Saudi Arabia Hopes Comedy Festival Distracts From Beheadings
NPR details Saudi Arabia's attempts to 'reshape its global cultural image' with a comedy festival, noting 'controversies' regarding its human rights record. They frame this as a 'tension' between 'Vision 2030 ambitions' and how the kingdom 'is perceived abroad.' (Perceived, indeed.) What NPR's whitewash omits is that Saudi Arabia executed 196 people in 2022, 81 of them in a single day, many for
drug offenses or protesting the regime. These aren't 'controversies' but systemic human rights abuses that define the regime far more than any stand-up comic. The media-industrial complex loves a good 'modernization' narrative, especially when it involves oil money and shiny new projects. Yet, how many laughs can you really get when the state routinely silences dissent with axes and prisons?
Perhaps the 'controversy' isn't about a comedian's poor taste, but rather a nation's preference for 'public order' executions over actual justice. The punchline, it seems, is on anyone who believes a few concerts can erase mountains of state-sponsored brutality.