posted on January 20, 2007 08:58:13 AM new
CAIR, once again, objects to "24's" scripts.
By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
January 19, 2007
(CNSNews.com) -
An Islamic advocacy group Thursday expressed concern that the current storyline on the Fox network's popular television drama "24" - which depicts terrorists engaging in a series of attacks on the United States - "may serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice in American society."
"The raw emotional impact of fictional scenes that include widespread death and destruction in America may adversely affect the public's attitude toward civil liberties, religious freedom and interfaith relations," the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said in a news release.
"The program's repeated association of acts of terrorism with Islam will only serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice in our society," the Washington, D.C.-based group added.
CAIR's statement was made in response to the storyline in the sixth season of "24," a one-hour action-adventure series that follows the exploits of counter-terrorism agent Jack Bauer - played by actor Kiefer Sutherland - as he battles terrorists in Los Angeles over a 24-hour period each season.
When the new season opened with two-hour episodes that aired last Sunday and Monday, Bauer and other characters in the program faced an ongoing series of terrorist attacks caused by suicide bombers across the country led by a character named Fayed.
In another plotline, a Caucasian family defended an Islamic teenager named Ahmed against neighbors whose prejudice against Muslims had turned to violence due to the terrorist attacks. However, Ahmed was revealed to be in league with the terrorists and took the family hostage before he was killed by federal agents.
Also, the FBI demanded personnel records at the Washington office of a group called the Islamic-American Alliance and arrested Walid Al-Rezani, the head of the organization, after the IAA's attorney deleted the records to protect the group's members from what she considered an improper search.
The first four hours of the season ended with some of the terrorists setting off a nuclear device near Los Angeles to avoid being captured by agents of the Counter Terrorist Unit.
Those plot elements "may have a negative impact on the national debate over civil liberties" and "may also serve to increase anti-Muslim prejudice in American society," CAIR stated on Thursday.
"We have communicated the American Muslim community's concerns about this season's storyline to Fox officials and will work with the network to help viewers distinguish between televised fiction and actual world events," the group added.
The network responded with a statement of its own, which noted that "'24' is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism."
"After five seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical," the Fox statement added.
"The show takes great pains to ensure that all characterizations are seen in the overall context of the series," the network noted.
"'Bad guys" may ultimately be good, and those that seem to be guardians may in fact be the worst kind of criminals.
"Over the past several seasons, the villains have included shadowy American businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States," the network said in a press release.
"The producers are sensitive to the fact that over the course of the series, no ethnic group be been singled out for persecution or blame," Fox executives said.
"In fact, the show has made a concerted effort to show ethnic, religious and political groups as multi-dimensional, and political issues are debated from multiple viewpoints."
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the producers of "24" told an audience at an event in Washington, D.C., last June sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation that "there is a wish-fulfillment fantasy" aspect to the series in that "the terrorists are the bad guys, and we're the good guys."
"We read the same newspapers that everybody else does, so what's in the ether obviously seeps into our imaginations as well, and we synthesize it," said Howard Gordon, an executive producer of the program.
But "ultimately, our master is making a compelling, adrenalized TV show," Gordon said.
The current storyline isn't the first time "24" has drawn the attention of CAIR. During the show's fourth season, one of the plots involved an Islamic family in which the father and mother were involved in a terrorist plot that endangered their teenage son.
In response to concerns expressed by CAIR, Fox aired a public service announcement that featured Kiefer Sutherland urging viewers to avoid stereotyping Muslims.
During the Heritage Foundation event last June, Gordon noted: "As it turned out, it wasn't as much the content of the program as it was the way the program was being promoted, which had an Islamic family and said, 'They could be next door.'
"We never approved it, never saw it until it was on the 405 freeway and hundreds or thousands of people were seeing it, so that was really the more incendiary thing," Gordon said.
"We obviously never wanted to participate in xenophobia or stirring it up," he noted. "That's really not our intention."
"As long as the content of the show was unaffected, we saw no harm in the announcement," added Robert Cochran, a co-creator of "24." "Nobody leaned on the show, not Fox or CAIR."
"While the democratic party complains about everything THIS President does to protect our Nation": "What would a Democrat president have done at that point?"
"Apparently, the answer is: Sit back and wait for the next terrorist attack."
Ann Coulter
[ edited by Linda_K on Jan 20, 2007 09:00 AM ]
posted on January 20, 2007 09:21:16 AM new
Well they need to get a grip on reality. If they dont like it, Tough .
Its just a TV program....
"When I talk to liberals, I don't expect them to understand my positions on various issues. I spend most of my time trying to help them understand their own." —Mike Adams
posted on January 21, 2007 04:01:30 PM new
"Well they need to get a grip on reality. If they dont like it, Tough. Its just a TV program...."
My sentiments towards 24, Brokeback Mountain, Farenheit 9/11, etc. If you don't like it, tough!!! They are either tv shows or movies. Don't watch if you don't like it.
