Teaching Kids About Discrimination
Cue the public outcry: According to the Florida Family Association, TLC's new show, All-American Muslim is a threat to life, limb, and national security. The show, deemed so controversial that national hardware chain Lowe's pulled all its advertising, covers topics like jobs, babies, school, finances, and a family dinner out.
Wait. I thought this was a threat to our society. Where's the bomb lab or screaming rhetoric? This seems almost boring compared to what's featured in the daily media... and apparently that's the problem.
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According to the FFA, the show is "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." And how does this show do that? It spent an entire episode dedicated to the birth of a family's first child. You see, this show portrays "only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish." Apparently, it's unfair to only show moderates of a religion instead of focusing on extremists instead. (All I can say is, if reality television shows our traditional values and liberties, it's a good thing we have The Real Housewives of New Jersey to teach us about good American ways!)
Sadly, this type of anti-Muslim sentiment and discrimination-sentiments that many American Muslims both on and off the show face on a regular basis-is exactly what the show was trying to work against. My best friend, a Muslim, recently had to find new schools for her four young children after their mostly Muslim charter school was first threatened to be "burned down with all the children inside" (and they're the ones accused of being terrorists?) and then closed by the state for reasons that are spurious at best. Religious discrimination is still alive and well in our society.
To be fair, aside from the "propaganda" issue, it seems people find watching a show about ordinary Muslims uninteresting. The show's ratings have been consistently low, and until now, most reviews have involved yawns or Jon Stewart falling asleep. I'll admit that I watched most of the first episode and then never tuned in again because I, too, was bored. It seems we like our media to be polarizing, and maybe in that respect, this protest by the FFA and Lowe's removal of ads will be a gift to us by calling attention to a serious problem that needs to be addressed in all our communities. What are we teaching our children about religious discrimination when shows are "boring" and "dangerous" because they show that minorities are just like the rest of us?
Have you ever watched a full episode of this television show? What do you teach your children about religious discrimination?
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