Middle Eastern and Comedy Tour

        For international education week I went to an event called Being Middle Eastern in the United States.  There were two main parts to this forum, the first was the showing of a portion of the Axis of Evil’s comedy DVD, the second part was and question and answer portion by Middle Eastern Chico State students. 

        The video was of four comedians Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader, Maz Jobrani, and Dan Obeidallah.  They named the Axis of Evil comedy tour after President George W. Bush naming Iraq, Iran, and North Korea the Axis of Evil.  Once I heard their name I though there isn’t a North Korean in the group, but they promptly made a joke about the lack of a North Korean in the group themselves. 

        To get their point across about how Middle Easterners are treated in the United States they use racism, misconceptions and stereotypes in their jokes.  I found this portion of the event to be highly entertaining and informative.  They may be cracking jokes but you can see the truth behind their words; about how differently Middle Easterners are treated in the United States. 

        The second part of the event was a question and answer period to Middle Eastern Chico state students.  They talked about how they feel like they get treated differently than other people. 

       For example they feel like at the airport they get much more attention from the security staff there just because of how they look (racial profiling).  They also talked about many more instances where what they looked like played a role in the “event”.  The second part was also very informative; the best way to learn about other cultures is to talk directly to someone from that culture.