Shmuly Tennenhaus, the guy who came up with the Obamica and the McCippah, thinks he’s really funny. And to be fair, he’s mostly right. He also has a lot of free time on his hands. His newest project: A parody of the Rabbis for Obama Web site called…wait for it…Rabies for Obama.

And it’s actually funny. The best part is the testimonials section. Here’s one:

Do you think it’s easy being a virus? Do you think I wake up every
morning saying “Blessed are you Lord for making me a disease”? No
friggin way. My social life is horrible. Nobody wants to hang out with
me. They’re scared I’m going to infect them. LOL. I hate myself. Why
would I want to make more of me? Most normal folks wouldn’t want to be
cloned either. Except if you’re like Ryan Seacrest and madly in love
with yourself.

Obama is a dude. They guy rocks. We need him. I’m fed up with
paranoia. I hate traveling abroad and people despising me for my US
passport. Gimme a break. We’re in this together. When Obama talks,
truth walks.

Chimpanzee Rabies, Tyler

Apparently when President Bush wasn’t busy dealing with that whole economic crisis thing today, he was hanging out with Orthodox Jews. Press release and photo from the OU’s PR dept. below:

Earlier today, President Bush met with national leaders from the Orthodox Union in the Oval Office.  The President congratulated the OU on their 110th Anniversary, and wished the entire American Jewish community “L’shanah Tovah” and best wishes for a sweet and happy new year.
Please find a picture below from this morning’s visit.
Thank you,
The Office of Public Liaison

First off, doesn’t Bush’s facial expression convey just a slight degree of horror? But most importantly, that’s the oval office? The man doesn’t even have a number 2 pencil on his desk, much less anything that would suggest that governing takes place there.

Sarah Silver on why Barack Obama is awesome and how to get your grandparents to vote for him. It’s, ya know, typical Sarah Silverman—stupid and offensive and hilarious. Also, a brief discussion of the similarities between black people and the elderly. The video was made for a site called The Great Schlep which is also about how to dupe your elderly relatives into liking Obama. A good idea, I think. I don’t have any elderly relatives though, so I’m off the hook on this one.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

(hat tip: Slog)

The end of a trend is usually signaled by the elevation of the idea to ridiculous consequence, beyond the comfortable area for most people, such that even the “fringe” who is accustomed to recognizing value in unorthodox places (ha!) will not give it time; the “normal” range is not comfortable; and only a small minority finds it acceptable, after the majority has found value in it. It is kind of an interesting social wave: someone finds something interesting, they tell their friends about it, but “normal” people aren’t comfortable with it yet, until so many people have become comfortable around the thing or idea that it seems “locally” normal in their social circles, then a thing becomes mainstream and widespread, and the initial thing has to press forward into new boundaries to keep developing. The death of that social meme lies in that next step of evolution, specifically when it finally goes “too far” somehow, that only the least socially aware, or only those with a strong vested interest, still continue supporting it. (see also, elementary school goes and slap bracelets; American slavery; Hair Metal and Twisted Sister; Britney Spears; reality TV; and soon, Sarah Palin. [God, I fucking hope so.])

Now my beef with Cool Judaism is the level of privilege I feel it conveys. I don’t think there’s any time in the last, oh, hundred? or more? years where Jews have been elevated to a social status higher than those around them. I don’t have to lament about schlemazzles and scapegoats because if you’ve ever been to shul once, or even known a Jew, you probably already know about that aspect of our culture; it’s that ingrained.

So wouldn’t you think being cool because you’re a Jew, instead of in spite of it, be a wonderfully refreshing state of affairs, and even a privilege? Really, even one worth fighting for? I mean, really… Haven’t we deserved this for hundreds of years? So isn’t it a good idea to be careful of doing things to damage your reputation? Kind of like not inviting your well-meaning-yet-still-nose-picking-and-gross cousin to come to the Prom after-party you plan on being at. You can hang out with them on other time in a social situation that doesn’t put any pressures on you both that allow you to be yourselves and become your own person in your own time—and don’t shoot yourself in the foot by making your new friends wonder how long ago you stopped picking your nose.

So why do I specifically think we’re going too far? Well, I finally climbed on the Facebook bandwagon, and got an invite for an event: “Rosh Hashana,” at “synagogue.” Not only is this ridiculous, because I hate it when people put out non-events to publicize things like a TV show or a cause or religious/ social meme (that’s what GROUPS are for, people), but it has a ton of people posting crap about the holiday… and the posts were the disturbing part.

This is why I wonder. I guess technically one could ask if Taglit-birthright Israel has just gone too far… but is there enough kinetic “cool” with things like Matisyahu, Kabbalah, Jon Stewart, Heeb culture, and Jewish Rosaries to keep going after clips like these?

From those wise folks at Birthright Israel.