Dear Jack

Hi, Jack. How've you been? I was glad to hear you survived your ordeal with the Chinese. 20-months is a long time. In China do they still call it Chinese Water Torture or do they subject you to American Waterboarding? Just wondering. Anyway, I had been enjoying your sixth day of action in six years, marvelling at how well the formula still works. The scene with Curtis was classic '24'. It was at turns gripping, tense, emotional--a pure adrenaline rush and of course completely contrived (I mean c'mon, Curtis didn't have much of a character to start with, but that seemed completely out of line with how he'd been portrayed in the past). So I gotta say, you haven't missed a beat. But with that I also regret to inform you that I will no longer be able to follow your pseudo-real-time adventures in counter-terrorism. I know you won't miss me too much. I mean you've got fans numbering in the tens of millions, not to mention Rush Limbaugh.

You must be asking yourself, "Why? We've been through so much and right now you have a duty to your country to see this thing through--Chloe, damn it! I need that satellite coverage right now or we're going to lose him!" Well it's kind of complicated, Jack. You see at first I thought, "it's just a TV show." But then some good friends of mine pointed out that it's "just a TV show" that reaches tens of millions of viewers per week, not to mention the audience garnered from DVD and syndication. To put it simply: you've become a part of the public consciousness. You've joined the pantheon of immortal American iconic heroes such as John Wayne, Superman, John McClane and The Man from Atlantis (okay, maybe not him--he was cooler than ALL those guys). Having staked your claim on the vast cultural landscape has given you power--namely the power to influence perceptions.

This season's ostensible villains are Arab terrorists, Islamists presumably. In true '24' fashion, I'd expect that later on in the season the villain will turn out to be somebody else who merely used the terrorists as pawns, but that's not really important. What is important is the power of images and this season started off with a doozy. We see a suspicious looking Indian-looking fellow (who I guess was supposed to be Arab) detonate himself on a crowded public bus in downtown L.A. The storyline takes place in the unspecified near-future during the 11th week of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. It is the definition of a "nightmare"-scenario. It is the realization of every Americans' post 9/11 fear--the moment when the 'barbarians' breach the gates, so to speak. As a dramatic hook, obviously this isn't bad. It gets the viewer hooked immediately which has always been one of the show's strongpoints. However considering we are: fighting wars in two Middle Eastern nations; employing a foreign policy that vexes and infuriates a great majority of the region; seeing increasing tension in European nations w/r/t their Muslim populations, I'd say that the scenario '24' posits is at best exploitative and at worst incendiary. It's grossly irresponsible to aggravate an already volatile situation.

In light of current events and trends, one could argue that ‘24’’s premise for this season hasn’t extrapolated that far from reality. ( I’d bet money that Michael Chertoff and Robert Gates watch the show, pen and pad in hand.) And maybe that’s what bothers me so much about the show these days. It’s not as if it makes light of the issue of domestic terrorism; it’s that this issue, the preeminent issue of the last decade is fodder for an entertainment vehicle. The show isn’t superficial in tackling the topic, but it’s not PBS Frontline either which to be fair it isn’t striving to be.

To watch the show, I find myself having to rationalize in the same manner I do when it comes to rap music. I love the Clipse, but they perpetuate negative images of black folks. So, I’ll say to myself, “Self, it’s okay to listen to them, because you are educated and have a job and don’t deal drugs and don’t ‘ride around shining’ (even if you think it might be fun just once).” But it’s really not okay is it, self? Bad self! But I digress. With ‘24’ I have to make an equally specious argument: “Well the people from the Middle East I know aren’t terrorists.” This completely evades the question of whether the images proffered are debilitating to image of Arabs (-American and otherwise).

Arabs in Western media have rarely enjoyed any kind of positive portrayal on the big or small screen. It seems like every bad guy from the 80's and 90's that wasn't Russian was of some unspecified Middle Eastern origin. I can't think of one Arab character from a sitcom or drama except for the Soup Nazi. Television, our default gateway into all experiences with foreign cultures, has been exceptionally one-dimensional w/r/t the Arab community both internal and external.

I'm sure there are a million reasons for this, not all as sinister as people might expect.

Despite this, Muslims should refrain from cries of double-standards. I always hear, “If it were the Jews being portrayed like this…” Yeah, so what? It’s not the Jews. And if the Jews do manage (and this is debatable anyway) to keep a tight leash on how they are portrayed in the media, why is this a knock against them? Don’t turn yourselves into a group of ‘Jeannies’. You remember Jeannie, right? She was the ever-annoyed/envious sister of Ferris Bueller. She spends the entire movie whining about how unfair it is that Ferris gets all the breaks from parents, teachers, total strangers, etc. Remember how much you disliked her? So follow the immortal words Charlie Sheen imparts to her in the police station scene: "You oughta spend a little more time dealing with yourself and a little less time worrying about what your brother does. It's just an opinion." Sound advice.

It is interesting to read many of the comments people make on message boards when it comes to shows like ‘24’. One popular argument seems to be that Muslims need to speak out against the terrorists, condemn attacks and the radicalization of their religion as if this action in itself will reduce the pervasiveness of the threat. However, just as a mainstream Christian would have little or no sway over a Branch Davidian practitioner of the faith in deterring him or her from engaging in perceived deviant behaviors, a moderate Muslim’s denouncement would prove equally ineffectual. In short, if a muthaf@$@# wanna act crazy, they gonna act crazy.

Going back to the central point: images have power. What does it do to a viewer to be constantly inundated with images of swarthy (a word made just for Arabs it seems) men with shifty eyes and sweat-dampened faces speaking fervently about wiping your family and its dog off the face of the Earth? Worse is when we see them actually achieve some modicum of success. This goes quite a long ways to reinforce the ever-burgeoning negative image most Arab-Americans must shoulder the weight for.

I imagine many Arabs here and abroad when they hear news regarding any kind of suspicious casualty-causing incident play the game most black people are familiar with, saying to themselves, “Please don’t let the suspect be Arab.” Imagine dealing with racial profiling, suspicious looks cast wherever you go, hearing people speak about socio-political topics with severely limited understanding and perspective. I guess what I’m saying is imagine being black. Well I don’t have to imagine; it sucks (not being black, I rather like that, but the obstacles you’re confronted with on occasion). This reductive division of the Arab populace into bad-Arabs (terrorists) and good-Arabs (those who aid you, Mr. Bauer, and the U.S. government) isn’t what I’d call a “fair” representation of Arabs unless you mean “fair” in the FoxNews sense. (And honestly I’m ambivalent towards the “good” Arab characters; Assad is a former terrorist apparently responsible for hundreds of deaths and Al-Rezani allows his civil rights to be blatantly violated in order to show just how much of a “good” Arab he can be).

I'd love to see and hear more varied viewpoints that deal honestly with the deteriortating situation we find ourselves in. There are so many voices that go unheard or rather can't be heard beneath the din of the cowboys and indians.

So, Jack, as you can see I've thought about this for a while. I'm sorry, but I'm sure you'll do just fine without me. After all, you'll always have Rush.