Muslim Group Successfully Kills Planned ABC Series
Without having even seen an episode, CAIR’s Los Angeles branch pressured the network to rethink the project.
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B. Christopher Agee — March 24, 2014
abc
The activism of the Council on American-Islamic Relations has been well documented by many sources over the past several years. Whenever the group senses the slightest insult against the Islamic, it demands the offending party immediately cease whatever activity has been deemed inappropriate.
While Christians and Jews routinely face hateful attacks on their faith, they are expected to absorb such abuse based on America’s First Amendment protections. Most believers understand this; and, though the pejoratives might sting, they generally respect the constitutional right of free expression.
CAIR, on the other hand, has a long history of intimidation against those who dare portray Islam in a less-than-optimal light. The group has led protests against numerous television and film projects that include Muslim antagonists – despite the fact that countless other scripts include villains of other faiths and elicit no such outrage.
The organization’s latest target was an ABC Family show called “Alice in Arabia.”
Without having even seen an episode, CAIR’s Los Angeles branch pressured the network to rethink the project. Head writer Brooke Eikmeier explained that the series was actually designed to “give Arabs and Muslims a voice on American TV.”
CAIR, however, was not convinced.
“We are concerned that, given media references to the main character ‘surviving life behind the veil,’ the pilot and any resulting series may engage in stereotyping that can lead to things like bullying of Muslim students,” the group said in a statement.
Though the network expressed hope last week that “people will wait to judge this show on its actual merits once it is filmed,” recent reports indicate the entire project has been scrapped due to the manufactured controversy.
“The current conversation surrounding our pilot was not what we had envisioned,” an ABC Family spokesperson said, “and is certainly not conducive to the creative process, so we’ve decided not to move forward with this project.”
–B. Christopher Agee
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http://www.westernjournalism.com/muslim-group-successfully-kills-planned-abc-series/#rQYXLTP4rLs8IwSk.99
