FOX TV Show ‘24’ Angers Arab/Muslim Fans in the United States and Abroad

by Rima Abdelkader

NEW YORK, 19 January 2007: Arab/Muslim fans of the Fox hit television series ‘24’ are angered by the portrayal of Arabs/Muslims in its sixth season that appeared on two nights, Sunday, January 14 and on Monday, January 15, 2007.  On Sunday night, viewers watched characters representing suicide bombers in the United States, blowing up buses and subways, ordinary Americans committing hate crimes towards Arabs/Muslims, presidential advisors advocating illegally rounding up Arabs/Muslims in detention centers, as well as men appearing in “Guantanamo Bay” type orange jumpsuits.  Then, a nuclear explosion in Los Angeles is represented on its next, Monday night episode.  These fans are concerned about their image and safety.  They also fear what may become of the fictional episodes of ‘24’, since, they say, it fails to clearly distinguish between fact and fiction.  This Fox television series has made a huge impact on its Arab/Muslim fan base in the United States and abroad.  Through email, I had the opportunity to communicate with some of them and capture their reactions to these recent episodes.

Bilal Mian, a self-proclaimed ‘24’ fan and a Rutgers University student from NJ, says, “I consider ‘24’ as probably the best show that I have seen on TV.  However, Bilal says, “The Muslim community needs to look at Season 6 of ‘24’ seriously.  If any type of terrorist attack occurs in America, the reactions from the non-Muslim citizens are what we should suspect.”  His feelings, he says, derive from the reactions of ordinary Americans after the attacks of September 11th where Arabs/Muslims were vulnerable to bias attacks, deportation, and racial profiling.

He continues, “Being a Muslim, it just felt like everything that was happening during the show was hitting me hard.  The fact that they have hatred towards America also helps make the new season of ‘24’ more believable.” He adds that he sees no difference between the fictional show and today’s current climate of the “War on Terror”.

Each season of ‘24’ happens in one day, where each show is one hour, and it is all documented by federal agent Jack Bauer, who is played by actor Kiefer Sutherland, where Jack works with the Counter Terrorist Unit (CTU) Los Angeles office and attempts to prevent a potential terrorist attack from happening in the United States.

In these past two episodes, Jack is shown fighting terrorism through torture and other violent means in a world where citizens are shown afraid and suspicious of Arabs/Muslims in their neighborhoods.  Presidential Advisor Tom, played by Peter MacNicol, is shown advocating racial profiling and the rounding up of Arabs/Muslims, seen by Arab/Muslim fans as similar to that of Japanese Americans during World War II.  They also see this as a clear reminder of the attacks on September 11th  where upon, they say, these episodes seem less fictional than the 6-year reality they have experienced post-9/11, a climate in which the U.S. Department of Justice had in fact rounded up Arabs/Muslims and persons who merely look “Arab” or “Muslim”.  Furthermore, Principal Palmer’s sister Sandra, acted by Regina King, an attorney and legal counselor for the Islamic-American Alliance, is arrested for deleting her employees’ personal information that federal agents are seeking.  She accuses the administration of violating employees’ civil liberties in the name of national security.  In reality, the United States has passed many anti-terrorism bills that limit the availability of public records, expand government surveillance powers, and threaten people’s civil liberties.

In terms of hate crimes against Arab and Muslim Americans, Munira Syeda from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says, “Overall, the number of civil rights complaints reported by Arab and Muslim Americans has increased in the past five years, with a total of 1972 complaints reported during 2005.”

In Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, author Edward W. Said speaks of an East-West divide arguing that a lack of knowledge about Islam has led people to misinterpret the religion as well as its culture and to form hostility towards them.  Dr. Jack Shaheen, who has documented and examined over 900 motion pictures since 1893 that include Arabs/Muslims, agrees.  In my talk with Dr. Shaheen, he says, “Fox TV’s ‘24’ persistently and consistently defames Arabs/Muslims more than any other group.”  He asks, “Why and who is the ultimate beneficiary of such stereotypical depictions?”

According to Dr. Shaheen, “The average American knows little about Arabs/Muslims or the Arab World.”  He says, we often see images of Arabs/Muslims with machine guns on the screen and this unfortunately generates stereotypes and hatred in the minds of the public.  Dr. Shaheen adds he is not surprised that Arabs/Muslims in the United States and abroad have responded negatively towards this show.

Ramsay Short, a British-Arab journalist, says, “I have watched every single series of ‘24’ up to now - that is seasons 1-5 - and loved them for the dramatic pieces of action they are.”  However, he says, “ ‘24’ doesn’t give a positive image of Arab-Americans.”

In an email campaign dispatched on Wednesday, Engy Abdelkader, an Arab-American lawyer and a member of the NJ American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, encouraged Arabs/Muslims to write to Fox News, out of her concern about these past two episodes of ‘24’.  In her email, she wrote, “the four hour premiere slandered and stereotyped Muslims and Arabs as terrorists and America’s enemies, intent on a nuclear Armageddon.”

Sawsan Zaky, an Arab-American law student and a member of the Network of Arab-American Professionals of NY (NAAP-NY), agreed with Engy’s sentiment and said, “I’m sad to say that up until last night, ‘24’ was pretty much the only television show I was willing to watch.”  She added, “I think it’s disgusting and simply irresponsible of the producers and the network to portray the Muslim community as if it were crawling with terrorists, particularly considering the current social and political atmosphere and the anti-Muslim/anti-Arab sentiment that is unfortunately so prevalent in our nation today.”

One news anchor joined the dispute and commented on these past two episodes.  MSNBC News Anchor Keith Olbermann, who is known for being critical of Fox News and its coverage, from “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” said on his Wednesday night show, “24 is back.  It dropped the bomb literally.  Al Gore makes a movie about global warming and gets smeared as a fearmonger.  Fox portrays a fictionalized America riddled with terrorists, which helps keep part of the real America convinced we might really be riddled with terrorists.  And it wins five Emmys and two Golden Globes?  Gripping drama or thinly veiled propaganda?”  This type of sentiment is not new as the show has been viewed as controversial because of its unique fan base, which include Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Vice President Dick Cheney, Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Barbra Streisand and Senator John McCain.  Surprising to most news pundits and commentators, including Olbermann, John McCain even made a cameo appearance on one of the ‘24’ episodes even though he has spoken out against torture.

Arab/Muslim fans want the producers of ‘24’ to challenge viewers to look beyond the political stereotypes, that of terrorism and fundamentalism, and see each others as equals, rather than as “terrorists” and marginalized peoples.

Alia Tarraf, an Arab-American actress from NY, who performed in the past New York Arab-American Comedy Festival, says, “The problem with ‘24’ is that it not only grasps the twisted idea that all Arabs/Muslims are scary suicide-bombers, which Al Qaeda/Hezbollah etc. and the media have successfully created, but it furthers that extreme thought, pushing it in order to sell fear, which drives ratings, which cashes the big bucks.”

“It’s a bit sickening to think that an American program is driving more ignorance and hurting Arabs/Muslims lives in America just so that some multi-million dollar executives can make an extra buck,” she adds.

One Muslim fan says, despite these past two episodes and the criticism it has received, he will continue to watch ‘24’, but with an eye of caution.  Bilal from NJ says, “I love ‘24’ and will continue to watch my hero, Jack Bauer, save the day yet again.  Jack Bauer is a man who will do his job right and a perfect hero figure no matter where a person’s heritage lies.  The season will bring up issues that everyone should look at.  After such a dramatic ending of the 4th episode, I think Fox should at least put up a disclaimer for Muslims saying that Islam is not a violent religion, but there are radical groups out there twisting the religion and distorting the image of a peaceful religion.”

Fox News aired a commercial in 2005 after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained of the portrayal of Arabs/Muslims on ‘24’ where Kiefer Sutherland explained how the show’s bad characters do not correspond to all Muslims.

With the recent episodes from 2007, Munira from CAIR says, “We have communicated the American Muslim community’s concerns about this season’s story line to Fox officials and will work with the network to help viewers distinguish between televised fiction and actual world events.”