| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Silencing Muslim moderates |
| 2007-04-10 |
| If Dr. Zuhdi Jasser were a Christian - and he emphatically is not - we might deem him a saint. But Jasser is a Muslim. He believes in his religion as fervently as any Catholic bishop believes in his. Or any Muslim imam, for that matter. He is faithful to the Quran, which Jasser believes conveys a message of peace. Because of his faith, and because of what he has done to act on his faith, Jasser has evolved into an extraordinary symbol of what true heroism means in the post-Sept. 11 world. He is a Muslim and an American. And he is a man of peace - a rare, bold iconoclast who is willing to speak out against people who, he believes, have stolen his faith for evil ends. So, is Zuhdi Jasser what you might call a "moderate" Muslim? If you do, then the Public Broadcasting Service has a problem with you. On April 15, PBS, along with its Washington, D.C., affiliate, WETA, will begin airing an 11-part series of documentaries titled America at a Crossroads. It is described by PBS as "a major public television event . . . that explores the challenges confronting the post-9/11 world," and much of what it explores is the clash of Western values and those of fundamentalist Muslims. Until earlier this year, a part of that exploration was to include a segment on Muslims living in the West - in places like Copenhagen, Paris, Toronto and Phoenix - and their clashes with Muslim fundamentalists who often explicitly align themselves with violence and, sometimes, with terrorists. The segment was titled, Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center. By and large, the clashes it depicted involved people like Jasser condemning violence perpetrated in the name of Islam, and fundamentalist imams condemning the Jassers of the world as false Muslims. In some cases, the documentary showed fundamentalists talking candidly about shutting up the moderates in their midst. And, in one case involving a moderate Muslim politician in Denmark, it caught them talking about shutting him up permanently. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #3 That academic, Dr. Aminah Beverly McCloud of DePaul University, screened a cut of Islam vs. Islamists for a group of Nation of Islam leaders - a rather serious breach of journalism protocol, considering that the Nation of Islam was a major part of Burke's Islam vs. Islamists investigation. A curious and highly selective breach of ethics. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-04-10 14:22 |
| #2 Public Broadcasting should stick to physics, Antiques Roadshow, and This Old House, unless those are too controversial, too. |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2007-04-10 13:13 |
| #1 Ah... our fearless media bravely standing up for the American publics' "right to know", for "freedom of the press" and "speaking truth to power". And let's not forget "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable". Anyone mind if I go and have a quick vomit? I always feel nauseated when I think of how our press talks the talk... but never walks the walk. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2007-04-10 10:49 |