A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Saturday, March 5, 2011

On a Lighter Note

With so much revolution happening, there hasn't been much room for humor lately. Oh, there's Qadhafi, but the more of his people he kills, the less amusing he is. So I thought I'd note a fine bit of parody.

Last week, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, known for drawing broad metaphors (the Lexus and the Olive Tree; the world is flat, etc.), wrote a piece in which he pontificated on the revolutions in the Middle East and drew some rather broad conclusions about the reasons (Barack Obama, Google Earth, the Beijing Olympics among them). You need to read the column first, to understand what follows. A lot of bloggers who wish they made as much money as Friedman does (I wish I did too) have skewered the Friedman column, but the funniest treatment I've seen is by Cairo-based Sarah Carr. (Strong language warning.)

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