There is a lot of hypocrisy about the Bassem Youssef show. The amount of double standards highlighted by the show is worrying. The thing is that the hypocrisy is not coming from within the show, but from outside it.
I must confess I was worried about Bassem Youssef. I was afraid he would sell out and act against values he had previously claimed to hold. Why shouldn't I have expected that? Most others did the same. The nationalist tendencies have lead many figures calling for democratic values and change to relinquish such values in favor of a flavor of nationalistic fascism.
Bassem Youssef proved me wrong and pushed the envelope of criticism as much as the street should be able to handle without going over the top with needless criticisms. It was only when I started to breathe hope again that I realized I was holding my breath.
What is truly shocking are his fans. They were happy when he criticized their opponents but were not happy when he criticized them. They cannot see themselves as being just as bad as those they claim to oppose. If you ask what they found offensive, they will point out exactly what their Islamist counterparts have been pointing out. Bassem Youssef's show had too many sexual innuendos... He criticized a respectable figure like the Minister of Defense (he didn't) .. He mocked national sentiments.. etc..
The list goes on and on but without any valid criticism related to what he actually said. All he said was that he was against any fascism, Islamist or not. Why did they get upset? Is it because they know they're fascists?
It's not just hypocrisy we're witnessing, it's a sense of fascism. That it's okay to put Bassem Youssef behind bars now because he upset the wrong people and yet criticize Morsi for trying to do the same. In a way Bassem Youssef has done what no one else has managed to do, brought together the pro Sisi and pro Morsi fanatics in hating him.
In a way, we find ourselves with Bassem fighting the same old forces we were fighting from the start. The old interest networks of the feloul and army along with their Islamist allies. Even though they're not allies anymore we still have to take both of them on again.
Every day that passes, Bassem exposes hypocrites and fascists. I'm not deifying Bassem, I'm not saying that everything he does is correct and that he's on to the truth, I'm saying that his critics expose themselves through what they choose to criticize. His show is like a mirror that some of the ugliness cannot bear to look into.
1 comment:
Bassam Youssef is a Hypocrite just like many Egyptians are. Hypocrisy is very much part of Egyptian society in general.
Furthermore, Bassam Youssef is trying to implement a Western show with Western values in a part of the world that has different type of values. Egypt is an Arabic Muslims country, where it is not considered polite or normal (culturally, traditionally or religiously) to mock people, whether it is mocking someones mother, relative, friends or let alone a leader or president of a people.
In my opinion Bassam Youssef is a loser who has started in show business just for the sake of his own pleasure and fame and to show his opinions to a wider audience, without a certain purpose or cause.
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