Muslim anger at terror plot in TV drama 24

[True_Blue]

Jack Bauer is no stranger to trouble. Rarely do the maverick actions of the special agent in the American TV series 24 pass without incident. As a colleague of Bauer once observed: 'Have you noticed, wherever you go there's a body count?'

Now it appears Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is as capable of generating controversy off screen as on. British Muslims have expressed their fears at the way the latest series depicts Islam, saying it feeds negative stereotypes.

<snip>

The Muslim Council of Britain is so angered by the plotline, which takes place in 'real time' and stretches across 24 episodes, that it has asked the media regulator, Ofcom, to investigate the show, saying it breaches broadcasting codes by misrepresenting ethnic minorities.

'We are greatly concerned by the unremittingly hostile and unbalanced portrayal of Muslims in this series of 24 based upon a preview of the first five episodes that we have seen,' said Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain.
more....
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1401685,00.html

[Flagg]

1. delete

[dsc]

2. huh?

The VP hasn't even made an appearence on this. You might be thinking of Sec of Defense.

[gizmo1979]

3. I really like 24

One of my favorite shows!

[Cocoa]

6. I liked "Red Dawn"

which turned out to be one of the most ridiculous campy bad propaganda movies of all time.

Keep in mind as you watch "24," , looking back in a few years, this show will make "Red Dawn," "Rambo" and "Missing in Action" look like documentaries.

[Jonathan_Hoag]

4. That's nonsense ...

Somebody has to be the villain. Are Mafia movies anti-Italian? Or drug trafficing movies anti-South American? Or cold war era James Bond movies anti Russian?

[w13rd0]

5. Thing is...

...they are taking it in the direction (which they usually do) of "not everything is as it seems". CSU already knows the internet trial was a sham to cover for other activities. The daughter of the SecDef identified a very caucasian man at the scene. They know that somehow a military contractor affiliated with the Heritage Foundation is involved...

[Jonathan_Hoag]

8. So I guess if the true villain is white ...

can the whiote people complain at the same Brittish censorship agency for diffamation?

By the way: as far as excesses of faux-diffamation go, I loved the "Legitimate Businessmen Antidiffamation League" from the Simpsons.

[BattyDem]

10. And last week ...

it was revealed that the new African-American woman at CTU (sorry, I can't remember her name at the moment) is working for someone other than CTU - she called someone and informed them that CTU is aware that the internet trial was a diversion. Could she be a mole? They always seem to have a very easy time infiltrating CTU, LOL!

Anyway, 24 always has so many twists and turns during the season - last year started with Mexican villains and ended up with a British bad guy - so regardless of how things may appear at the moment, it's very likely that things will change.

[sundancekid]

7. oh, puhleeze -- can't the brits differentiate facts from fiction yet??

and this outrage from the people who brought us niger yellowcake, being a coalition partner against wmd's in iraq ... me thinks they doth protest too much

[Nancy Waterman]

9. I love this show

But I have to admit, before this came out in the news a few days ago, I had already wondered why they didn't have at least one "good" Muslim working at the CTU, along with a few of his friends in the background, as posiitve characters on the show. I noticed it and my 16 year old son noticed it, and we both found it a bit harsh and unbalanced. I am not at all surprised the Muslim community is angry. So would any other minority community be angry at this.

[BattyDem]

11. It looks like ...

Behrooz is going to turn out to be the "good" Muslim ... and once Dina (his mother) finds out that his father ordered his death, she may switch sides as well. As I said in my other post, circumstances on 24 change from week to week ... just because someone is "bad" this week, that doesn't mean they'll stay that way.

The thing I like about 24 is that the characters aren't black and white. Good guys do bad things and bad guys do good things. For example, up until last week, Heller (William Devane) was the victim. You felt sorry for the guy ... but then he ordered CTU to torture his own son, which made you think "WTF?"