Monday, October 28, 2013

The Bassem Youssef Show for the new season

So I watched the new season's inaugural show by Bassem Youssef.  The reviews in the Western media were quite off, in my opinion.  The reaction of the fascist regime of Egypt, which tolerates no criticisms or sarcasm, should not be the criterion.  I first was most impressed with the tremendous evolution and progress of the brilliant performance by Youssef.  He is now quite comparable to Jon Stewart, and can merely by using his facial expressions make a point.  Yet, the content of the show fell well below the expectation for the fair treatment of all political parties and trends in Egypt.  The show mostly fell into the obvious, mocking Moris--yet again--for much of the show while clearly and categorically steering away from any mockery of Sisi.  The show--unlike what you read in Western media--mocked some fanatic supporters of Sisi but not Sisi himself, or even the Egyptian Army.  There was an in passing reference to police brutality, but not Army brutality.  This only proves the point that the freest political era in the history of Egypt was in the brief tenure of Morsi.  It is a fact and even those of us who detest the Brotherhood should concede.  Mr. Youssef talked about "attempts" by the Morsi regime to muzzle the media, while the Sisi regime does not attempt: it muzzles.  If I were Mr. Youssef, I would suspend my program until I regain my freedom, or I would express myself freely until the show is closed down by order of Sisi. It is better than those many references of respect of Sisi that Mr. Youssef had to make.