In an unsurprising display of ignorance, Jon Stewart felt it necessary to interrupt his guest, Egyptian Revolutionary Socialist Gigi Ibrahim, to crack a lame joke comparing the human rights abuses occurring under military rule in Egypt today to the American government’s restriction of “civil rights under the guise of fighting terrorism.”
Stewart’s claim that “we’re not so different after all, you and I” came after Ibrahim explained how the Egyptian government instated an anti-protest law that led to the imprisonment of 41,000 political prisoners. Ibrahim describes how these prisons abuse, rape and torture their occupants, while the arrests and prison conditions are kept out of the media through government censorship. [See video below. Click here for MP3 audio]
The idea that there is something comparable happening in the US is completely absurd. The only people the liberal media vilify are conservatives, and doing so is by choice. They are not censored by the government, and no so called “civil rights restrictions” that occurred under Bush or Obama can compare to the oppression of thousands.
If Jon Stewart wants to make his depiction of America as greedy and abusive convincing, he could start by curbing the ridiculous rhetoric.
Read the relevant transcript below:
June 4, 2014
Comedy Central
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
11:46 p.m. Eastern
48 seconds
JON STEWART: Is the media in Egypt are they, are they allowed to bring this up in any way? Are they allowed to talk about Mahienour?
GIGI IBRAHIM: Nope, nope. How would they talk about Mahienour and the thousands of people like Mahienour in prison who joined the revolution, who took part, or who have just been randomly arrested, they talk about them as fifth columnist to the Muslim Brotherhood. That they are terrorists, that they want to bring the state down. They vilify them in the media or don't discuss them at all and absolutely say that the first and foremost thing that we have to do now is fight terrorism. And these are the terrorists. Human rights---
JON: Oh, can you imagine a country that would restrict civil rights under the guise of fighting terrorism. That...We're not so different after all, you and I.
