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All American Muslim


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while sitting through the Duggar's drivel I saw a new promo for TLC's new show featuring Muslims who live in America and how they deal with the challenges of that especially with the post 9/11 paranoia. This is one show I will be watching.

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I will also be watching it. I'm surprised that the Duggar fans aren't bitching about their precious Duggars sharing a network with Muslims.

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I'm very curious and will likely be watching although I do try to avoid most things on TLC.

I have a few Muslim friends, and they have not had to deal with a lot of this. Although only one is of Middle Eastern descent and the woman did not wear Hajab.

I just watch Islamophobia on Current, which was horrifying, IMO, the ignorance was shocking.

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I'm looking forward to this show also. It takes place in a suburb of Dearborn, a city I frequent once in a while.

Dearborn's old history was it was lilly white and actively discouraged Blacks from moving in. I suppose while they were doing that, the Muslim population slid in. Deaborn is also where Terry Jones decided he was going to burn the Koran. That didn't work out too well.

Anyway, the metropolital area is a big ole melting pot. We also have a large population of Chaldeans. So my question to my family was this;

How in the world can one differentiate between the Chaldeans who are Christian vs the Muslims? The tend to look similar and depending on the length of time in the US, the accents will be similar.

I can't tell difference, nor do I care to.

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I'm really looking forward to this to. I saw the commercials during Sister Wives though, not 19K&C. It looks really fascinating.

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I hope it goes online! I don't have TV at the moment, but I really really want to watch it!!! I heard about it a few months ago and have been super excited for it! :D

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I'm looking forward to this one, too! It should be interesting....but TLC will spin this one however they want it to be. I don't expect this to show "reality" or how people really think/feel/act any more than the Duggars or Gosselins or Browns.

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I'm looking forward to watching and I hope I can learn something about a group of people I know nothing about. I think the show will give everyone a chance to sort through the crap of whats real or fake about a subject most Americans are clueless.

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I guess the promos have hooked me because I think I'll be watching on Sunday (or, more likely, DVR'ing.) Candid reality shows are rarely (never?) actually candid so it will be interesting to see TLC's spin. Personally, I don't need to be convinced that Muslim-Americans are/can be All-Americans so if it's all about proving their American cred, that might get old. (Of course, I still watch the Duggars once in a while and that's staler than stale.)

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I fear that TLC will whitewash Islam the same way that they whitewash Gothard.

There's more of a range within Islam that there is with Gothard. I'm pretty sure there aren't any liberal (or even moderate) Gothard followers. That said, it does look like some of the Muslim families on the show are conservative, so no doubt we'll find plenty of snark on.

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Terry Jones is from Gainesville, Florida, not Dearborn. I know this because my MIL lives in Gainesville and the place was a media circus. This same church also let to many public schools in Gainesville adopting a different dress code, one that didn't allow kids from his church to wear their "Islam is of the Devil" t shirts to school.

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Terry Jones is from Gainesville, Florida, not Dearborn. I know this because my MIL lives in Gainesville and the place was a media circus. This same church also led to many public schools in Gainesville adopting a different dress code, one that didn't allow kids from his church to wear their "Islam is of the Devil" t shirts to school.

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I fear that TLC will whitewash Islam the same way that they whitewash Gothard.

And what exactly is that supposed to mean??

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Just what I said. I hope they don't whitewash fundamentalism.

Now they might be profiling moderate families who don't ascribe to the more oppressive parts of their religion, but what would bother me is if they show a fundamentalist family, but hide the ugly parts of the situation.

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Just what I said. I hope they don't whitewash fundamentalism.

Now they might be profiling moderate families who don't ascribe to the more oppressive parts of their religion, but what would bother me is if they show a fundamentalist family, but hide the ugly parts of the situation.

I highly doubt that TLC would include a fundamentalist Muslim family. Have you seen the promos? Showing a fundamentalist family would negate the whole point of the show.

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I highly doubt that TLC would include a fundamentalist Muslim family. Have you seen the promos? Showing a fundamentalist family would negate the whole point of the show.

They'll probably have a range of families on there. I would guess that they are going to feature some conservative families along with more moderate ones. I'm interested to see if any of the families require their daughters to wear the hijab and whether the children are homeschooled or sent to private Islamic school, and to what degree their lives are more or less restrictive than those of other religious TLC families.

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Just what I said. I hope they don't whitewash fundamentalism.

Now they might be profiling moderate families who don't ascribe to the more oppressive parts of their religion, but what would bother me is if they show a fundamentalist family, but hide the ugly parts of the situation.

Absolutely. Islam has just as much problem with patriarchy and female oppression as Christianity, Judaism, etc. That's where my tolerance ends - when a religion wants to step on my human rights.

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That reminded me of Feminist Mormon Housewives. Anyone remember that site? I'd love to see a muslim version. Sorry, that's off topic, but for some reason your post made me think of them.

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hi all. ive decided to finally join the ranks of the ex lurkers since i guess i feel i have something semi interestng to contribute. well maybe. i lived in dearborn for 3 years , my boyfriend and his family is from there, and i am actually across the road right now from the mosque which is featured in the title portion of the show. So, my bf and i will watch it together, although i think he only wants to recognize all the streets and buildings. im very excited for the show, but, the cynic in me believes that even an inside look at lives of people who are no different from anyone else will not change the minds of the bigoted. or they wouldnt watch it in the first place. i am extremely sensitive to anti muslim sentiments and i dont understand why people cant fathom that the religion is never the problem, its the interpretation and the intent of those who follow. I know well enough that ignorance and racism will never be eradicated, but i cant figure out why.

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hi all. ive decided to finally join the ranks of the ex lurkers since i guess i feel i have something semi interestng to contribute. well maybe. i lived in dearborn for 3 years , my boyfriend and his family is from there, and i am actually across the road right now from the mosque which is featured in the title portion of the show. So, my bf and i will watch it together, although i think he only wants to recognize all the streets and buildings. im very excited for the show, but, the cynic in me believes that even an inside look at lives of people who are no different from anyone else will not change the minds of the bigoted. or they wouldnt watch it in the first place. i am extremely sensitive to anti muslim sentiments and i dont understand why people cant fathom that the religion is never the problem, its the interpretation and the intent of those who follow. I know well enough that ignorance and racism will never be eradicated, but i cant figure out why.

I realize that there are all kinds of people, most of them quite ordinary, in every kind of religion. But I'm a non-theist, I don't believe in religion of any kind. In my opinion, religion has brought nothing but violence and division to the world. It may bring comfort to individuals, but to the world at large it's been nothing but a menace.

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People take an incident, such as 9/11, and clump it to the religion and then generalizes everyone, like Muslims, which is one of my biggest pet peeves. I've been called a whore, a sinful woman, been preached at for not following Jesus, been told I'm going to Hell, etc by crazy Fundamentalist Christians but I don't clump all Christians into that category. My roommate/best friend, is a devout Christian, and despises those fundies who give Christianity a bad name. The same goes for Muslims who get put into the terrorist category, which is FAR from what Islam is about. Nobody wants to take the time to understand the religion because all they see are a bunch of terrorists, planning a plot to blow up another building.

Those close minded people refuse to learn more about the Islam culture yet expect other people from different religions to hear them out about Christianity.

You're absolutely right, cowboysandhillbilies, this isn't going to change people's views on Islam; if anything, it'll just stir up huge controversies, wanting the show to get canceled for promoting "terrorism", etc etc.

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Well, I think the best way to combat religious bigotry is to showcase the entire spectrum of that religion. As another poster mentioned upthread, "whitewashing" is also bad. People don't like propaganda and are less inclined to shake off their bigotry and ignorance if they perceive the information to be tainted. However, some people may change their minds if they see a show that showcases how Muslims in this country live, including those that are fundamentalists.

Bigotry doesn't usually come from no where. It's fermented from bits and pieces of the worst aspects of another group, which is then turned on to describe that entire group. If people can see where their stereotypes come from, and also see people who live ordinary lives, they may realize that they should have been judging individuals rather than whole groups.

It's like us here at Free Jinger. We would be appalled if a show about Christians in America decided to whitewash how the religion is practiced here. We would want people to be aware that there are Christians that are loving and tolerant, and others who use it to bash gays and treat women as second class citizens. Those believers are in the minority but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

A balanced viewpoint is vital to combating ignorance of any belief system.

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