Tomorrow's Pioneers

February 14, 2008 11:58 AM

The main character of Hamas' show Tomorrow's Pioneers has evolved once again. Assud, the Jew eating rabbit replaced Nahoul the bee - a martyr who died waiting for medical treatment. The original character on the show was a Mickey Mouse lookalike named Farfour. His death was also blamed on the Israelis.
posted by gman (25 comments total)

/me hums "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" while reading the Wikipedia article....
posted by pax digita at 12:05 PM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Fuck, I wish the Jews would annex Disneyland and pop some caps in OUR anthropomorphic cartooneries. The sooner that asshole Donald Duck gets a bullet in the face from the chosen people the better, as far as I'm concerned.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 12:18 PM on February 14, 2008

Man Hamas, loves them some heart wipes.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 12:19 PM on February 14, 2008

Please end the writers strike. Oh, wait.

At least he's a happy looking bunny. I was expecting something more like Frank.
posted by Pastabagel at 12:30 PM on February 14, 2008

Jesus. And I thought it was rough when Mr. Hooper died.
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:34 PM on February 14, 2008 [2 favorites]

Silly Rabbit!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:38 PM on February 14, 2008

Heaven's for martyrs!
posted by InfidelZombie at 12:39 PM on February 14, 2008

Poisoning the minds of the young, their future; what a sad and sinister betrayal.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:46 PM on February 14, 2008

A little digging seems to suggest that Memri's translation has been criticized some, including The Guardian (UK), as being a bit biased. Having talked to people I know who speak Arabic they also say video doesn't espouse the hate the provided subtitles suggest. It's still depressing though, and talking about the dead and sacrificing animals is just a bit freaky when you consider it's coming from a man in a bee costume set against a brightly colorful backdrop.
posted by Vaska at 1:02 PM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Hey, remember back in World War II, when the Japanese kept bragging about how every man, woman, and child was a soldier? What ever came of that?
posted by Sys Rq at 1:06 PM on February 14, 2008

Vaska: Do you have links to any alternative translations?
posted by PenDevil at 1:08 PM on February 14, 2008

PenDevil: I'm afraid I don't have a link to a full translation (Someone really should do one). Here is, perhaps, an informative post about the translation issues from The Guardian, by Brian Whitaker.
posted by Vaska at 1:18 PM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

wow, MEMRI may have mistranslated, really? in an inflammatory manner? i is shocked.
posted by mikoroshi at 1:20 PM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ooh, that Guardian piece, by contrast, doesn't appear biased AT ALL.

I think that guy used up Britain's entire yearly supply of scare quotes or something.
posted by Krrrlson at 1:46 PM on February 14, 2008

Tomorrow's Pioneers: You Can't Spell "Furry" Without Fury!
posted by maryh at 3:26 PM on February 14, 2008

Assud, the Jew eating rabbit replaced Nahoul the bee
No es bueno!
posted by dirigibleman at 3:47 PM on February 14, 2008 [2 favorites]

The main character of Hamas' show Tomorrow's Pioneers has evolved once again. Assud, the Jew eating rabbit replaced ...

The writers of this show have demonstrated a phenomenal lack of sensitivity and cultural awareness. Rabbit isn't even kosher! And when was the last time you met a Jew named Assud?

If they can't make the slightest effort to make their characters believable, it will be hard to take the show seriously.
posted by jewishbuddha at 3:54 PM on February 14, 2008

In fairness to Assud, Jew is delicious.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:21 PM on February 14, 2008

yeah but if he's Reform he may not be Kosher.
posted by matteo at 5:41 PM on February 14, 2008

But is eating Jew halal?
posted by claudius at 6:42 PM on February 14, 2008

But Rabbi, I don't swallow!
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 6:43 PM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]

Poisoning the minds of the young, their future; what a sad and sinister betrayal.

i would like to think that they see the utter lack of funny, the poor production values, the absurd concept of a man and woman having a bee and a rabbit as offspring (just what kind of sex are they having, anyway?), and the lame writing and acting and decide that the best thing to do with it is to make fun of it

"a bee and a rabbit? oh, i would like a normal child from you, insh'allah"

"be grateful woman we have not had a camel or an elephant"

"and then our child claims to be an eater of jews - no halal butcher i know offers any to eat and he complains about the falafel we give him"

"well, if he ever did eat a whole jew he really would falafel"
posted by pyramid termite at 9:12 PM on February 14, 2008

Children's entertainment as propaganda? Wow, that's a first! How shocking, I am sure that never happens all over the media in all countries and especially Hollywood.

It sounds like the MEMRI translations are willfully incorrect.
posted by asok at 5:24 AM on February 15, 2008

But is eating Jew halal?

Depends on how their killed really. Also are we talking muscle meat or brains here? But really when you're an animal that's haram anyway, what does it matter anyway?
posted by Pollomacho at 5:33 AM on February 15, 2008

So, what is wrong with the clip? Well, it is a very crude post-production cut and paste job, a video-montage constructed out of clips taken from clips from three episodes of a children's show on Palestinian TV. Whole sections are edited together with other segments to give the blackest possible picture.

snip

Now, one might - and I do - object to the politicisation of very young children. Even uncut it is clear that this was the ambition of the original show. I find that very disturbing of itself.However, it is also clear that the content is hardly as controversial as some would want.

Nowhere are violence, hate or terrorism extolled in any especially overt or clear-cut way. The claims otherwise are clearly unsubstantiated - even the subtitled translation cannot be shown to show that such occur in the video as presented to YouTube by GIYUS. One might not like Palestinians pointing out that they don't like being occupied by Israel; one might contest their right to claim East Jerusalem as their capital - one even might not like their support for the Iraqi people's resistance to occupation... but such are not calls for suicide bombers, terror or even jihad. They are statements made by others, every day, on exactly these issues.

Hm
posted by asok at 5:43 AM on February 15, 2008