Thread: Muslim Reality TV Show Fails To Reflect Common Stereotypes?

Originally Posted by Formaldehyde

So, what do you think? Do they have a legitimate gripe? Should a Muslim reality TV show be forced to include negative stereotypes to reinforce the preconceived notions of some Americans? Should Christian-oriented TV shows be forced to do the same? Does any of this cause you to want to shop at Lowes for your jihadist bomb building needs?

It obviously has come as a shock to some people to learn that not all Muslims are terrorists; just as not all Christians can be defined by the words and actions of Fred Phelps. The Florida Family Association shouldhave more faith (pun intended) in the state's Christians to not suddenly want to convert to Islam after watching an episode. Then again, almost all religions are based primarily on the concept of fear (ie angering God; being punished by God; going to hell, etc), so their actions in this case are just a continuation of a doctrine that applies to most religions (there are some exceptions to this rule, but neither Christianity or Islam are among those).

I guess one question that should be asked is, "just who is truly representative of the religion they purport to follow?" After all, let's just look at the current Republican candidates for president who have wrapped themselves in their religion as part of their campaign: Gingrich, who has ignored the so-called "family values bullsh*t, and "sought forgiveness" more times than most people can remember; Bachmann, who along with her husband, run a "clinic" aimed at telling gay youth that their lives are crap, and adheres to a form of brainwashing akin to electroshocktherapy as part of her "gay cure" program; Herman Cain, who tried to engage the religious community ... until his past indfidelity's were brought to the surface .... What I'm trying to say is that EVERY religion, and every follower of a religion has their faults. It's not appropriate for one (religion) to somehow try to pretend they're better than another -they're not. Let's not forget that the KKK is based on Christian religious principles. Does that mean that the Florida Family Association believes that all Christians are members of the KKK? Of course not, just as it's ridiculous of them to try to portray all Muslims as terrorists.

What happens to little Yussef when they vote him off the island? The outrage and fluffery surrounding a boring ass t.v. show is amusing.

If they don't portray all Muslims as deranged, radical terrorists, many people will begin to question the fear mongering that has led to so many of our freedoms and liberties being ended.

Those who support these authoritarian laws get very uncomfortable when the truth is shown to be at odds with their stereotypes.

From what I read on the web said one of the muslims on the show is an organizer for CAIR , an outfit that was associated with other groups like the Holy Land Foundation that were found to be funding terror (Hamas). But never mind the CAIR-Hamas link, as long as Jon Stewart had a field day with it.

So you're condemning someone for being a fund raiser for a group who just have links with a group who fund Hamas? You do realise this is only a link and they may not even like Hamas and they are just linked through other interests.

It is a crying shame that a show that attempts to show american muslims in a better light, was axed because of the predjudice of a group in florida.

I do not believe the majority of american muslims are anything other than another group who wanted to make america their home. They are not terrorists, the majority.

I can understand the predjudice from those folks in Fl. but this could be corrected by education, which they are averse to, it seems.

This fear of sharia law is nonsense. Does anyone believe we will change our constitution to mirror that law? It is not gonna happen.

We sure set great examples for muslims who think america is a better place to live and come here for our freedom, our religious tolerance, the american dream, etc.

If you desire Islam to change, to be more accepting of other religions, america may be the only place it could or would happen. Prots seem to accept catholics better today than in the past. And it took some time to accomplish that.

Originally Posted by noahath

It obviously has come as a shock to some people to learn that not all Muslims are terrorists; just as not all Christians can be defined by the words and actions of Fred Phelps. The Florida Family Association shouldhave more faith (pun intended) in the state's Christians to not suddenly want to convert to Islam after watching an episode. Then again, almost all religions are based primarily on the concept of fear (ie angering God; being punished by God; going to hell, etc), so their actions in this case are just a continuation of a doctrine that applies to most religions (there are some exceptions to this rule, but neither Christianity or Islam are among those).

I guess one question that should be asked is, "just who is truly representative of the religion they purport to follow?" After all, let's just look at the current Republican candidates for president who have wrapped themselves in their religion as part of their campaign: Gingrich, who has ignored the so-called "family values bullsh*t, and "sought forgiveness" more times than most people can remember; Bachmann, who along with her husband, run a "clinic" aimed at telling gay youth that their lives are crap, and adheres to a form of brainwashing akin to electroshocktherapy as part of her "gay cure" program; Herman Cain, who tried to engage the religious community ... until his past indfidelity's were brought to the surface .... What I'm trying to say is that EVERY religion, and every follower of a religion has their faults. It's not appropriate for one (religion) to somehow try to pretend they're better than another -they're not. Let's not forget that the KKK is based on Christian religious principles. Does that mean that the Florida Family Association believes that all Christians are members of the KKK? Of course not, just as it's ridiculous of them to try to portray all Muslims as terrorists.

What about the muslims that ARE terrorists? If the intent of the show is to show that not all muslims are violent and abusive, isnt it fair for others to point out that many of them ARE?

Why aren't there any TV shows about Christian abortion clinic bombers and murderers of doctors? Is that fair that many of them are just just as nuts and fanatical as the handful of Muslim extremists, but they are rarely portrayed that way?

And aren't there actually plenty of Muslim stereotypes on TV and in movies?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereot...bs_and_Muslims

Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University, documented these trends in his book The TV Arab (ISBN 0-87972-309-2), which identifies more than 21 major movies released over ten years which show the U.S. military killing Arabs with Arabs depicted as being terrorists or enemies of the United States. These include:

Iron Eagle (1986)
Death Before Dishonor (1987)
Navy SEALs (1990)
The Delta Force (film) (1991)
Patriot Games (1992)
Executive Decision (1996)

In Reel Bad Arabs (ISBN 1-84437-019-4), Shaheen writes that "television's image of the Arab is omnipresent [and] is becoming a part of American folklore." He also writes that Arabs have "consistently appeared in American popular culture as billionaires, bombers, and belly dancers."[8]

Arab Muslims are fanatics who believe in a different god, who don't value human life as much as we do, they are intent on destroying us (the west) with their oil or with their terrorism; the men seek to abduct and brutally seduce our women; they are without family and reside in a primitive place (the desert) and behave like primitive beings. The women are subservient — resembling black crows — or we see them portrayed as mute, somewhat exotic harem maidens.[9]

The movies which Shaheen identifies as the three worst in terms of negative portrayal of Arabs in modern films are:

Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987); "Arab thugs... plan to ignite Los Angeles... killing millions."

True Lies (1994); "Arnold S. INC." shoots dead Palestinians like clay pigeons. "

Rules of Engagement (2000); "a film which "justifies" US Marines killing Arab women and children."[9]

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were of Saudi Arabian origin and all were of Muslim faith, Arabs and Muslims complained of increased scrutiny and racial profiling at airports. In a poll conducted by the Boston Globe, 71 percent of Blacks and 57 percent of Whites believed that "Arabs and Arab-Americans should undergo special, more intensive security checks before boarding airplanes."[10][11] Some Muslims and Arabs have complained of being held without explanation and subjected to hours of questioning and arrest without cause. Such cases have led to lawsuits being filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.[12] Fox News radio host Mike Gallagher suggested that airports have a "Muslims Only" line in the wake of the 9/11 attacks stating "It's time to have a Muslims check-point line in America's airports and have Muslims be scrutinized. You better believe it, it's time."[13] In Queens, New York, Muslims and Arabs have complained that the NYPD is unfairly targeting Muslim communities in raids tied to the alleged Zazi terror plot.[14]

Originally Posted by Formaldehyde

Why aren't there any TV shows about Christian abortion clinic bombers and murderers of doctors? Is that fair that many of them are just just as nuts and fanatical as the handful of Muslim extremists, but they are never portrayed that way?

I've been saying that about religion for a while now.

Originally Posted by jviehe

What about the muslims that ARE terrorists? If the intent of the show is to show that not all muslims are violent and abusive, isnt it fair for others to point out that many of them ARE?

Aside from the fact that an extremely small minority are actual terrorists, why does that have to be brought up every single time you talk about the religion?

As others have pointed out, should every conversation where Christianity is discussed have a prologue of the various activities of Christian terrorists such as clinic bombers?

I think we can and do acknowledge there are bad people in every religion and we can do so without dragging that fact around and shoving it in people's faces every time the topic comes up. This reminds me of how people (usually the same people wanting to always bring up that "there are Muslim terrorists") decry the concept of "political correctness" yet push things like this as a sort of reverse political correctness and dont see the massive irony in doing so.

I think people are confusing Muslims that are Americanized with Muslims that live in actual Muslim countries. To try and portray this as anything close to mainstream Islam is misleading and dishonest. Btw...what's that thing she's wearing on her head in that picture?

Originally Posted by fishjoel

Btw...what's that thing she's wearing on her head in that picture?

A hooded sweatshirt with the hood over top of a hijab.

Originally Posted by Hoplite

A hooded sweatshirt with the hood over top of a hijab.

Oh yeah.....that's what it's called, a hijab.