Most of my writing these days focuses on Islamist groups in Southern California and the country at large, however sometimes it intersects with popular culture, as it does with my newest piece, published yesterday at PJ Media, Golden Globe-Winner Ramy Youssef’s Muslim Family Sitcom More Tragedy than Comedy:

For many viewers of this year’s Golden Globes, it appears that the extraordinary opening monologue from host Ricky Gervais was the high point of the evening. In no uncertain terms, he called out Hollywood stars directly to their faces for their self-righteousness political ramblings and overall moral confusion.

For a much smaller subset of viewers, the show possessed another moment to celebrate, however: Muslim comedian Ramy Youssef’s victory for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy.

As reported in the previous article on Youssef’s HBO stand-up special, the problem with Yousef  is not provocative jokes – plenty of great comedians know how to push an audience’s buttons – but rather that it is impossible not to come away with the feeling that Yousef isn’t really joking so much as laundering ideas through his humor, including his earnest advocacy of cousin marriage. This win will give Youssef a greater platform to promote his pseudo-comedic whitewashing of serious problems within fundamentalist Islam and the dysfunctions of Middle Eastern Arab culture.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR YOUSSEF’S SHOW INCOMING.

Ramy currently features 10 episodes on Hulu, each exploring the lives of twentysomething Ramy, his sister Dena, and his foreign-born parents Maysa and Farouk. The first episode sets the theme of Ramy’s internal conflict between the dictates of his religion and his sexual desires, which manifests throughout the show in sad and strange ways.

Click here to read the rest.

And click here to see the other Counter-Islamist articles in my archive.

****

Image via Hulu screenshot