SKYBAYERS

A respondent on this blog calling himself Magoo, wrote in respect of my recent message for God,

“…by skybayers you really mean Christians – why don’t you have a go at Muslims?”

Magoo might equally have written “by skybayers you really mean Zulu lesbian line-dancers for all the logic in his deduction.

However, to clarify, although it shouldn’t be necessary, by skybayers I mean all supernaturalists.

Taking the micky out of religions has not only been a life-long pursuit and can be categorised as doing God’s work, but in my experience their diverse clergy and practitioners mostly rather enjoy it.

For example, I enjoyed reading aloud that brief blog to two of the people present in my office on Wednesday night in which the usual end of day drunken circus was occurring. One of those present, a just retired Rabbi who I’d earlier had an enjoyable lunch with, tried to argue by some convoluted “logic” that it revealed a spiritual side to me. Another, a clever Anglican vicar I’m doing something with, found it amusing.

As for Muslims, in my experience they’re no different.

A few years back I was having lunch overseas with a Muslim mate. We went to a Chinese restaurant and his wife Saira said this was a first for her and thus she had no idea what to order. Allow me, I generously offered and opened by ordering wonton soup for her. I took a sly look at her husband Mumtaz. He had a twinkle in his eye.

The next day he told me he’d shut up out of kindness for as he said, as long as she didn’t know what she was eating, she wasn’t sinning. But he added, he was green with envy.

Or back in Muhamad Ali’s heyday, when at his bouts I had a routine of dining with the American Black Muslim boss Herbert Mohammad. We were good friends despite me constantly winding him up, for example by always ordering pork dishes.

This friendship bewildered Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee who following the Black Muslim’s murder of Malcom X, lived in terror of copping the same fate should something go wrong. Well, I’d tease Herbert about that as well and he enjoyed it, although in fairness that was an action by his deceased father Elijah. Herbert wouldn’t hurt a fly.

But if he was say moaning about some issue I’d say things like, “another Allah cock-up then Herbert.”

I could cite numerous examples of taking the piss out of Muslims and can assure my critic Magoo, they’re no different from Christians, Jews, Buddhists and other supernaturalists and invariably enjoy it. The exceptions are, as with anything, the zealous extremists who waste the one life they’ll have with this total eclipsing of it with their supernatural nonsense beliefs.

So too with all mickey-taking, but there’s always pathetic wokists dullards who I read about as I’d certainly not mix with such types, who take exception.

For example, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday about a Welshman who’s suing his employer, a railway company for damages because his co-workers constantly teased him as a sheep shagger.

For God’s sake, this is an age-old fictitious charge the Poms tease the Welsh about. The same accusation used to be levelled at New Zealanders by Aussies and was accepted in the fun spirit it was tendered.

I say “used to” but haven’t heard it in recent years, perhaps because so many Kiwis now live in Australia there’s less sensitivity to them as different.

Joyless wokism is a modern scourge and the subject of one of my 4 comic novellas being published in a single volume and currently being printed.

Laughter is the best medicine but any history of humour would show the best jokes are invariably targeted at one another about out differences, be they age, occupation, social class, nationality, gender, race, religion or what have you. Long may it continue.