Islamic State a target of Arab satire

Rico's friend Kelley forwards this article by Vivian Salama:

In the image above, made from an undated cartoon broadcast on state-run al-Iraqiya TV in Iraq, a cartoon character, shown with an Arabic word meaning member or supporter of the Islamic State group, and ISIS, the outdated acronym of the group, appears before a cartoon show. Television networks across the Middle East have begun airing cartoons and comedy programs using satire to criticize the group and its claim of representing Islam. And, while not directly confronting their battlefield gains, the shows challenge the legitimacy of the Islamic group and chips away at the fear some have that they are unstoppable:

The bumbling young militant first drops the rocket launcher on the toes of his boss before taking aim and firing toward a military checkpoint outside of an Iraqi town — not realizing he's fired it backward at his leader. The Looney Tunes-style cartoon targeting the Islamic State group comes after its militants have swept across large swaths of Syria and Iraq, declaring their own self-styled caliphate while conducting mass shootings of their prisoners. The group cheers its advances and beheadings in slickly produced Internet videos. 

"These people are not a true representation of Islam and so, by mocking them, it is a way to show that we are against them," said Nabil Assaf, one of the producers and writers of Lebanon's Ktir Salbe Show, which has challenged the group. "Of course it is a sensitive issue, but this is one way to reject extremism and make it so the people are not afraid."

Satire has long been a force in Arab culture, beginning first with its ancient poetry. Indirect criticism once cloaked in self-censorship exploded out into the open during Arab Spring revolts. Even in the midst of Syria's bloody civil war, the country's renowned black, satirical humor has continued.
The Islamic State group, born out the Syrian war, now finds itself challenged in a cultural war after its gains. The top Islamic authority in Egypt recently began an online campaign asking journalists not to call the group an Islamic State. Comedians have followed suit.
In one skit produced by the Ktir Salbe Show, a taxi driver picks up a jihadi who rejects listening to radio because it didn't exist in the earliest days of Islam, a knock on the Islamic State group's literal take on the Quran. The driver offers to turn on the air conditioning, but that too is rejected. The jihadi finally criticizes him for answering a mobile phone. Fed up, the driver asks: "Were there taxi cabs in the earliest days?" "No, a thousand times no!" the passenger answers. The driver responds by kicking out the jihadi and telling him to wait for a camel instead.
In Syria, comedic news programs also target the Islamic State group, with its presenters disguising themselves out of fears of retaliation. In Iraq, an animated program on state television depicted a slew of characters on the run from the Iraqi military, including young Islamic State militants and old Saddam Hussein-era officials.
"We are all against these terrorist organizations," said Alaa al-Majedi of the state-run al-Iraqiya channel. "Comedy is one way to raise awareness." But among those depicted in the cartoon is Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, an accusation that the Sunni kingdom supports the Sunni Islamic State militants, something Saudi officials have denied. Saudi Arabia does back the rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.
Even the dark videos of mass shootings conducted by the Islamic State group have become comedic fodder. Palestinian television channel al-Falastiniya aired a skit showing two militants shoot Muslim civilians for their lack of knowledge on the number of times to kneel during prayers, all the while reminiscing over the beautiful women and best party neighborhoods they'd visited in Beirut.
When a Jordanian Christian approaches, the two militants begin fighting each other over who gets to shoot him, each wanting the "blessing" for himself. Terrified, the man suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving the militants devastated.

Rico says ya gotta have a sense of humor about these wackos...