Posted on 05/17/2003 7:41:37 PM PDT by knak
Washington: Suspicious glances follow them everywhere. American Muslims who have nothing to do with terrorism have taken an initiative to convey the truth about themselves through a unique cable network.
About six million to eight million Muslims currently reside in the United States, yet pop culture images of them are scant beyond the nightly news reports chronicling the war on terrorism and Hollywood portrayals of Islamic extremists blowing up buses in Brooklyn.
There isn't a single recurring Muslim character, for example, on a sitcom or drama. Some 1,500 other American Muslims are eager to change that -- so eager that they're willing to pay 10 dollars a month for a fledgling cable television network that doesn't even exist yet, reports Wired News.
Mo Hassan, a New York banker and ex-Procter and Gamble marketer, and Omar Amanat, founder of the Tradescape Internet brokerage, are betting that many more people will to do the same.
The founders of the new Bridges TV network hope that by delivering 10,000 "pre-subscribers" they will convince major cable companies to take on the first nationwide English-language Muslim television channel in the United States by the summer of 2004.
Hassan and Amanat say they plan to offer programming that resonates with the real-life experiences of moderate American Muslims.
"American Muslim life is, for the most part, quite similar to mainstream American life," said Hassan.
"But for an American-born Muslim kid growing up in America, there are virtually no realistic portrayals of Muslims in dramas, sitcoms, soap operas or talk shows."
Despite backing by celebrities like Muhammad Ali and early interest from viewers and investors, Bridges TV has its skeptics.
Mostapha Saout, president of multicultural advertising agency Allied Media, is one of them.
"Muslim and Arab Americans are concentrated in the top 20 cities, which are already saturated with cable stations," Saout said.
"And those 10,000 subscribers -- when you break it down per cable station nationwide -- it's not that many."
Saout said that most ethnically focused cable stations are subsidised by established networks or overseas governments, so being a start-up just adds to Bridges TV's list of challenges.
Source: The News (Jang Group)
What would a Muslim sitcom look like? I can just see two Muslim men talking to each other, Mohammed and Abdulah. Mohammed takes out his wallet and shows Abdulah some photos of his boys. Abdulah looks at Mohammed and says, "My, they blow up so fast these days". ;o)
If it's so similar, then why do you need your own programming? Why do you seek to actively set yourself apart by claiming to be overlooked?
Well, yes. One wrong joke and you can get a fatwa issued against you.
This should be enough to maky anyone leave that oppressive "religion" and find something safer and more conducive to peace and prosperity. They leave the terrain where the oppression occured, but bring the theology and ideology of oppression to America with them.
If they feel they are being misrepresented, they can get their own TV show and set the record straight.. and let the free market decide if the enterprise is viable or not.
I think it's wonderful.. That's exactly the way you should do it.
No bombs, no terrorism, no demands laced with murderous threats. Just the free market and a desire to educate people and tell their side of the story.
Bravo!
My, thats a rather large brush, don't ya think?
--then again, there isn't a single recurring Southern Baptist, either. Or Morman, or Pentacostal, etc., etc.
I'll believe this when I see them marching under banners reading "End Sharia Law Now!!!"
So, gun owners comprise the pond in which criminals who use firearms swim and thrive with inpugnity. Every gun owner has something to do with crime in America.
Catholics and Protestants comprise the pond in which republican and unionist paramilitaries swim and thrive with inpugnity. Every Catholic and Protestant has something to do with terrorism in NI.
Twisted logic; that which says that simply being a Muslim connects you with terrorism.
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