Martin Eisenstadt’s Blog

Update Dec. 10: The Jonas Brothers, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Martin Eisenstadt all share the bandwidth in this strange new mash-up of footage from the Harding Institute to the tune of “This is Real” by Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas from the “Camp Rock” soundtrack:

For anyone over the age of 16 or younger than 3, you may not be aware that the biggest influence on the youth of today are the squeaky-clean Disney-manufactured boy band, the Jonas Brothers. Yes, they’re cute, but why is it that even in the wake of the recent Rachael Ray controversy, Disney is still parading the boys out proudly wearing keffiyehs?

Sure, some conspiracy theorists will no doubt trot out the boys’ Christian upbringing, Disney’s alleged history of anti-semitism, or some sleeper-cell conspiracy from Al Quaeda. But I reject such poppycock. Chances are, the brothers have been too curled up in their Disney incubator to be aware of the cultural insensitivity involved when you wear a keffiyeh in the manner of Hezbollah. Is Kevin Jonas (aka “The Romantic One”) trying to seduce America’s young girls into being the next generation of Hamas sympathizers? Probably not. But why take the chance? (My advice: if you really need to hide a hickey, stick to the Charles Nelson Reilly ascot.)

While Disney does damage control on their last manufactured popstar - throwing poor Miley “Hannah Montana” Cyrus under the proverbial JoBros tourbus because of a few indiscreet cellphone pictures - they should think about the bigger image they’re projecting with their newest stars. Or maybe they are? There are over a billion Muslims in the world, and probably not all of them have bought their Jonas Brothers lunchboxes…yet.

Update July 17th: This post has apparently created quite the uproar. See today’s post for more.