Last Shabbat I had the pleasure of meeting, Ophir Steinbaum, a producer of the parody video “We Con the World”. The video rightfully mocked the International media’s coverage of the Gaza-bound “aid” flotilla that was stopped by Israeli naval commandos. The video has since been removed from YouTube even though it received over 3 million hits since it went up on June 3rd.
In response to the question, as to why YouTube removed the video from their site, they issued some lame excuse about a copyright suit lodged by Warner/Chappell Music Inc. That copyright suit may or may not hold up in court, according to patent attorneys with whom I’ve consulted. In any event, YouTube very willingly succumbed to Warner/ Chappell’s threats of legal action. Why? I suspect that the real reason the parody was pulled was because of pressure applied from the Muslim constituency that represents 1.25 billion Muslims (20% of the world’s population), while the Jewish population consists of a meager 14 million ( 0.2% of the world’s population). So, if you do the math, for every Jew there are a thousand Muslims. Therefore, I can understand why YouTube caved in to Muslim pressure, after all how can they be faulted for doing what they were designed to do, namely attract the largest audience in order to fill their coffers. But I do fault YouTube for unabashedly trashing their morals, on their way to the bank, and for cowering behind some conveniently trumped up legal subterfuge. It wouldn’t surprise me if YouTube asked Warner/Chappell to lodge the suit.
What needs to be done now is for someone to compose an original melody to the lyrics of “We Con the World” and then post the video back on to YouTube. That would, in effect, negate YouTube’s lame excuse for removing a very cleverly done and entertaining commentary on the flotilla’s ‘Peacenix’ (emphasis on Nix) and their all too willingly duped accomplices of the International media.