Muslims around the world are known for their sense of humour

(Shouldn't that be "senses of humour"?)



If there's one thing you can say about Newfoundland outports, it is that they have a really diverse population. Hindus rub shoulders with Muslims. This exposed me to a very broad range of cultures when I was growing up.

KIDDING.

I grew up in a place where people argued bitterly over which brand of Christianity is best. This is sort of like arguing about whether ivory paint is better than white paint, but this appears to be working for them.

King's is a notoriously white university, but was at least more cosmopolitan than Bay Roberts. That's where I met Muslims for the first time. (What a geeky thing to say. It's true.)

My friend Tez referenced her religion from time to time, mostly when she was feeling terrible about herself. She would give us a list of "shalt nots" and explain how she had violated each one, often repeatedly, often within the same evening. She eventually dealt with the guilt by not going to chapel with me anymore. (Not mosque. Chapel.)

But it was Rehab who really defined herself by her religion. Actually, she was determined to establish herself as distinct from the rest of us in several ways. She was originally from Egypt, and although she had lived in Canada for years, she continually described herself as a stranger in a strange land. We all knew when it was Ramadan, because we heard A LOT about fasting. When she started doing Arabic-language reporting for Radio-Canada International, she asked me to critique her delivery and let her know if she was speaking too quickly. (I tried to explain that since I did not speak Arabic, I would not be able to do a critique. Silly me.) She would talk about how she did not understand certain things about Canadian culture. Most memorably, she once asked our class what a cow looked like.

This was well before Muslims became easy targets for weirdos. As a good Canadian, I would like to be able to say that I am a citizen of the world and totally understand other cultures and religions, but that's just not true.

The MotherCorp has a new show about Muslim life in a small Prairie town. It is so overhyped that it is next to impossible to live in Canada and not know about it, but this will probably be news to my American readers. Apparently this is the first-ever North American comedy about Muslims. Entertainment reporters are comparing it to Corner Gas, the #1 Canadian comedy, but this is sort of like comparing Sex and the City to CSI: New York just because they are both set in the same city. The new show is funny, but I feel like it's trying too hard. The pilot episode is also very CBC: it takes potshots at Toronto, its authority figures are reliably red-necked and it has a warm ending (the imam and the Anglican priest agree that they can work together for good instead of evil, awwwwwwww).