# What makes "Achmed the dead terrorist" so problematic in Malaysia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2014, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840 "2014-11-17T05:04:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/21 "2014-11-18T06:26:34Z")
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the ban, it absolutely doesn’t depend on whether the comedy is funny or not. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/22 "2014-11-18T06:27:41Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have watched it several times. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to live in a world where making fun of terrorists is deemed socially unacceptable. The problem in Malaysia, I think, is not that he is perceived to be making fun of terrorists; it’s that he’s perceived to be reinforcing prejudical stereotypes of Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/23 "2014-11-18T09:03:31Z")
> [@Ramira](#): > > Why do you say this?The Jews in the Maghreb who continue to use Arabic certainly do use Allah, as of course the ordinary word for god, although it is unusual to say arab jew (but chilh is more common among those who stayed), it is more common to make the national identification. This is not universally true, your statement, although of course it makes sense in israeli context, but it is not the only context. Then allow me to correct myself - never call an \*Israeli \*Jew of Mizrahi heritage an Arab, not if you know what’s good for you. I admit that I know little of Mizrahi Jews outside of Israel, but in my defense, this is where most of them now live. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/24 "2014-11-18T12:33:33Z")
I did not see the special. I did hear an interview in which Dunham talked about the special and the tour. He mentioned that Malaysia was the one country that had the most restrictive policies. Achmed was banned. Along with any reference to sex (including the word virgin), any mention of politics and anything making fun of the people or government of Malaysia. His characters were already known and popular due to Youtube. The audience went there hoping to see all of them including Achmed. Instead Dunham put a beret on the puppet and called him Jacques the Dead French Terrorist and did all of the same jokes. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/25 "2014-11-18T13:39:05Z")
Brilliant. Now I suppose Dunham will be banned in France. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/26 "2014-11-18T13:45:47Z")
Does Jacques the Dead French Terrorist speak with an atrocious French Accent? “See-launce! I weel keel you!” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/27 "2014-11-18T13:55:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Does Jacques the Dead French Terrorist speak with an atrocious French Accent? > > “See-launce! I weel keel you!” As a matter of fact, yes he does. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/28 "2014-11-18T14:52:41Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As a matter of fact, yes he does. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/29 "2014-11-18T15:02:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > As a matter of fact, yes he does. Goody. I would hate for Jeff to be inconsistent. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2014, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840/30 "2014-11-18T15:13:34Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > [Huh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah), [that’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Jews) [funny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizrahi_Jews). :rolleyes: To be fair to **Alessan** , your middle link has this to say about the term: > [@wikipedia](#): > > Tunisia-born historian Paul Sebag has stated that “these terms were never used in Tunisia, and they do not do not correspond/coincident to the religious and socio-historical context/reality of the Jews in Tunisia/the Arab world.”[citation needed] Nowadays, one distinguishes between a Moslem Arab and a Christian Arab, and I think this caused some to invent, to facilitate matters, the terms: Arab Jew or Jewish Arab = Juif Arab or Arabe juif. The historical fact is, that the Arab component of the North African society was introduced during the conquest of the seventh century, after the establishment of North African Jewish communities.[original research?] > > In 1975, Albert Memmi wrote: “The term “Arab Jews” is obviously not a good one. I have adopted it for convenience. I simply wish to underline that as natives of those countries called Arab and indigenous to those lands well before the arrival of the Arabs, we shared with them, to a great extent, languages, traditions and cultures … We would have liked to be Arab Jews. If we abandoned the idea, it is because over the centuries the Moslem Arabs systematically prevented its realization by their contempt and cruelty. It is now too late for us to become Arab Jews.”[11] and > [@wikipedia](#): > > Proponents of the argument against “Arab Jews”, including most Jews from Arab lands,[citation needed] do not seek to deny the strong Arabic cultural influence on Jews in those countries. In North Africa, some Jews spoke Judeo-Arabic languages while others spoke French; and in some areas there are still Jews who dress quite like Arabs. Their argument is that “Arabness” referred to more than just a common shared culture. One could therefore legitimately speak of “Arabized” Jews, or “Jews of Arab countries”, just as one can speak of “English Jews” or “British Jews” or “Polish Jews”, whereas many Jews would object to terms such as “Saxon Jews”, “Celtic Jews”, or “Slavic Jews” as the latter refer to ethnic groups and therefore, implicitly, deny the existence of a distinct Jewish ethnic identity. I no nothing of the subject, but it seems like it might be polite, should one encounter someone both Jewish and living culturally in the Arab world, what they prefer to be called, since there may be objections of some sort. Obviously, since it’s wikipedia, take this with the appropriate grain of salt. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-achmed-the-dead-terrorist-so-problematic-in-malaysia/704840.md?page=1)