January 23, 2007

Holster Your Complaints!

24 is being unfairly accused of problems it didn't create.

By John Miller

Recently, officials at the Council on American-Islamic Relations are, for the second time in three years, attacking 24 for depicting Muslims negatively. Council spokesman Rabiah Ahmed said, “The overwhelming impression you get is fear and hatred for Muslims. After watching the premiere, I was afraid to go to the grocery store because I wasn't sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality."

If Ahmed is truly afraid to leave his house, then I certainly sympathize with his plight. However, he’s barking up the wrong tree.

Evidently, Ahmed and his group didn’t watch the premiere closely enough. If they did, they would have noticed that there are at least three Muslim characters that are portrayed positively. In fact, the government wrongly incarcerates Walid Al-Rezani, a big wig in the 24 equivalent of the Council, but he still helps the FBI obtain information on a possible attack while he’s detained. Sounds like a pretty noble guy to me.

In 2005, the Council had similar complaints and met with the show’s producers. As a result of those meetings, 24 star Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer, appeared in a commercial telling the audience not to assume that all Muslims are terrorists.

Even if someone was ignorant enough to base their world view entirely on what happens on 24, there’s no way one could reach the conclusion, “Muslims are bad and everyone else is good.” Last season, the U.S. president and the head of the Bluetooth Mafia (as the always hilarious Dave Barry dubbed him) were the masterminds behind that day’s attacks, and there’s absolutely no indication that either was a Muslim. This season, Bluetooth Man is back, and a white American sold nuclear weapons to the Muslim terrorists. If the Council is angry, then there should be a Caucasian group that’s just as furious.

The Council is hardly the first group to accuse 24 of wrongdoing. Some Americans think the show’s use of fictional terrorism is fear mongering. Funny, I don’t recall anyone accusing Casino Royale, the latest James Bond film, of fear mongering. What about the new CBS show Jericho, which is about the aftermath of a series of nuclear blasts in America, or the countless other works of fiction that have featured terrorist threats and attacks in their plots?

In my opinion, some people are picking on 24 because it’s on Fox. Fairly often in 24, you’ll spot a TV in the background playing a fictional Fox News broadcast that reports the fictional day’s fictional events. (Have I mentioned the show is FICTIONAL?) There are tons of Fox News haters out there, and I’m sure any mention of the channel drives these people batty. In their minds, 24 is guilty by association.

As the old saying goes, art imitates life. People in television, film, and books will continue creating stories about terrorism, often including Muslim extremists, until the problem goes away. Neither the Council nor anyone else can stop it. The Council must realize the real terrorists, not the fictional terrorists, are the ones making all Muslims look guilty by association to an uninformed few.

The vast majority of people know that there are countless Muslims in the world that are just as appalled by the actions of extremists as anyone else. Of course, there are some people who lump all Muslims together and assume they all support terrorism. While that fact is incredibly unfortunate, I believe those ignorant people are a small minority. Their views are unfair, but you can’t blame 24 for their existence.

(If you want to complain about 24, then whine about the Bluetooth Guy turning out to be Jack’s brother! I know it’s fiction, but I wasn’t expecting a soap opera.)