Tripping on Tropes: A Journey Toward Originality
There is a major criticism leveled at many ‘progressive,’ ‘liberal,’ or even simply artistically inclined Muslims that they are catering or even pandering to the West.
First off, I obviously take exception to this as a ‘Westerner,’ because all of my artistic endeavors are going to be geared more toward the culture I grew up with, which is a pretty awesome culture, so get over it. Speaking of which, I interrupt this post with a very important message…
Spam
The other exception I take to ‘accusations of Western cultural influence’ is the idea that the West is some sort of modern Sodom, with nothing to offer but sex and violence.
While I agree that sex and violence sell very well, and so are always found ubiquitously in a free and affluent society, the same is true of the arts in general. Granted, there are more violent video games (and Spam) sold in Canada than Afghanistan, but there are also more copies of Wii Fit (and Spam) sold here too.
It is not productive to either judge the society around you based on its freedoms nor condemn your neighbours for succumbing to their baser instincts, it is our goal to fight our own baser instincts and promote what is good and useful despite the ultimate freedom to do what is not. Is this not ultimately the point of our existence on Earth? The Angels are made to bow to Adam because of his freedom to chose what is right.
What I love about the sketch that interrupted us earlier, among other things, is its innocence. In fact, nearly all of Monte Python is fantastic, legendary humour that is perfectly morally acceptable. The above sketch is actually the origin of the term ‘spam’ being used to mean excessive, meaningless, or junk mail or advertising, and for being such an amazing, trend-setting art piece it does not have any sex or violence whatsoever. It relies on originality and character instead of tropes.
Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam!
—Vikings
The other take away that we can get from the sketch is easy to see when you realize that spam is made of ham, and so it is haram. Now watch the sketch again and say “HARAM!” every time someone says Spam, ham, sausage or bacon. It’s hilarious. Do it with headphones on in a crowded place.
Ok, so now you can see that the sketch can actually mean something. We can interpret parody and meaning into the silliness of the whole thing. In fact we have to do something to try to convince ourselves that we didn’t just totally waste so many minutes of our lives. But here we see the effect that haram policing has on ourselves and others, and we get a sudden clear picture of what it looks like from the outside. It’s nothing more than spamming.
Yes, you should always endeavour to improve yourself and those directly under your tutelage. Yes, you should protect your dependents from unneccessary exposure to impermissible, dangerous, or pointless things. But no, you should not farcically rant and rave about things that only demonstrate your own ignorance (unless you are in a Monte Python Sketch), and you should not invade England just to sit in coffee shops chanting about Spam.
