Did any of the jokes try to take a stab at why such a great swath of the Middle East is so stunted economically, technically, and politically, and why their culture has been essentially locked in stasis for the past 1300 years, and why an honest assessment couldn't possibly lay all of that at the feet of the Western Imperialist Aggressors(tm).

Any zany insights on how certain neighborhoods in London and Paris are now unofficially policed by roving gangs of young men enforcing sharia law, with nothing but blandishments of 'understanding' and 'respect' from elected officials.

Must be pretty funny stuff!

@2 Yeah, I mean it's not like Western culture was in an absolute state of decay for most of the first 1300 years of Christianity, or like that same time period in Europe could be described as politically, technically, or economically stunted. We are so much better than them.

@2: That's right, I forgot about Christianity's unsullied, pacifist history.

I want to see this, but I'm not in Seattle.... is it on DVD or something?

@3&4:

The West has rightfully seen fit to examine and dismiss much of the worst aspects of religious orthodoxy, and the improvement to the human condition over the past 400 years is remarkable. Where's an equivalent islamic renaissance? There is none. Where are the Nobel prizes? Very few, for a population of 1.6 billion. Instead, honor killings are still commonplace and childrens education - if it's present at all - is devoted in many cases soley to memorization of a single holy book.
But they are good at becoming deeply offended when a bit of self-reflection would be the more warranted response -- I'll give them that.

The film deals with American Muslims. Thanks for playing.

@6: And that has what to do with these American Muslim comedians? Who among them has claimed that there is nothing problematic about Muslim religious orthodoxy? And you gotta be kidding me with the Nobel Prize bullshit. A bit of self-reflection might mitigate your consistent failure to acknowledge the diversity of people and culture within that population of 1.6 billion- a failure that mirrors the widespread Western myopia that provides the basis for a lot of comedy depicted in the film.

@racist troll, You get that your whole bullshit argument isn't valid because you are just some guy talkin out his butt. The "Middle East" is oddly, unfathomably, NOT as simple as your pithy generalization of 1300 years of a people and their history, shocking no? It's as if you want to just ignore all possibility of facts and instead have a very intellectual conversation about the merits of other people, as filtered through your feelings. You must be great at parties, lots of unsubstantiated conversation filler to drunk people you hope are just as stupid as yourself. God forbid you run into a real smart person, with their facts and easily confirmed counter points. Oh wait, just saw your follow up post, NICE! You wikipedia'ed yourself some population facts perhaps?

my Aunty Hailey recently got a very nice Toyota Camry by work using a lap-top... more helpful hints....... w­w­w.j­o­b­s­2­5.C­om

Criticism of a religion and the culture it fosters is racism now? Interesting. Does this apply to criticism of other idealogies? Is it now also 'racism' to call bullshit on my Republican father-in-law and the Fox News NASCAR 'God-done-it' culture?

Could it just possibly be that, in a culture that violently discourages social and scientific advances that can't be somehow shoe-horned into fitting a rigid Holy Book narrative, and where 'holy-book-only' is the favored education model, and where the bullshit detector is thoroughly dismantled in childhood, this might somehow provide a brake on improvement to the human condition and, you know, human rights and stuff? But enough about Republicans.

Or should we just pretend that the project of structuring a society around Bronze Age rumors of miracles, holding those claims above all else, and insulating them from criticism forever is on equal cultural footing with, say, the European Age of Reason? You could do that, and the religious fanatics should thank you for taking offense on their behalf.

@11 Bronze Age rumors of miracles? Like the Ten Commandments that the Red States are so attached to putting up in public?

Listen, if you want to make the claim that the Islamic world didn't have an equivalent of the Peace of Westphalia, fine. There's at least the meat of an intelligent argument there. But to paint the accomplishments of the various cultures that practice Islam with a single brush is weak thinking.

For example, consider the accomplishments of the Ottomans or in Islamic Spain. Easily the best places to live in the world at the times - they had things like medicine, science, better religious tolerance than most places do today.