Monday, March 14, 2005


WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J.  — A plate of spicy stuffed cabbage leaves and a cup of mint tea before him, Yosry Bekhiet sat down and turned on the television for a late dinner one recent Monday night. On the screen, he saw Muslim terrorists gain control of a nuclear plant, causing it to melt down.

One of the leaders of the plot shot his own wife and tried to shoot his son, fearing they would thwart his plans. (And this was after kidnapping the U.S. defense secretary and trying to behead him live on the Internet.)

Bekhiet was watching "24", the popular Fox action series starring Kiefer Sutherland (search) as a government agent who battles bloodthirsty Islamic terrorists. The show has garnered high ratings, but also has angered Muslims across the nation over the way their community is portrayed.

"It's disgusting," Bekhiet said after watching an episode with an Associated Press reporter. "My own kids, if they see this show, they might hate me."

Bekhiet, an engineer with the state Department of Transportation, is worried that the fictional Araz family is the image most of America have of Muslims.

"It seems like on television, everybody has their turn as the bad guys: It happened to the Italians, the Russians. Now it's our turn," he said.

In January, a nationwide Muslim civil rights group, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (search) met with Fox executives to complain about the show. A compromise was reached in which the network agreed to distribute CAIR's public service announcements to local affiliates. And last month, Sutherland himself appeared in a commercial during the broadcast urging viewers to realize that the show's villains are not representative of Muslims.

"While terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism," Sutherland said. "So in watching '24,' please, bear that in mind."

Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said the network would not comment on Muslim reaction to the show other than to note the meeting with CAIR and the distribution of the public service announcements.

"We've listened to their concerns and tried to work with them," he said.

Rabiah Ahmed, a CAIR official who attended the meeting with the network executives, said Muslims are concerned with how others view them, particularly in the mass media.

"For us it's a sensitive and urgent situation because we are facing a backlash after Sept. 11 and we need to defend our interests and our image. We understand that it's entertainment and fiction. Our concern is that others may not."

She said Fox promised that positive Muslim characters will emerge in future episodes.

On the episode Bekhiet watched, Sutherland's character, agent Jack Bauer, apprehends Dina Araz, the wife of one of the terrorist masterminds, after one nuclear plant has already melted down. He begs her to tell him where the device is that can override the computer program that hijacked the reactors, sending them out of control, pleading that millions of innocent people will die if she does not.

"Every war has casualties," she tells him coldly, a bullet from her husband's gun still lodged in her bloodied arm. "No one is innocent."

Shohreh Aghdashloo, the Iranian-born actress who plays Dina Araz, told Time magazine she had refused for years to play terrorists, saying they were among the only roles offered to actresses from the Middle East. She agreed to join "24" knowing it would draw criticism from Muslims.

"But this role was a full-dimensional character," she told the magazine. "She's a very, very strong woman, and she has many faces. And things may not be what they seem."

Jumana Judeh, an activist in Dearborn, Mich., where the country's largest Arab-American community lives, said after watching one episode of '24' she finally understood how deeply offended an Italian-American friend of hers is over programs like "The Sopranos" or "The Godfather" movies.

"This feeds into what's been happening to us since Sept. 11," she said. "We are the new kid on the block, and we're going to keep getting picked on and picked on and picked on until some new group comes along to take our place."
SOURCE

Can they name one other group in the world that is doing stuff like this on a regular basis?


The answer is "NO".

If they are offended then maybe it's because they are offensive.


SGatr15

but...but....BUT IT'S THE RELIGION OF PEACE!  

Awwwwwwwwwww, that just breaks my fucking heart. How much time has this POS spent denouncing terrorist activities?

TS

BOOOO fucking HOOO

Tuff shitski!

Essayons

Makes you want to cry, doesn't it.

Quoted: Awwwwwwwwwww, that just breaks my fucking heart. How much time has this POS spent denouncing terrorist activities?

+1 million, when the average Joe Haji turns out in mass desention over the way radical members of their own cult are creating chaos all over the world then I MIGHT care a little.

Until then, FUCK'EM AND FEED THEM PORK BOOGERS........

F'em.

If they think things are tough right now they better start doing all that they can to prevent any other attacks here in the US.  All it would take is for a group of terrorists to attack one school, as has been reported they are considering, and the Muslims here will really see how tough it is.

It's ironic that they can come out and publicly condemn a TV show saying how bad and hurtful it is, yet when it comes to terror attacks you don't hear a peep from them.  If they want to be understood they need to start speaking out on what they really stand for.

In January, a nationwide Muslim civil rights group, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (search) met with Fox executives to complain about the show. A compromise was reached in which the network agreed to distribute CAIR's public service announcements to local affiliates. And last month, Sutherland himself appeared in a commercial during the broadcast urging viewers to realize that the show's villains are not representative of Muslims. "While terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism," Sutherland said. "So in watching '24,' please, bear that in mind."

Yeah, whatever.   Where was the American Muslim community when Nick Berg and countless other innocents were beheaded by Muslims in Iraq..........the silence of their "denouncing and resisting" was deafening......

Cry me a river asswipe. People view them how they see them on the news. TV shows are fiction....(even the "reality" shows are).

Deal with it.

Why aren't they upset over how they are portrayed on the evening news following a real terrorist attack?

Quoted: If they think things are tough right now they better start doing all that they can to prevent any other attacks here in the US.  All it would take is for a group of terrorists to attack one school, as has been reported they are considering, and the Muslims here will really see how tough it is. It's ironic that they can come out and publicly condemn a TV show saying how bad and hurtful it is, yet when it comes to terror attacks you don't hear a peep from them.  If they want to be understood they need to start speaking out on what they really stand for.

+ 50 billion barrels of oil!  

Not all muslims are terrorists, yet all terrorist are muslim. Hmmmmm

ETA...Italian groups are tired of the Soprano's/mob stereotypes too.  Welcome to the real world and stfu.

IMMIGRATION SUCKS!
And no I do not want to hear your sermon on how this country was built on immigration, because I really don't care even if it is true. These days it is deteriorating our country and will eventually take away your right to keep and bear arms

Quoted: "This feeds into what's been happening to us since Sept. 11," she said. "We are the new kid on the block, and we're going to keep getting picked on and picked on and picked on until some new group comes along to take our place."

Uh, yeah.  We're 'picking' on you.  How silly of us to do so after that little 9/11 incident.  I guess we'll just have to wait for some new terrorist group to come along and murder 3000+ civilians, so we can have a new group to pick on.

When I see reports that a group of Plymouth Brethern or Quakers have hijacked a bunch or Airliners and crashed them into skycrapers I will support the Muslims complaints of bias… however, I'm betting it is going to be a very cold day in hell before I have to…

Muslims have a 'problem' with their public perception?… perhaps they should try telling us 'Dirty Kuffar's' who the 'Jihadi's' are!

ANdy

Do a google image search for "9/11 Muslim" - you get things like this pic:






Fuck em

After the way they portray us on Aljezeria (sp) I say TO BAD!

Bring back the stupid islamic terrorists like in Back to the Future and put them all over the TV.

Well, if the shoe fits ....

I can't help but think maybe muslims are being portrayed incorrectly. I saw this thread and wondered if this was not trying the shoe on the other foot. I base this because of how gun owners are portrayed by hollywood as well. Hollywood tends to exaggerate everything.

we denounce hollywood continually for them portraying us as extremist hillbilly psychopaths...... yet here we are praising them for portraying muslims this way.

As for all muslims being extremists and supporting terrorists even here in America? I dunno. I tend to look at or approach muslims skeptically and cautiously these days. I look at them and see terrorists. But is this honestly how it is?


Anyhow just thought I'd bring that little point up to mind.

+1 million, when the average Joe Haji turns out in mass desention over the way radical members of their own cult are creating chaos all over the world then I MIGHT care a little.

Very well said.  I will believe Islam is religion of peace when they start taking care of their bad apples.

Quoted: I can't help but think maybe muslims are being portrayed incorrectly. I saw this thread and wondered if this was not trying the shoe on the other foot. I base this because of how gun owners are portrayed by hollywood as well. Hollywood tends to exaggerate everything.

WTC 1, Khobar Towers, the Cole, 9/11, and the slaughter of a couple hundred children in Beslan make me think this is not an exaggeration.

Quoted: I can't help but think maybe muslims are being portrayed incorrectly. I saw this thread and wondered if this was not trying the shoe on the other foot. I base this because of how gun owners are portrayed by hollywood as well. Hollywood tends to exaggerate everything.

What the hell is so exagerrated?  Those cocksuckers in the picture above lived with us for years, were college students here next to us, took flight lessons here, had jobs here, plotted and rehearsed a highly detailed and complex operation, hijacked four airliners simultaneously and killed thousands of Americans.

That scenario would have sounded like fiction on 9/10/01.

Exagerrated, my ass.

Fuck em.  Don't trust those cocksuckers.

FUCK 'EM

Quoted: IMMIGRATION SUCKS! And no I do not want to hear your sermon on how this country was built on immigration, because I really don't care even if it is true. These days it is deteriorating our country and will eventually take away your right to keep and bear arms

It was never true, at least in the way it is sold today.

Once upon a time there was a place (US) that people heard about and wanted to go to in order to have a better life for their kids and themselves. They went there despite great hardships and challenges and became like the people who were there in order to live like those that were there. They did very well and prospered as did the country.

Now, f*cksticks see that shining place and want what is there. Their own countries are desolate shit holes. They break rules, laws, people, and the land inorder to illegally gain what they can. They despise the local native population taking great pleasure in breaking social norms. Instead of emulating the successful locals they riducule and when that doesn't work they claim bias and discrimination. Instead of working towards their dreams and goals they, because they never adapt, never get assimulated into the society and never gain the benefits of that society. Instead, they live on the scraps and handouts from charity and government programs.

cry me a fucking river.

The only misrepresentation involved in '24' is the understated danger of the ROP.

Quoted: Quoted: IMMIGRATION SUCKS! And no I do not want to hear your sermon on how this country was built on immigration, because I really don't care even if it is true. These days it is deteriorating our country and will eventually take away your right to keep and bear arms It was never true, at least in the way it is sold today. Once upon a time there was a place (US) that people heard about and wanted to go to in order to have a better life for their kids and themselves. They went there despite great hardships and challenges and became like the people who were there in order to live like those that were there. They did very well and prospered as did the country. Now, f*cksticks see that shining place and want what is there. Their own countries are desolate shit holes. They break rules, laws, people, and the land inorder to illegally gain what they can. They despise the local native population taking great pleasure in breaking social norms. Instead of emulating the successful locals they riducule and when that doesn't work they claim bias and discrimination. Instead of working towards their dreams and goals they, because they never adapt, never get assimulated into the society and never gain the benefits of that society. Instead, they live on the scraps and handouts from charity and government programs.

Preach it to me brother I like your sermon!

They weren't to upset on 9/11.

...not all of them truthfully, but enough for me to see their true hearts.

Quoted: ...slaughter of a couple hundred children in Beslan...

That line right there still makes my blood fucking BOIL! I'll never forget the pictures from that day...etched permanently in my memory. My blood pressure jumps at the thought of it. How can they do that to children...?

Fuck'em

All muslims aint terrorists, n yet all terrorists is muslims. whizzat is up wit thiznat?

Quoted: Quoted: ...slaughter of a couple hundred children in Beslan... That line right there still makes my blood fucking BOIL! I'll never forget the pictures from that day...etched permanently in my memory. My blood pressure jumps at the thought of it. How can they do that to children...?

Get the April SWAT magazine.  

Well I'm upset with the portrayal of whites on the other 99.9% of television programing...

What bugs me the most was that they (I guess it was the Network) were running these little "Muslims Contribute to our Society" spots during the commercial breaks ... apparently as a concesssion to these riled up groups. Why would they do that? Do they run TV spots every time a Black man is portrayed as a gang banger to remind us that African-Americans are a vital link in our culture. Do they run "Not all Italian Americans are Mobsters" during the Sopranos? Of course not.

OMG I'm an Irish American ... every time I see IroAmericans portrayed as Red-Headed Cops strolling through te bowery swinging a billy club in the 30's I get all offended ... I demand a meeting with the TV Executives to discuss the PSA about how the Irish have contributed to our culture.

Quoted: What bugs me the most was that they (I guess it was the Network) were running these little "Muslims Contribute to our Society" spots during the commercial breaks ... apparently as a concesssion to these riled up groups. Why would they do that? Do they run TV spots every time a Black man is portrayed as a gang banger to remind us that African-Americans are a vital link in our culture. Do they run "Not all Italian Americans are Mobsters" during the Sopranos? Of course not. OMG I'm an Irish American ... every time I see IroAmericans portrayed as Red-Headed Cops strolling through te bowery swinging a billy club in the 30's I get all offended ... I demand a meeting with the TV Executives to discuss the PSA about how the Irish have contributed to our culture.

Irish Whiskey??
J/K  Trying to help make your point

Fuck them and the car bombs they rode in on.

Yeah, big deal.
How do you think the Germans felt after WWII where every bad guy in every film made for fifty years was a "Nazi".
They may as well learn to live with it because it'll be a looooooong time before they live it down.

Quoted: Monday, March 14, 2005 In January, a nationwide Muslim civil rights group, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (search) met with Fox executives to complain about the show. A compromise was reached in which the network agreed to distribute CAIR's public service announcements to local affiliates. And last month, Sutherland himself appeared in a commercial during the broadcast urging viewers to realize that the show's villains are not representative of Muslims. "While terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism," Sutherland said. "So in watching '24,' please, bear that in mind." "We've listened to their concerns and tried to work with them," he said.

Please don't feed the Jackals!

turn the channel... or better yet.. MOVE the hell back to sandbox.  

Quoted: Do a google image search for "9/11 Muslim" - you get things like this pic: www.worldnetdaily.com/images2/radicalposter2003.jpg Fuck em

and fuck'em.

Quoted: Quoted: "This feeds into what's been happening to us since Sept. 11," she said. "We are the new kid on the block, and we're going to keep getting picked on and picked on and picked on until some new group comes along to take our place." Uh, yeah.  We're 'picking' on you.  How silly of us to do so after that little 9/11 incident.  I guess we'll just have to wait for some new terrorist group to come along and murder 3000+ civilians, so we can have a new group to pick on.

A BIG +1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a defense contractor I am upset about how defense contractors are being depicted on 24 also.

What a fuggin joke....

I was rahter surprised to be honest, I'm still waiting for the "good Muslim" to be added to the cast for a couple of hours to balance the side out. After all, surely that's what the TV Execs will be demanding by now.

Of course, as to "Why aren't they protesting against the attacks" some do, I've seen them. Of course it doesn't make as good news as ones protesting for the attacks, or against discrimination...

Quoted from the article -
"While terrorism is obviously one of the most critical challenges facing our nation and the world, it is important to recognize that the American Muslim community stands firmly beside their fellow Americans in denouncing and resisting all forms of terrorism," Sutherland said. "So in watching '24,' please, bear that in mind."

This is big news to me. I must have been asleep since 911.

Then police your own, you fucking sand gnat's.

Quoted: I was rahter surprised to be honest, I'm still waiting for the "good Muslim" to be added to the cast for a couple of hours to balance the side out.

There will be a couple good Arab-Americans in tonight's episode.  They run a sporting goods store...with lots of guns.  

Quoted: Then police your own, you fucking sand gnat's.