The Whining About "24" Has Started

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Last night I predicted that CAIR would be demanding an apology from FOX for the depiction of Muslims in "24" within 24 hours. Well it's not CAIR but ABC has started the ball rolling...

Sut Jhally, co-producer and co-director of the film "Hijacking Catastrophe," says the dramatic action in the show creates a dangerous climate in which the public loses some of its perspective on what's real and what's not. Of course that may be a minority opinion given the show's enormous popularity.
Television shows like '24' also reinforce stereotypes about Arabs, he said, and in this episode connections are drawn between terrorism, Arabs and nuclear war. With the U.S. wrestling with Iran over its nuclear capabilities, these associations are dangerous, he said.
"This television show is very political, and it's no accident that it's on Fox," said Jhally, who directs the Media and Education Foundation and is professor of communications at University of Massachusetts. "Given their propaganda system, it doesn't surprise me."

How many times do we have to tell the MSM that if they want to be taken seriously, they need to reveal the background of their "experts"? Giving the complete title of a movie wound be a great place to start...

A new documentary "Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire" examines how the Bush administration used Sept. 11 to transform American foreign policy and enter a phase of so-called preemptive warfare while rolling back civil liberties and social programs at home.

The film is produced by the Media Education Foundation and features former government officials combined with many of the leading scholars and thinkers of our time including Noam Chomsky, Norman Mailer, Chalmers Johnson, Daniel Ellsberg, Tariq Ali and more. The film is narrated by Julian Bond.

Nah - no bias here.... Move along now...

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"This television show is

"This television show is very political, and it's no accident that it's on Fox," said Jhally,  "Given their propaganda system, it doesn't surprise me."

That's because you can't understand why a media outlet exists that would televise anything contrary to the MSM point of view.  What's even more puzzling to you is how such a media outlet can not only survive but actually compete against you and expose your own self serving propaganda.

Come on, people were complain

Come on, people were complaining when Fox was only known for 'Married...With Children', and all the 'experts' went ballistic saying it would cause the end of morality.

Well, read up a couple blogs on the homepage about men no longer being needed for marriage. At least on Married with Children they never got divorced.

--Perpetual itching without benefit of scratching to the enemies of America.--

I'll be honest that the one

I'll be honest that the one thing that makes me uncomfortable about 24 is showing terrorists lurking in the families of seemingly normal Arab-American families. I don't have trouble with the rest of it.

What? They're supposed to be

What? They're supposed to be running around the streets with neon hats, blinking: "I am a terrorist". . .??? Of course they're going to appear normal. That's the worst part of the war on terror. The enemy isn't wearing a uniform.

C'mon, Bal!

-PJ

Draft Condi for '08!

Draft Condi?  The same Condi

Draft Condi?  The same Condi who's been in charge of State the past couple years while it continues to emasculate her boss?  The same Condi that gave the Israelis luke warm support (that's actually a little generous) regarding Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria?

Absolutely agree.I admire t

Absolutely agree.

I admire the brilliant lady for the journey she has made. Her life story is an inspiration.

But she's way out of her depth running the arabist State, even though she ultimately answers to her boss.

Either that or it's a clone, and the real Condi is chained to a radiator in a Foggy Bottom basement.

Though she would still be an interesting VP choice on a ticket with an actual CONSERVATIVE nom.

Proud member of the all-powerful and vast militarist/industrialist/capitalist/zionist-bagelist complex

Draft John Bolton! (said with

Draft John Bolton! (said with only a bit of tongue-in-cheek). 

Newt / Condi

Newt / Condi

bal,It might make for discomf

bal,

It might make for discomfort, but most mass-murderers don't come from families made up of screeching psychotic murderers. It's scary, but it's the truth.

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Are you uncomfortable with th

Are you uncomfortable with that because it might be true?

Last season Fox bowed to CAIR and displayed a message before (all?) episodes with Jack Bauer saying something like "I'm Jack Bauer. Not all Muslims are bomb belt-wearing dune monkeys".

Uncomfortable because I can

Uncomfortable because I can just see goobers like the one on 24 suddenly banging on the doors of perfectly harmless Arab Americans (BTW, that guy played Big John in Can't Buy Me Love), demanding to see where they keep the bomb triggers in their drywall.

Not that I think it will occur in epidemic proportions, or that 24 should not include that as part of the plot of the show.

I actually fear the "big

I actually fear the "big dumb redneck" backlash, where angry Muslims run over anyone wearing flannel.

I cannot buy into this "bend-ass-over-backwards to appease a minority special-interest group" bullcrap just because they bitch and whine the most. I am sad to see that you fall for it. Strap on a pair, Bal!

Liberal males definitely don'

Liberal males definitely don't have them.

Liberal males definitely don'

Liberal males definitely don't have them.

They could have averted all

They could have averted all of the whining if they just made the terrorists white male, Christian neo-Nazis, as was done in the movie based on the Tom Clancy book. "Yeah, that's the ticket!"

As I said, I don't think 24 s

As I said, I don't think 24 should divert from what they're doing, or give in, or anything like that. My point has nothing to do with special interest groups. It just makes me uncomfortable. I still love the show, and I'm still going to watch.

Just don't be ramming Muslims

Just don't be ramming Muslims with your SUV... hahaha

Backlash

Backlash?????You haven't seen real backlash until you see what's going to happen to those muslims living down the block from you after they nuke an American city.  You thought beheadings in Iraq were beyond the pale, there won't be a single muslim anywhere in this country who will be safe.  I'd suggest to CAIR that they either do a fast 180 and come down on islamofascism like a 20 ton drop forge, or start arming their constituents,...because brother, they're going to need all the fire power they get!

I'll entertain muslims who wa

I'll entertain muslims who want to fight for a little while, any time. 

Liberalism is a convenient lie.

I'm still uncomfortable that

I'm still uncomfortable that nearly zero "peaceful" muslims have denounced their violent brethren.  Just doesn't make sense.

LOL shrubbo...Hey, they nev

LOL shrubbo...

Hey, they never ran Jack's kompassionate killer message on Sky TV in the UK.

Didn't seem to make any difference either way in the global plans for the neo-Caliphate.

But let's face it, many Muslims probably think "Bauer" sounds too Jewish anyway, so it doesn't matter what he says.

Proud member of the all-powerful and vast militarist/industrialist/capitalist/zionist-bagelist complex

I love how every season of

I love how every season of 24 has a hapless upper middle or middle class white guy/girl/family that unwittingly aids terrorists. It also has lots of incidents of angry, ignorant rednecks who beat the crap out of Arabs. I think the writers/producers are looking to throw in a mish-mash of stereotypes to keep eveyrone guessing and/or to say, "this isn't a political show, this is just good, suspenseful, entertainment."

Arguably the best "liberal," although I'd say it's more Realpolitik/realist position advocated perhaps by this season thus far is this: "negotiating with terrorists, while loathsome an option, sometimes is the best of a handful of equally bad, reprehensible options."

You might not agree with it, but in some instances you can see the debatable logic thereof, and that's what you have with Jack put in a corner where he has to work with and trust a terrorist in order to thwart a more dangerous terrorist.

Sut Jhally is a cultural anal

Sut Jhally is a cultural analyst waaaay over on the left. He's even contributed to the journal Rethinking Marxism.

24

Did they come out and condemn the movie that portrayed the assassination of George W. Bush?

Hey, its only fiction.  You know, artistic freedom and all that.

and this is the kind of press

and this is the kind of pressure that got the producers of Sum of All Fears to change the nationality of their terrorist characters. Soon all movie/TV terrorists will have to be white males - either greedy capitalists, survivalists, neo-nazis, or the like.

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Whining

Chris, soon all terrorists will not only be white males in all TV shows and movies, but they will come from the country of Haliburtonia.

I was going to add "or a

I was going to add "or aliens from another galaxy", but I thought there may be the potential for pressure from the "Intergallactic Alien Anti-Defamation League"... 

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Actually, Chris, I remember s

Actually, Chris, I remember seeing an inane commentary on CBS Snooze Sunday Morning ten years ago when some commentator was saying that the then recent profusion of science fiction television series depicting struggles aganist alien invasion were really allegories for how Americans really felt towards immigrants.  I haven't seen that waste of airtime since.

"HAV3 TH3 BRIDG3S OF INSANITY B33N CROSS3D AND FOR3V3R R3TRACT3D???."  - Meshuggah, "3ntrapm3nt", from Catch Thirty Thr33 (2005)

un,As whacked out as that is,

un,

As whacked out as that is, why am I not surprised? After Dick Tracy came out, it was reported in the Sacramento Bee, that some minority "critics" were charging that the colors used in the sets, costumes, and props were being used as racist "symbols" against African-Americans - if you can imagine that...

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Well, I didn't want to brag, but I just sold CBS my new script.

Well, I didn't want to brag, but I just sold CBS my new script.

"Granny Terrorist"

In a nutshell, after a number of incredibly brilliant plot twists, Granny gets popped in her wheelchair going through Airport Security at Leon Pinetta Airport in San Jose.  The tip off?  Her cane.  Everyone knows if you need a wheel chair, you've graduated from a cane.

ACA

...

Acaiguana says:  "I love blind Monkeys and any inference that I am making fun of blind Monkeys would be wrong.

Except she was holding the 

Except she was holding the red tipped cane for the presidents' newest security 'person', Joe Wilson, who had it stuffed with yellow cake, not that kind, he's a secret eater.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad

You Guys are Missing the Point

It doesn't bother me that they depict Arab Muslims as terrorists.  What really concerns me, and should concern all of you,  is that the "Golden Globes" had a bigger audience than 24.  Those Hollywood celebrities are great and inspiring and 'all of that,' but to choose it over 24?  This country is truly going to hell.

 Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!´´
--Patrick Henry

There's nothing more Americ

There's nothing more American than an awards show!

Next year on 24, the Golden G

Next year on 24, the Golden Globe Awards will be the site for the terrorist strike. It'd be ironic, huh?

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Terrorist strike, lib gutter

Terrorist strike, lib gutter ball. Sounds like a win win for us.

There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad

King of the who?

King of the who?

KOTB-King

KOTB-King--It does bother me very much, but it does not surprise me a whit! I do not watch award shows, I do not watch reality shows. Reality isn't some fool eating worms to win some enormous sum of money. reality is a mushroom cloud over New York or any city in America. Reality is standing up for your country in the face of the attacks, paricularly, the attacks of your fellow citizens in the media. And those who earn these enormous sums of money by entertaining the rest of us in America and use their celebrity and their money to denigrate the President and our country, then hold award programs to aggrandize themselves even more. So, call me an old grouch , if you will, but that's my story and I am sticking with it!!!!

Television shows like '24' al

Television shows like '24' also reinforce stereotypes about Arabs, he said, and in this episode connections are drawn between terrorism, Arabs and nuclear war.

Yeah, there aren't any connections at all between Arab Muslims & terrorism, are there?  Every other show bends over backwards to never display Muslims in any light other than a positive one and 24 then has what I consider a good balance between brushing all Arabs with a wide brush and showing the truth of what is out there, and it's bad. 

24 is a good show because it is pretty balanced (Pres. Palmer's sister & her boss stressing that they're innocent & good versus the terrorists), yet it doesn't shy away from the reality that all of the terrorism caused against the US in the last decade have been from Muslims.

Dutch

Look at it this way, you have

Look at it this way, you have a 95% Liberal Media, that suddenly (or not so suddenly) sees something that they do NOT approve of, on THEIR MEDIA, and they are getting upset at the infringement on THEIR territory.   It's the Wrong propaghanda, it's not in keeping with the mainstream Media bias, it's popularity is a threat...they have to protect their turf..hence, we will be seeing more attacks than the attacks we saw on the show 24....The liberal media is going to come out with an answer...the West wing got canceled.

My tag says it all....

Not all Muslims are Terrorists.  However, all the Terrorists have been Muslim. 

Thank's Robin. I needed that. Leading thinkers of our time.

Thank's Robin.  I needed that.  Leading thinkers of our time.

combined with many of the leading scholars and thinkers of our time including Noam Chomsky, Norman Mailer, Chalmers Johnson, Daniel Ellsberg, Tariq Ali and more.

My goodness.  My gosh.  Golly.  Gee.

I'm  blown away just reading the names.

ACA

...

Acaiguana says:  "I love blind Monkeys and any inference that I am making fun of blind Monkeys would be wrong.

ACA - I almost hurled when I

ACA - I almost hurled when I read that line... What a crock!

Well, it's more than I can think about.

Well, it's more than I can think about.

Actually, this cluster of idiots is what Leftists and Liberals hold up as leading thinking.

ACA

...

Acaiguana says:  "I love blind Monkeys and any inference that I am making fun of blind Monkeys would be wrong.

Come to think of it Robin... He He He

Come to think of it Robin... He He He

In 20 years (I'll probably be dead by then, but what the hey, I can predict, right) the list will be:

Valarie Plame, Harold Wilson, Al Gore, Al Sharpton and Wavy Gravy.

I'm not sure how Wavy got left off the list now.  Maybe he's part of the 'and more.' side of the statement.

ACA

...

Acaiguana says:  "I love blind Monkeys and any inference that I am making fun of blind Monkeys would be wrong.

ACA - Don't forget to add Cin

ACA - Don't forget to add Cindy Sheehan to that list...

"a dangerous climate in

"a dangerous climate in which the public loses some of it's perspective on what's real and what's not"

Actually, I submit that's exactly what happens as a result of watching the liberal biased MSM nightly news or reading The New York Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post...

The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.

- Arabian Proverb

Somebody tell those bozos at

Somebody tell those bozos at CAIR that we all realize that the terrorists are not red-headed, light skinned, freckle faced Irishmen or blonde, light skinned, tall Swedes.  And that we do realize that all terrorists are mid-Easterners.  So we don't need 24 to sort it all out for us.  Chill out and enjoy the show.