As an Indian and a Hindu growing up in America, i have dealt with every sort of bigoted assault against my heritage. My family came here long before there was a larger Indian presence in the US. Growing up, my siblings and I were frequently taunted for our race and our religion.

We faced that bigotry, and stared it right down.

With those experiences in mind, i just CANNOT see how anyone could claim to get “pissed off” over the skit by Stewart and Mandvi.

Seriously, it was a joke… get over it.

The author of this blog calls him/herself “Great Ganesh.”

Learn from your namesake, friend.

Ganesh is the god of knowledge and wisdom. He is jovial, gracious, kindly and good humored. He does not become angry over self-generated mirages, or unfounded assumptions.

And i am sorry to say, you are getting worked up over a mirage. You would do better to look at the REAL problem, rather than look for irrelevant faults to find with a Daily Show skit.

If you are really worried about ignorant bigotry against Hindus, consider Kentucky Senate Republican David Williams.

This man openly accused his opponent, Gov. Steve Beshear, of “idolotry” for participating in a Hindu ceremony with Hindu people. He stated that no good Christian should do such a thing.

THAT is bigotry and ignorance, not the funny satire played by Mandvi and Stewart. Those guys are our FRIENDS… get it?!?!?

And Stewart was not trying to give people a primer on Mother Bhadrakali, he was simply using her image for a satire. She wasnt even the subject of the satire… she just played a part in it.

That really isnt anything to be upset about (unless youre a wacko RSS militant.)

In Kerala, where my family is from, BhadraKali LOVES sarcastic humor…. we enact comical parodies (even lampooning the gods, saints and savarna jatis) in order to celebrate her with laughter.

Maybe you havent heard of Padayani, Kodungallur Bharani or Chakiar Koothu. But these arts/celebrations feature sacrilegious jokes as a way of entertaining the gods, and lightening the atmosphere. They are pretty well known in the South of India.

Stewart is not who you should be wary of, he is a good man doing GOOD things.

If you really are worried about anti-Hindu rhetoric, consider bigots like Glenn Beck, who called Mother Ganga a “venereal disease”, or Rick Santorum, who claims we Hindus have no natural sense of equality.

THOSE are the ignorant bigots you should be upset about…

And speaking of bigotry, this message is for ORCHID, above.

ORCHID, WHAT YOU WROTE ABOVE ABOUT JUDAISM BEING A “PARASITE RELIGION” IS HIDEOUSLY BIGOTED, AND YOU SHOULD BE COMPLETELY ASHAMED!!!!!!!

(but i agree that it would be good if Devi attacked a subway/busway groper.)

Jokes about American actors or African-Americans? Funny. Except for one thing — the use of Al Sharpton made that joke *not* funny. Why? Wrong black leader! Which is exactly the complaint you have regarding the show’s choices for your culture, isn’t it?

Jokes aren’t about accuracy, and they aren’t meant to convey information — just context. The Daily Show attempts to provide something additional, actual content. But again, the content has nothing to do with the incidental examples chosen as a framework.

In other words, you missed the point due to being unable to access the cultural viewpoint used to present the material. You didn’t get the funny, because the writers weren’t Indian. You’d probably object if there had been a fish on a pole, too.