Magicians vs. Circumcision

Who could take a nausea-inducing topic like circumcision and make it funny… while still providing some much-needed enlightenment on the subject? Nobody other than veteran comedians Penn & Teller.

My favorite comedy is that which does some good in the world, like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. Being able to attack wrongdoing with humor and irreverence is guaranteed to get more people paying attention to the issues and hopefully bring about some change, especially with unpleasant topics like this.

In the U.S.A., most males are circumcised. Penn & Teller — who incidentally happen to be the only magicians I can stand — dedicated a half-hour segment from their show, “Bullshit”, to  ridicule the practice.

I’ve never laughed and dry-heaved so hard at the same time. Look for cameos by Ron Jeremy and Dr. Paul Fleiss — Heidi Fleiss’s father(!) and a respected pediatrician at U.C.L.A. medical center. Enjoy! … well, maybe that’s not the best word to use, but you know what I mean.

I do NOT recommend watching this while eating. And I’ll never look at makeup or Cornflakes the same way again.

The third part is flagged as “inappropriate” and YouTube makes you sign in with your age. I thought it was because it would show even more graphic footage of circumcisions.

Turns out it’s just because some old coot pulls his pants down to demonstrate some foreskin-restoring device on his own penis, for the camera. On top of it all, they’ve blurred it all out so you can’t even see what he’s trying to show you.

Now that’s funny when you think about it. Let’s go over it again:

Showing a grown man’s intact penis in a non-sexual context is “inappropriate.” But showing a bloody, mutilated penis on a poor, screaming, tortured baby, is appropriate.

In a nutshell (no pun intended): it’s the normal, healthy genitals that are obscene. Find a way to mutiliate them — especially if they belong to a tiny, helpless person with no say in the matter –  and everything will be TV-safe and A-OK.

Ahh, America. You people crazy!