The Smearing of Robin Williams

Robin-WilliamsRecently, comedian Billy Crystal presented a tribute to the late Robin Williams at the 2014 Primetime Emmy Awards. During the tribute, Crystal said:

It is very hard to talk about him in the past because he was so present in all of our lives…..For almost 40 years he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy…. . He made us laugh. Hard. Every time you saw him – on television, movies, nightclubs, arenas, hospitals, homeless shelters for our troops overseas. And even in a dying girl’s living room for her last wish, he made us laugh. Big time.

After Crystal’s message, a montage of some of Williams’ performances was played. The tribute ignited a firestorm on social media due to the inclusion of a clip of a Williams sketch involving the hijab in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the clip, Williams borrows a scarf from an audience members, wears it covering his head mimicking a hijab and says, “I would like to welcome you to Iran. Help me!”

A frenzy of commenters on Twitter quickly criticized Williams’ performance and his joke as “racist,” according to the Independent and other outlets. “The person putting together the Robin Williams segment for the Emmys decided to use his racist material,” Hannah Story (@hannamstory) tweeted. Another person wrote, “I’m still so shocked that the #Emmys would include such a racist bit in Robin Williams tribute. Out of all his great work, really?” Another disgruntled commenter said, “I love Robin Williams but he really had some not okay racist jokes and they even put it in the tribute tonight.”

Leftists have quickly jumped to conclusions, unfairly viewing and labeling Williams’ criticism of Iran’s oppression of women as completely “racist.” To shed light more on this issue, several points need to be addressed.

Not only have I studied the Islamic Republic of Iran, its politics, and Islam for many years, but unlike the leftists who are quick to condemn and label Robin William’s hijab joke as racist, I have also lived in this repressive and authoritarian Islamist country that views women as instruments, slaves, and second-class citizens.

From my perspective, it is critical to point out that Williams’ stand-up performance did not have any links to racial or even to religious issues. His words were more aimed at the repressive government of the Islamic Republic, giving voice to women, exercising freedom of speech, as well as bringing a smile to the faces of many.

If you live in the Islamic Republic and if you are a girl, you will be forced to wear a veil when you reach nine years old. Among the millions of Iranian girls — who are coerced against their will to wear a hijab — was my younger sister. After she was forced to wear a scarf at school and in public, she began having nightmares, waking up frightened in the middle of the night at her young age because she was told at school that Allah (God) would hang girls from their hair for eternity if they showed even a strand of hair to a stranger, according to the Hadith.

If a woman dares to take off her veil in public, she will be arrested, jailed, and lashed. I personally have seen girls be humiliated, beaten, and dragged into the street to a police car by the morality religious police because they did not wear the veil according to the Iranian regime’s Islamic code. In my previous articles here and here, I illustrated the details of the repression of Iranian women by the Iranian regime and their dreams for freedoms. One of their simple but seemingly impossible dream is to have the freedom to wear what they like, and to have the option to choose whether they want to wear a hijab or not. Polls have repeatedly shown, and I have encountered many Iranian women, who would take off their scarf if allowed.

As I mentioned before this simple individual freedom might be taken for granted by women in the Western democratic world. And some might find it comical, ridiculous, or bizarre to have such a simple dream. But this is truly a dream for millions of Iranian women.

From a political perspective, the purpose of these repressive Islamic laws in Iran is evident. These laws are aimed at dehumanizing and subjugating women, treating them as second-class citizens by taking away their power over basic daily activities and even their bodies through this mechanism of control. In order to achieve this goal, the Iranian regime employs Islamic Sharia laws, Shiite codes, and sovereign power (i.e. hard power, police, judiciary system, etc).

The second topic to tackle is connected to freedom of speech.  The leftists, who portray themselves as advocates of freedom of expression, are displaying a significant contradiction in their statements by condemning a Robin Williams joke. Are the leftists prescribing that people should not be allowed to criticize or even make a satire about dictatorships, authoritarian and vicious regimes, which are torturing, suppressing, and killing thousands of their own people?

There is a double standard when it comes to political correctness, and the left is perpetuating that idea. The “politically correct” left is suggesting that criticisms of tyrannical, autocratic and undemocratic regimes by comedians and other individuals should not be allowed. This is a risky approach due to the fact that it undermines those who are attempting to give a voice to oppressed and subjugated citizens, including women who live under repressive laws. I believe any individual, including leftists, should refrain from stamping every statement as racist and quickly demonizing and condemning people.

As Robert Spencer articulately points out regarding the condemnation of Williams and the crucial impact that leftists and Islamists have had on our society and culture,

[A]ny reference, even a joke, to Sharia-related oppression or jihad violence is immediately denounced by the programmed and dutiful as “racist.” This is the same impulse that led the teenager who stumbled upon the Fort Dix jihad plot to hesitate about reporting it to police — he was afraid it might be “racist” to do so. The comfortable, self-righteous Leftists who are denouncing the Emmys today will be congratulating themselves on not being “racist” right up to the moment that the knife sawing through their throat brings an abrupt end to their conscious thoughts.

During his life, Robin Williams attempted to bring laughter to millions of people around the world. We should contemplate more whether it is genuinely fair to completely and quickly label him as a “racist,” for this stand-up comedy performance and joke did not have anything to do with race, but was aimed at giving a voice to women in Iran and comically criticizing the Iranian regime.

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  • wileyvet

    The actual stoning of women or hanging of homosexuals does not offend the oh so sensitive libs. The oppression of insane Islamic mullahs does not offend, only the zany, madcap joke of a talented comedian earns the lefts opprobrium. The bizarro world of the libs would be funny itself if not for the deadly consequences that result. I would like to be able to write this off as faux outrage. However, the leftist, PC mind is so corrupted that they are indeed actually outraged and offended by this.

  • tijdeling

    Thank you for this insightful article. People are so quick to judge and social media tend to make their reactions even quicker. Step back for a minute.Look to those who actually know and educate yourself. Think about it. I hope this article spreads widely and reaches those who cried racist at such speed. And even to those who judge mental ilness, suicide and so much more. This article raises a larger issue at hand. Judging is easy, until you are judged yourself. Once again, thank you very much for your informative words.

  • Barbara

    Muslims have NO sense of humor or fondness for diversity! You can post cartoons or articles insulting everyone else but riot if a cartoon is published you don’t like. What a bunch of racist pigs! Pigs…ha ha ha get it?

    • keyesforpres

      Oh no! The mere sight of the word “pig” will offend Mo-HAM-MAD…! Oh well, offend away! :-)

  • Barbara

    Want to see a racist? Look in the mirror.

  • Sintram

    So one is a racist if one objects to stoning of women?

    In that case I am a racist.

    (And i wear that as a label of honor.)

  • Sintram

    Thanks Majid Rafizadeh!

  • Rabbi Burns

    I am also racist against islamic intolerance.

    • HonkyTonkin

      Allah is not the Judeo-Christian God so you are promoting worshipping a false god.

  • Rabbi Burns

    I like your style.

  • glpage

    Islam is a religion, not an ethnic group. Making fun of a religion is not racism. Given the tenor of your comment I have to believe you don’t have the critical ability to understand this.

    • 1Indioviejo1

      ISLAM is not a religion. It is a totalitarian ideology masquerading as a Satanic Cult. Some people believe differently, but they also elected Obama twice. Need I say more?

  • wileyvet

    How many people died as a result of Robin Williams’ joke? How many people did Robin Williams urge to be stoned and or hung in the name of comedy? How many human rights are violated in the name of laughs and giggles. NONE! But let’s see. Islam and Muslims hate and have oppressed: Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Zoarastrians any and all animists and anyone else who rejects or opposes Islam. The Koran derogates all unbelievers as filth, and sets Muslims up as superior to all others. Islam has pitted itself against the entire group of “others” since its inception, and 14 centuries of inculcation in the bigotry and hatred that Islam spawns, makes for the unabashed intolerance of the Muslim world today.

  • wileyvet

    Go bow to your pedophile prophet Muhammadan.

  • Infidel4Ever

    An outstanding article. But given that leftist fools always slavishly follow the “narrative”, don’t expect the clear, concise truths Majid Rafizadeh speaks to have an impact among the clinically brain dead left.

  • JB Ziggy Zoggy

    Muhammad was an incestuous pedophile. Are you?

  • keyesforpres

    It is amazing how many people can’t think for themselves these days.
    They just shout out what they’ve been told.
    What race is “Islam” and “muslim” again?

    • HonkyTonkin

      Half breed Egyptian/Hebrew stepchildren who can’t handle the truth.

  • keyesforpres

    Hey…speaking of racist…MoHAM-MAD sure was one wasn’t he?

  • Barbara

    Robin Williams brought laughter and joy to the world. The only thing Muhammad brought has been terror.

  • Pericles

    “In the clip, Williams borrows a scarf from an audience members, wears it
    covering his head mimicking a hijab and says, “I would like to welcome
    you to Iran. Help me!”

    Expressing precisely the plea that Iranian women had at the time. Nothing racist whatever in his skit. The liberal, progressive reaction, as usual, was absurd, irrelevant, stupid and hypocritical.

  • Pericles

    After she was forced to wear a scarf at school and in public, she
    began having nightmares, waking up frightened in the middle of the night
    at her young age because she was told at school that Allah (God) would
    hang girls from their hair for eternity if they showed even a strand of
    hair to a stranger, according to the Hadith.”

    Do you Liberals and Progressives get this? Or do you perceive this as a racist comment? You people are really sick! I’ve said this for 40 years but your illness is so dramatic and pathetic that it’s sometimes difficult to grasp or acknowledge.

  • Pericles

    “One of their simple but seemingly impossible dream is to have the
    freedom to wear what they like, and to have the option to choose whether
    they want to wear a hijab or not. Polls have repeatedly shown, and I
    have encountered many Iranian women, who would take off their scarf if
    allowed.”

    We only have one life to live. Why do we have to live it in repression and oppression by the dictates of fanatical and morbid autocrats? What is the point of living if everything you say, think and do is judged and condemned by religious fanatics and despots?

  • Pericles

    It’s not ISIS that is “JV”. It’s Obama. It’s not Robin Williams who is racist and uncaring. It is the Progressive Left. This is self-evident, needing no elaborate justification, except to a Leftist. The only threat bigger than ISIS to our survival and prosperity is the American Left.

  • HansDekkers

    Are muslims a race? And why can muslims behead Americans without being called racists? Please educate yourself, then come back and join the discussion.

  • 1Indioviejo1

    I am a brown man who hates ISLAM and despise Muslims for believing such and evil satanic cult.

  • HonkyTonkin

    Arab isn’t a race, it’s a half Egyptian/Hebrew hybrid from Hagar the slave girl and Abraham. Get over yourselves.

  • HonkyTonkin

    That’s hurtful talk. What about the Asian and black Christians? it’s discrimination to leave them out. You must be racist.

  • Douglas Mayfield

    Thank you for the article. The Left despises freedom and individual wherever they find them and so embraces malevolent authoritarian regimes. That’s why fem-lib types harshly criticize the treatment of women in America while remaining strangely silent about the utter debasement and degradation of women under regimes in Islamic states.