MUSLIMS AMONG US

“There isn’t anything that’s taboo for me. That would be making rules and I don’t
believe there are rules for humor. Once I think of an idea and it makes me laugh, I
immediately think, ‘Oh shit, they’ll never go for this’—but I still send it in.”
–BARRY BLITT

“I REMEMBER THE SUMMER leading up to 9/11, there was nothing to make
jokes about—I was sort of bored,” says Barry Blitt, who, like most of us, was left speech-
less by the early September events of that year. But by December of 2001, the media was
in the throes of a campaign about “IT,” a new device that would change our lives. IT
turned out to be the Segway. It may not have had quite the impact predicted, but Blitt
lost no time: He showed Osama bin Laden and his entourage escaping from the caves of
Afghanistan on IT (right). Later, as the invasion of Iraq got under way, Blitt proposed the
camel as the animal of choice for Central Park carriages (below).

IN 2002, semifinalists were named
in the World Trade Center site design
competition and models of the architec-
ture firms’ proposed projects were put on
display, garnering comments by people
from around the world. Ever disrespect-
ful, Blitt sketched Osama bin Laden and
his second-in-command reviewing the
proposed designs (opposite).

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