Gathering Speed

Viewer Discretion Advised

Haven’t gotten anything out there in a while, but then again nothing has gotten me wound up enough to rant about. I have no idea if that sentence is grammatically correct, but I’m not going back to edit it. I don’t want to. There it is.

Muslim groups and Islamic-American watchdog organizations are all bent out of shape about this season of 24, saying they are concerned that it is painting a bad picture of arabs. In an actual quote, a spokesman said: “After watching that show, I was afraid to go to the grocery store because I wasn’t sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality.” This person is a preening blowhard. Can’t differentiate between TV and reality? Angry that it’s painting a bad picture? The people who are going to be influenced by things they see on TV aren’t going to be by a fictional show that says Viewer Discretion Advised at the beginning. If anything, I don’t know, they might be influenced by the sectarian violence and anti-americanism going on in the middle east. While I’m not in favor of singling out ethnic groups and making sweeping judgements, it is a statement of fact that every IED in Iraq was designed and placed by a muslim gentleman with the intentions of killing an american soldier. So if I’m going to be a small minded thug and say that all muslims are out to kill me, I’m going to get my information from the news…reality…, not 24. It is equally small minded and stupid to be unable to differentiate between the lunatics (yes, lunatics) in the middle east who danced in the streets on 9/11 and the american citizens who happen to be from one of these countries. While it is a statement of fact that sleeper cells may exist, 99.99999999% of the muslims in this country are good people. It’s like any other religion, you’ve got your fundamentalist, every-word-literally nutjobs everywhere. 24 is not saying that all muslims are terrorists, but all jihadists are arabs. Just like every militant doctor-shooting pro-lifer is a Christian.

This wouldn’t make me so mad if 24 wasn’t GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY TO PROVE THE POINT THAT ARABS ARE GETTING A BAD RAP FOR THIS! For Christssake, you letter-writing xenophobes, there’s a whole storyline following the mistreatment of a member of an Islamic-American Anti-Defimation group! It’s making your goddamn point for you! They’re just angry that a show is doing more to dictate what jingoism can actually do than these watchdog group’s pamphlets. Watch the show before you whip out your pen and get all pissed. Plus, if you recall, the last time there was a muslim-related terrorist attack (season 2), there was an evil white capitalist who was really to blame in the background!

24’s not racist; these letter-writers are. Morons. Same idiots who wrote angry letters about Borat being anti-semetic. Nothing to do with religion, race or whatever. Everything to do with assholes who want to get their picture in front of the camera. Imbeciles who shout at the top of their lungs about “Not wanting our children to see a difference between people” while at the same time demanding kids become indoctrinated in traditions that make them “proud to be different.” Don’t look at us differently, but we’re going to be different. Cake and eating it. Don’t hold a PTA meeting because a kindergartener asks a jewish classmate why he’s wearing a yarmulke. EXPLAIN IT, DON’T PANIC!

Don’t get upset about things you don’t understand, don’t assume that fiction (which happens to mirror reality) is going to paint a bad picture of you, and don’t keep shoveling coal into this engine of racism. That’s all these watchdog groups do; make people sit down and study the cosmetic differences between people. Oh no, we didn’t have an Asian person in our miller lite commercial. Are we saying that Asian people don’t like miller lite? Quick, photoshop one in there. Bam, a person becomes a ‘one’.

These are the same idiots who go to Kenya and go “Wow, look at all the minorities.” It’s the same people who don’t want anyone to say Christmas tree, but instead Holiday tree. The tree is linked to Christmas! It’s a Christian holiday! I’m not a Christian, but I call it a goddamn Christmas tree because that’s what it is! What, are you fooling people when you say Holiday tree? Is there someone out there who’s going, “So, when the oil for the lanterns in the desert lasted an unexpected 8 days and 8 nights, there was a temperate PINE TREE IN THE CORNER OF THE ROOM?!?” The people who are so terrified of saying something offensive or racist are incredibly racist and offensive because they’re recognizing lines that can’t cross, which does little more than highlight the lines themselves. Stop seeing the lines and all of this goes away.

I HATE stupid people. Or maybe I just think I do because of the ones I’ve seen on TV.