Posted on 01/17/2005 3:11:22 PM PST by dennisw
Fox Cuts Out Anti-Muslim Scenes from “24”
“We thank Fox for the opportunity to address the Muslim community's concerns,” a CAIR spokeswoman said.
WASHINGTON, January 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Fox television network has decided to remove some stereotypical aspects about American Muslims from its action drama “24” thanks to immediate action from community leaders.
“We thank Fox for the opportunity to address the Muslim community's concerns and for the willingness of network officials to take those concerns seriously in an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation,” Rabiah Ahmed, Communications Coordinator of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a press release e-mailed to IslamOnline.net Saturday, January 15.
Following a January 12 meeting with representatives from CAIR, the largest US Muslim civil liberties advocacy group in the country, Fox officials promised that the popular series will be balanced in its portrayal of Muslims.
“There aren't any positive or even neutral portrayals of Muslims on TV,” the BBC quoting Ms Ahmed as regretting.
“When Muslims or Arabs are portrayed, it is always in a stereotypical way.”
Premiered on January 10, the drama portrays a Muslim family as a terrorist “sleeper cell,” who are plotting attacks inside the US.
A young man is seen helping his parents mastermind a plot to kill as many Americans by launching an attack on a commuter train.
The drama showed the mother poisoning her son's non-Muslim girlfriend because she poses a threat to their plans.
The US secretary of state is also seen taken hostage by the “Muslim terrorists.”
It climaxes with the defense secretary shown on an Internet video tape like those coming out of US-occupied Iraq.
Pro-Muslims Ad
Fox further decided to distribute a CAIR public service announcement (PSA) to network affiliates to be aired in proximity to “24.”
CAIR's 30 and 60-second PSA feature American Muslims of European, African-American, Hispanic, and Native American heritage.
Each person in the spots states how he/she and his/her family have served America and ends by saying, “I am an American Muslim.”
“What we are hoping to do is to try and mitigate the damages of the stereotypes because it can bring real-life consequences on American Muslims and their lives here,” Ms Ahmed said.
“When average Americans don't have any personal interaction with Muslims, whether it be at work or at school, they base their perception of Islam and Muslims from what they see on TV.”
CAIR urged State Department officials in a meeting on January 13 to issue a report on Islamophobia across the world.
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad presented in the meeting -- attended by Assistant Secretary Patricia de Stacy Harrison, Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher and Ambassador William Burns -- a proposal for cooperative efforts to challenge both Islamophobia and anti-Americanism.
A recent nation-wide poll, conducted by the Cornell University, showed that at least 44 percent of the Americans backs curbing Muslims’ civil rights and monitoring their places of worship.
A May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded that Arab Americans and the Muslim community in the US have taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
The real problem here is the courts. Fox would get sued to kingdom come if they kept moving forward and in todays legal system probably loose.
Without the lawsuit threat Fox would probably be running more spots.
Its all tied into the PC bs that will get us all killed in the end if we don't undo it.
Exactly right.
I suggest a stereotypical approach to such groups, namely the reciprocal one.
Their activities should be allowed when, if and to the same extend that the activities of Christian civil liberties advocacy groups are allowed in Muslim countries.
Fox can't/won't reshoot the whole damn series either, so I doubt CAIR's complaints will have much impact, or result in any significant changes. If any.
I wonder if Al-Jazera TV is thinking of portraying Christians and Jews in a positive or neutral way...
Screw that! Even if Fox didn't cut their series to the tastes of Bin Laden's groupies, CAIR, they still have agreed to run advertisements promoting/defending Islam. Is that something they'd ever do when they launch any of the billions of attacks on Christianity? Fox is a cowardly, money-grubbing haunt of demons, which shells out huge bucks to promote Democratic candidates. They carefully cultivate a conservative image, and then whenever the chips are on the line, they use every dirty tactic to undercut the Republicans that they can. Remember the November DUI surprise? I'm sick of Fox, Greta Van Susteren, Geraldo Rivera, Bill O'Reilly, "Who Wants to Marry Their Own Daughter?," and the rest of the incessant parade of depravity.
(Incidentally, the only network which does not shell out big bucks to Democratic candidates is NBC, the new home of Brian Williams.)
Who is 24 going to have responsible for the kidnapping and violence - the Teletubbies?"
It will be re-written as a group of right-wing, Christian extremists who are getting revenge for Waco.
CAIR urged State Department officials in a meeting on January 13 to issue a report on Islamophobia across the world.
Here is the final report:
"Islamophobia is the fear that Islamic fanatics desire the destruction of the free world. Islamophobia is alive and swelling."
End of Report
ping!
I wonder how many people will swallow this story?
CAIR knows full well that the producers of 24 will have a twist in which the Islamic terrorists are not the big bad guys and CAIR will then claim victory.
You are exactly right...there are so many twists and turns during 24 that by the end of the season we will have forgotten about this *muslim* family(maybe)...LOL
Second, from what I've been able to find all FOX is going to do is run PSA's around 24, NOT CUT SCEENS.
But it still maybe a good idea to contact FOX and tell the not to sugarcoat those murdering terrorists.
Republican Christian White Gun Owners.
OUCH!!!!
Just twist the knife in the wound!!
YEAH!!
Contact FOX..ask them to add a sub-plot line to "24"..about domestic Islamic terrorists murdering a family of 4 Christians in NJ....what?..Preposterous you say?..could never happen, eh?
Neo-cons or neo-nazis or an underground alliance of neo-cons and neo-nazis.
Many times they edit out the words "kraut" and "jap" from the old WWII movies.
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