Did Seinfeld address controversial strikes by the Israeli security forces against Palestinian civilians in the 1990s? Or did the show just happen to include Jewish characters peacefully coexisting in modern American society and dealing with lighthearted sitcom-type situations just like most of the other characters on TV?
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And the best way for whites to convince the rest of the world they aren’t racists is to stop electing racists to lead western countries.
And we all know how well that’s working.
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But how do you know they are REALLY racist, like deep in their heart, harboring hate for POC? /s
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Avenue Q!?! That’s librul claptrap! /s
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Just like every TV show that features Christians addresses the issue of Christianity and homophobia.
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Also, note that, according to the Pew Research Center, in the U.S.* 45% of Muslims think homosexuality should be accepted. Right in between 36% among Evangelical Protestants & Mormons and 51% among Historically Black Protestants. Not good, but not out of line with other strongly religious communities.
* The population being discussed in the video.
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So in your view, for positive non-stereotypical views of Muslim families to be presented, they must first eliminate the fanatical homophobes from practicing the same faith? So no more Christians on TV then. Okay.
I’m an atheist. I’d love to see positive depictions of socially conscious morally resolute syncretically inclusive atheists like me instead of stereotypes of socially inept sociopathic nihilistic militants with god complexes which is how we’re usually depicted. I’m not Dawkins. I don’t have to answer for him to earn my right as a human being not to be feared, hated and vilified by prejudices about what kind of characters can sell a TV show or movie. Neither Reza Aslan nor the millions and millions of ordinary Muslims who aren’t violent fanatics have to answer for ISIS, any more than Christians have to answer for the KKK, before being allowed to have honest positive non-prejudiced depictions in popular culture.
The main difference in this arena between atheists like myself and Muslims such as Aslan is that in the West today they face even more ignorant fear and hatred than we do.
I’m not trying to be belligerent or attack you - I often find your comments enjoyable and insightful - but I felt it was important to strongly address the common misconception about who is responsible for who that’s baked into much of the discussion and seemed to be part of your argument. I hope I did it respectfully.
On a more general note, here is the Fox interview Aslan referred to in the video. It’s worth a watch.
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I recommend
Here, take this:
(No, really, take it. Don’t worry about getting it back to us, you can keep it.)
I was surprised by that number. It was a pretty small sample size, but the survey question was pretty unambiguous. Interesting.
Exactly.
Also, a former Evangelical Christian with a PhD in Christian history is exactly the type of person who I’d want to write a book about the historical Jesus. I highly recommend his book, although it’s definitely a history book and neither religious nor entertaining.
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Those shows are unbelievably plentiful.
A ton on Free-to-air Satellite TV. Also the radio in Ohio, Oregon, Texas, etc.
Or just Texas, full stop.
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Goose, Gander, medical advice.
Seinfeld included plenty of references to Judaism. Remember “The Bris” or “The Shiksa Appeal” or the “Anti-Dentite” bit? It wasn’t a show about Judaism the religion, it was about characters who happened to be Jewish just like plenty of other ordinary Americans.
That’s the kind of show we’re talking about. Not one where Islam needs to be front and center, but one with characters who happen to be Muslim because that is a thing in America and that community deserves representation.
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So you’re OK with a show that features Arab American characters acting like everyday Americans as long as they aren’t members of the religious faith followed by a majority of Arab Americans. How inclusive of you.
You seem to be missing the entire point of representation here: to get past islamophobia Americans need to see Muslims portrayed as regular people just like how seeing LGBT characters on TV helped America make progress on fighting homophobia.
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He’s the one who compared acceptance of Muslims to acceptance of gays, holding up Will and Grace and Modern Family as examples of shows for him to imitate. That’s on Aslan.
Again, it was Aslan who brought up Will and Grace and Modern Family up as exemplars to be followed. If a JW said he wanted a show about about Jehovah’s Witness to mainstream them and held up Will and Grace and Modern Family as exemplars I’d say the exact same thing.
In the US, there are many Christian groups who opposed homosexuality. That’s a valid thing to point out. However, world-wide, Muslims overwhelmingly consider homosexuality immoral;
[quote]Muslims overwhelmingly say that homosexual behavior is morally wrong, including three-quarters or more in 33 the 36 countries where the question was asked.
Only in three countries do as many as one-in -ten Muslims say that homosexuality is morally acceptable: Uganda (12%), Mozambique (11%) and Bangladesh (10%). In most countries surveyed, fewer than one-in -ten Muslims believe homosexual behavior is not a moral issue. The exceptions are Bangladesh (14%), Guinea Bissau (14%) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (10%). [/quote]
The death penalty for homosexuality is only found in Islamic countries - so there are aspects of homophobia that are stronger in modern Islam than in modern Christianity.
However, if American Islam is so liberal compared to Islam world-wide, then my call for Resa’s show to have accepted gay Muslim characters (given his invocation of Will and Grace and Modern Family as exemplars to follow) should be no big deal, right?
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This is in fact a perfect example of why there wont be “Muslim representation” on TV. Seinfeld was a perfect example of the sorts of safe Jews that most TV viewers want to see: no religious expression, ashkenazi, etc. These days we get Howard Walowitz.
The thing is that even though Jews have been in America before it was a country, characters living a real Jewish life would just be too weird & alien for TV viewers. Muslims have a much shorter public history in America and considering how negative the publicity in the last 15 years has been, they come off as even more alien.
Honestly Jews dont need another Seinfeld or Howard Wallowitz and the Muslims certainly dont need the equivalent.
No true Scotsman Jew
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Even if you are technically correct, I stand my ground on this. Once a minority assimilates as completely as is represented on TV to where any reference to their original culture is the subject of a joke, there’s nothing real left.
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