest countries anyone ever stole," comedian Bobcat Goldthwaite once said about its origins. Another comedian joked that "illegal aliens have always been a problem in the US. Ask any Native American."

Even the president's office is not spared. Adlai Stevenson, described by some as the best president the US never had, once said, "In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take." This was improved on by George Bush Jr, who once told school students, "To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say well done. And to the C students, I say you, too, can be president of the US."

Even American foreign policy, often feared and despised across the world, gets no respect at home. America is a country that doesn't know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there, said Laurence Peter, co-writer of The Peter Principle. America is always on the move, observed poet E E Cummings; she may be going to hell, of course, but at least she isn't standing still. A famous historian compared it to a large dog that knocks over something every time it wags its tail.

This tradition of largely self-deprecatory humour - with an occasional stab at foreigners - has become a daily staple, with late-night TV shows that are half-a-century old (Jay Leno is the fourth NBC late-night host who's been on the job since 1957). But it is the arrival of cable TV and the internet, largely unregulated by the Federal Communications Commission, that has really pushed American media content over the edge. Late-night jokes are lame compared to the savage attacks that occur on cable shows where no religion or prophet is sacred.

Few TV gigs are as irreverent, profane, and sacrilegious as South Park, a cartoon show that revolves around the adventures of four boys in Middle America. Launching into contemporary issues (from the Iraq war to Facebook addiction) with a mix of toilet humour and incisive commentary, this show offends more people every night (during its running season) with relatively little blowback than any other media effort. From parodying Mel Gibson as a masochistic Daffy Duck infatuated with his own nipples to depicting Steve Jobs as a predatory schemer (while he was dying), no subject is taboo to this subversive show. Among its most offensive efforts: depiction of Virgin Mary as a woman of loose morals in a 2005 episode titled 'Bloody Mary'; deliberately using the word "shit" 162 times in an episode titled 'It Hits the Fan', and uncensored use of the racial slur "******" 43 times in an episode titled 'With Apologies to Jesse Jackson'.

In each case, there have been a few outraged protesters, but by and large, Americans understand and appreciate edgy, over-the-top humour, and ignore it where they can't.

Freeze speech? In US, it's still free speech - The Times of India

Is there a difference because of the cultural value difference between the US and us?

 

[Ray]

Why thin-skinned India gets prickly heat

Why does India - official India - suffer from recurrent bouts of prickly heat? Why is it more prickly than a porcupine given an electric shock? Why is India so ready to take offence at the slightest real or imaginary affront to its feeling of self-importance and throw a temper tantrum like a peevish brat?

Think of a child suddenly given the freedom of a home, to do in as he will. The child might well, as children tend to do, open a wardrobe and put on adult clothes, even though they are too big for him. Dressed in these over-large clothes, clomping along in shoes too big for his feet, the child goes out into the grown-up world, and tries to modulate his voice and vocabulary so as to sound like a grown-up. Will his disguise pass muster? Will grown-up people take him to be not a child, to be patronised or ordered about, but a grown-up just like them? Nervous and unsure of himself, the child suspects, rightly or wrongly, that people have seen through his disguise and are sniggering behind his back. The harder he tries to act like normal adults do, the more strained and strange his behaviour becomes, till it finally provokes - or he thinks it provokes - the mocking laughter that he has all along feared. And the child's response to that real or imagined scorn is to do what children invariably do when they feel that the adult world is not taking them seriously enough: they throw a tantrum.

India only too often behaves like that child trying to pass himself off as a grown-up dressed in borrowed clothes. India has been described as an ancient civilisation but a young nation. Over 60 years after Independence, it often acts not just as a young nation but as an infantile one.

Today, India has all the outward appearance which would qualify it to be a grown-up in a grownup world. Besides being the world's largest and most diverse democracy it can also claim to be the second fastest-growing economy on the planet. It has nuclear capability and space-age credibility. If anything, its increasing influence as a global soft power is even more impressive than its 'hardware' achievements, be it in terms of armaments or automobile production. From Bollywood to new-age gurus, from yoga to basmati rice, Brand India has earned itself international recognition. It's all dressed up and ready to sit at the high table with the rest of the global grown-ups.

And then, out of the blue, with little or no provocation, it spoils the entire effect by squalling like a schoolchild who feels he's been given an unfair spanking. The cause could be anything or nothing. An Indian dignitary travelling abroad is subjected to a routine security check on arrival because of a communication glitch. A television host talks about the lack of public loos in India. The writer of a book suggests that a hallowed Indian idol may have had feet made not of clay but of all too human flesh.

Instead of brushing them off as the non-events that they are, India reacts with the moral outrage of a juvenile who, instead of a promised ice-cream, has been given a slap across the face. How dare those infamous foreigners treat us so shabbily! How dare they not take us as seriously as we ought to be taken! Call their ambassador and give him a bollocking! Cut off diplomatic ties! Burn their national flag! What causes this transformation from grown-up India to a bawling brat? Could it be a fear that the world has seen through India's adult disguise - its economic success and its strategic clout - and is treating it like a slumdog ragamuffin, a raggedy waif which can't adequately feed or shelter the great majority of its population?

Like a child dressed up in grown-up clothes, India can't bear to be laughed at. At least, official India can't. Unofficial India, as represented by the greatest citizen it has ever produced, is a different matter. When asked how he had dared to present himself at Buckingham Palace in little more than a loincloth, the Mahatma famously replied with impish good humour that the worthy he was visiting there had more than enough clothes for the both of them.

Better than air-conditioned malls or limousines, the loincloth of laughter is the best antidote to India's thin-skinned prickly heat.

Why thin-skinned India gets prickly heat - The Times of India

This is what my classmate, who writes the Jugular Vein has to say!

 

[Ray]

'Indians do like jokes about themselves'

Among the most enduring images of India is one of a family off our rid-ing on a scooter. Ian Coppinger actually saw this ona Mumbai street, and couldnt believe it. I love this family, the comedian cried into the mike. Only the man of the family wears a crash helmet. It says alot about how much he loves his family! Currently performing at the Comedy Store in Lower Parel,the Irish man tells Sharmila Ganesan-Ram that Indians have a great ability to laugh at themselves. Excerpts:



What was it like performing in India for the first time?

I didn't know what to expect. I was worried if they would get the references in some of my jokes because of the cultural differences. So I decided to talk about my experiences in India - things like how there are loads of people on a bus. They are used to seeing these sights but I think I reminded them of it which they found funny. I usually play with the room and do a lot of impromptu stuff. Last night, for instance, there was a psychology student in the audience. So when a man kept giving strange answers to my questions, I suggested that he consult the former as a patient.

Have you ever had to censor or think twice before cracking a joke here?

I have not had to censor my jokes here. In the Middle East, I was told not to do any religion jokes and I can understand and respect that as I am a guest in that country. I don't do any jokes about religion anyway. The only reason I may have struck off some of my jokes here is the concern that the experience may be too local. For instance, in Ireland, you don't get a free plastic bag at the store. You are charged for it. However, here or even in the UK, I can't do a joke about that as people won't get it.

Can Indians laugh at themselves?

Absolutely. They have an amazing sense of humour and they like jokes about themselves. I've seen that they also like dirty jokes and certainly know when a joke is about to go down that road.

Do they heckle you at times?

Indians love to talk but they are too polite to heckle, which is good for us.

Can you share some of your India jokes?

The population of Ireland is four-anda-half million which is the average contents of a Mumbai bus. Also, I find it strange that in the monsoon, people walk around in water that's upto their knees but are still holding their umbrellas .

'Indians do like jokes about themselves' - The Times of India

 

[Ray]

Non-resident ire

Who's been complaining about Jeremy Clarkson's car with a commode ? Not the millions at home who might consider portable toilets a luxury. The Indians who are really angry are the kind that Karan Johar likes to insert national symbols in his movies for - the NRIs.

Clarkson and Jay Leno are only among a slew of instances that have roused desi outrage. Last year, journalist Joel Stein had to apologize for his piece in Time magazine on the Indian influx in New Jersey. Designer Manish Arora's decision to use Shiva images on leggings and harem pants attracted NRI ire too. So did the PlayStation 2 game 'Hanuman: Boy Warrior' , which offended Hindus in New Zealand, one of whom was quoted as saying, "It makes me angry when I see my friends play a game where they can control the god's every movement with a joystick."

What makes NRIs so touchy about issues concerning their homeland? "They are stuck in a time warp," says Lavrenti Lopes, an Indian actor-model in Hollywood. "When they moved to their new countries they found the value system alien. So they lived in isolation, holding on to the values they came with, values that no longer exist even in India."

A lot of NRIs are stuck in an India that does not exist anymore, agrees Vidur Kapur, an Indian-American stand-up comedian. Kapur, who moved to the US 12 years ago, says NRIs even have a tough time reacting to his India jokes. A reference to bride burning, where his grandmother says, "I'll find you Indian girl. What's the harm? If you don't like her, I'll set her on fire!" does very well in India, whereas a lot of NRIs get offended because they don't want to see the country criticized in any way or to acknowledge that such things still happen. "I think the fact that they live away from the homeland makes it more important for them to prove that they have an identity in the homeland," he says.

Also, the fact that most desis, including USbased author Arnab Ray, have had to face questions such as "Do you people really burn widows ?", "Do you guys sacrifice humans?" and "Do you have modern plumbing in India?" does not help. "While some of this stems from genuine ignorance, many times they are expressions of barely concealed cultural and racial superiority passed off as humour," says Ray.

As a result, they end up spending a lot of time correcting negative stereotypes about India created by foreign media. "Many such misconceptions also result in NRIs being mistreated by host communities. So the issue isn't just about being offended. There's a social issue: it widens the cultural gap between the host and immigrant communities," says V Gangan, managing editor of The Global Indian magazine.

This explains why immigrant children are especially sensitive about movies like Slumdog Millionaire, which Ray says are filled with formulaic bits of "exotica" and "so-happy-amidstthe-squalor images". "In school, some of these kids are subjected to merciless ribbing about their 'unclean origins'. Many end up developing a hatred for India and their parents."

The diaspora's furore over hate crimes and racial profiling is understandable, says Indian-American Ash Chandler. But the stand-up comic dismisses the hullabaloo over Clarkson's show as unnecessary. Chandler feels Indians should stop clinging to "national symbols that are no longer relevant" and spending time and money on lawyers. Instead, he recommends a cheaper solution. "Switch the TV off."


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ort/Non-resident-ire/articleshow/11670267.cms

 

[Ray]

What have you to say?

 

[Godless-Kafir]

Are we, as Indians, losing our sense of humour?

Are we, as Indians, losing whatever little tolerance we had?

If so, why?

Is it because the political class has used the intolerance for their votes, wherein we have merely without realising been sensitised?

For all the garbage thrown at us right from the Chinese to the Western media all picking on us as a soft target, we hardly react as needed. I often found response very lagging and we hardly have garnered our soft power to throw any real tantrum.

 

[Tomcat]

Ray sir as an NRI Ihave experinced many of the Jibes my self from pakistanis to english who still tell that India is a rope chamers paradise but the one thing that i fell ashamed is the Neo NRI's tendncy to bad mouth his or her motherland i have ran in to their kind many a times it is considered fashionable to critize india for even their onw personal downfall . we are the only people who downgrade our onw motherland when we are outside her borders and then wash it all of with a curt " we are only telling this as a construtive critisism" se we are very proud of our nation but some how people in india see us a spolit brats
thats the only thing sad that i see and as we say to hell with the rest

 

[Ray]

Thanks.

It is an eyeopener for me!

What class of people of Indian origin are they?

My folks who are Americans including American born, are quite proud of India and their Indian heritage.

 

[Tomcat]

mostly recently migrated professionals from india most highly learned and fomerly employed in PSU's like HPCL but as you said most of the second genration NRI's like me (i came here when i was 6 months old) are very proud of our roots and try to come back to our motherland a fact that can be seen from the fact that most of our Money is send to India as remmitences rather then sepending it here but still people back home treat us asif we are aliens

 

[Ray]

I presume recent arrivals have to prove that they are more loyal to the King than the Kings to themselves!

 

[Tomcat]

no it is that they some how feel inferior to stand up for their country

 

[illusion8]

By protesting against the taunts and jokes we are doing the right thing, This is really the moment to protest and show some spunk as the world is quite interested in us and are all ears. We are in a better position to being heard and acknowledged.

 

[Dovah]

Ray sir as an NRI Ihave experinced many of the Jibes my self from pakistanis to english who still tell that India is a rope chamers paradise but the one thing that i fell ashamed is the Neo NRI's tendncy to bad mouth his or her motherland i have ran in to their kind many a times it is considered fashionable to critize india for even their onw personal downfall . we are the only people who downgrade our onw motherland when we are outside her borders and then wash it all of with a curt " we are only telling this as a construtive critisism" se we are very proud of our nation but some how people in india see us a spolit brats
thats the only thing sad that i see and as we say to hell with the rest

You can find them on this forum too. They best be ignored.

 

[The Messiah]

Ray sir as an NRI Ihave experinced many of the Jibes my self from pakistanis to english who still tell that India is a rope chamers paradise but the one thing that i fell ashamed is the Neo NRI's tendncy to bad mouth his or her motherland i have ran in to their kind many a times it is considered fashionable to critize india for even their onw personal downfall . we are the only people who downgrade our onw motherland when we are outside her borders and then wash it all of with a curt " we are only telling this as a construtive critisism" se we are very proud of our nation but some how people in india see us a spolit brats
thats the only thing sad that i see and as we say to hell with the rest

I know what you mean...these kind exist in India also.

 

[Vyom]

Is it because the political class has used the intolerance for their votes, wherein we have merely without realising been sensitised?

This is bang the reason. Although I do see some Indians reacting needlessly as well, but even they would ignore these things if the political class and the media would let them.

 

[Nagraj]

Wow you are classmate of jug suraiya Awesome.

This is what my classmate, who writes the Jugular Vein has to say!

 

[Nagraj]

Any one remembers the time all of India had panties in bunch over sheila deep shi! sheila dixit remark by an Australian talk show host.
i thought the guy was merely trying to earn his bread. the whole thing caused an diplomatic incident which in my view was pretty stupid.

 

[radhikareddy]

who says we dont have a sense of humour ?

didnt we just send Oprah on her way home laughing at us ? ;oP

 

[drkrn]

german coast guard