Rants and Ramblings: random commentary about culture, media, politics, technology and whatnot.

mideast mad libs

I meant to post this last week but didn’t get around to it: In its July 17 broadcast, The Daily Show offered a take on Middle East reporting that was sort of funny, in a tragic kind of way…

Samantha Bee: Thank you, Jon. Israeli planes continue to rain destruction from the skies as tensions in the region mount over a hostage crisis. In fact, many observers say this is the worst the situation has ever been, with a complete breakdown in diplomacy. Secretary Kissinger maintains that without proper atten—

Jon Stewart: I’m sorry, Sam. Did you say Secretary Kissinger?

Bee: Oh, I’m sorry. That should read “Secretary Rice.” And, let me see here … “Failed Camp David peace agreement” — that should read “failed 2000 peace agreement” … and, of course, “Up with People cancelling their Mideast tour” — that should be … that should be “Maroon 5.”

Stewart: Sam, what are you reading from?

Bee: Oh, this? It’s the official Middle East reporting template. It provides the basic story of cyclical violence. All you have to do is fill in the specific country, weapon and number of hostages and boom — there’s your story. It’s a lot of fun. Around here, they call it “MidLibs.”

Man, this is depressing.

On a related note, Slate recently published a cool “cheat sheet” of who hates whom in the Middle East, which makes for a nice introductory reference.