Insulting a religion using brazen cultural insinuations, insulting the memory of pandemic deaths under the guise of comedy. How far is too far, even for comedy?
This is the question being asked of a stand-up comedian called Daniel Fernandes, by enraged netizens. His pictures and profile information give him away as a converted Christian. Daniel Fernandes came under scathing attack recently for two Twitter posts, exposing his dark, highly prejudiced, anti-Hindu sentiments.
In one of the tweeted videos, Danny who calls himself a comedian, with a considerable following on social media, crosses all lines of decency when he makes repeated inappropriate comments directly insulting Hinduism and Hindus. In another tweeted video recording of a live comedy show, he crosses the line, yet again, by making shocking comments on which section of Covid victims should have received treatment at hospitals based on their political patronage and whether or not they had voted for Prime Minister Modi!
Comedy of the stand-up variety or another is fine as long as:
1) one doesn’t cross a fine, often invisible line of basic decency and decorum,
2) one takes care to make humorous comments without letting their deep, personal bias or destructive personal hatred for something/someone taint the quality of their comedic remarks.
It was based on a lack of both these criteria that netizens took offence to when Danny cracked his crude, unacceptable jokes displaying and peddling his personal biases under the guise of what he calls “comedy”.
He refers to “rice bags”, a colloquial term used in certain Indian states to refer to converted Christians, alluding to Christian missionary tactics of using financial and economic incentives and allurements to attract financially vulnerable Hindus to their religion. He starts the piece with, “they say they’re in danger and they were the only religion in India, a long time ago but I will not mention which religion it is…” clearly referring to Hindus and Hinduism in India.
Broaching the subject is fine and, “rice bag” isn’t a derogatory word but, Danny crosses the line when he deliberately chooses a cultural and gender-based analogy with male-female sexual overtones to refer to Christian conversions, in which he “hypothetically” talks of a Hindu couple, where the wife chooses to leave the husband over his supposed flaws, inadequacies, and his religion’s/culture’s customs… “Suppose your mom left your dad? Why did the wife/your mom leave? What could the husband not provide her with, why was she unfulfilled, her perception of equal rights and local, cultural traditions, She left for the tasty Biryani! …. etc”.
Comedy, jokes, and humour apart, Danny boy refuses to acknowledge the facts surrounding a vast majority of Christian conversions in India. Christian missionaries convert most Hindus based on:
1) lies and misinformation on the basic philosophy of the Hindu religion, its deities, customs, traditions, and rituals while deliberately covering up the flaws embedded in Christian philosophy, its beliefs and customs, its structure, and violent history, its ultimate goal of world domination and
2) Financial, educational, health, and employment-based incentives and allurements for the economically and emotionally vulnerable sections of society.
In another video of shocking and brazen display of personal hatred towards the BJP and Prime Minister Modi, Danny – the supposed comedian, remarks on the recent Covid-19 crisis and makes highly inappropriate comments on how he had personally not entertained requests for help from netizens who had voted for “Chai” (Mr.Modi and the BJP party). This purported “joke” gets darker and more shocking as he goes on to smugly tell his complacent audience (with peals of laughter) that if it were up to him, he would have advised all hospitals to extend help and care ONLY to those Indian citizens that had not voted for “Chai”. He goes on to gleefully explain that he would have advised all Health Care centres to first ask the already suffering patients whether they had voted for “Chai” or “Not Chai” (BJP or non-BJP), based on which they would receive further assistance only if they were anti-BJP/anti-Modi!
Imagine the insensitivity and audacity of a statement of this nature, insulting the millions of lives lost in the Covid pandemic while simultaneously spreading political hatred towards one party and its elected leader! Imagine if the duly elected Indian government led by the BJP during the critical Covid crisis had indeed done just that? What if they had offered medical help and life-saving treatments only to BJP supporters?
Would it be construed as a joke and laughed away by the nation the way Danny considers his joke to be? Would that be ethical? Wouldn’t it be considered cruel and unacceptable? Yet, a third-rate comedian suggests this solution as an alternative during the Covid crisis and his insensitive audience laughs at it instead of questioning his severe bias and lack of ethics! Make no mistake about it – this type of “comedy” would not be considered funny and humorous in any part of the world! It would be severely reprimanded and branded unacceptable.
Self-proclaimed comedians including converted Christians like Daniel Fernandes, should learn to appreciate the various freedoms they enjoy in a country like India and all the liberties they take for granted in this nation instead of shamelessly crossing all lines of decency by insulting Hinduism, the majority religion of this country, that has since ancient times, sheltered, protected and allowed free reign of all religions.
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