By Lana Asfour
 |
|
Pointing out
racist representations of Muslims has been a no-no for both conservatives and
liberals, writes Asfour [AP]
|
Ben Affleck's
contribution to the debate proves you don't need to be a specialist to
recognise racism and speak out.
The latest media "debate" about Islam stems
from American chat show host Bill Maher's criticism of Islam, and the
surprisingly passionate response of Ben Affleck, Oscar-winning actor and
director, who, unlike many in mainstream media, recognises
bigotry and racism when it's staring everyone in the face.
Maher, generally anti-religion in his comedy and
political commentary, has said on previous occasions that "all religions
are not alike" and that Islam is worse than others because it calls for
the death of those who criticise it. He also supports the idea of a "clash
of civilisations", which postulates that the western worldview is
fundamentally incompatible with Islam.
For proponents of this view, Islam is a blurred and
conveniently adaptable category of general backwardness, and encompasses Islam,
Arabs, and the Middle East as if they were the same thing. They also make the
false assumption that there is such a thing as a single coherent
"western" worldview and an "eastern" or "Muslim"
one.
For those who missed the heated
argument on Maher's show, Real Time, last week, he and guest Sam Harris, a
neuroscientist who has written about religion, claimed to be standing up for
liberalism and liberal principles by criticising "the Muslim world".
Harris claimed that: "We've been sold this meme of Islamophobia where
every criticism of the doctrine of Islam gets conflated with bigotry towards
Muslims as people. It's intellectually ridiculous."
Affleck came back solidly: "Hold on - are you
the person who officially understands the codified doctrine of Islam?"
On Maher and Harris' stereotyping, Affleck
continued, "It's gross and it's racist. It's like saying 'Oh, you shifty
Jew!'"
Drawing the wrong picture
During the 10-minute row, Maher said Islam is the
only religion that's "like the mafia because it will f***ing kill you if you say the
wrong thing, draw the wrong picture, write the wrong book".
Harris said: "We're misled to think that the
fundamentalists are the fringe." He tried to patronise Affleck: "Ben,
let me unpack this for you...," and proceeded to use a metaphor of
concentric circles, the central circle representing jihadists who want to kill
apostates, and the next one representing Islamists who aren't entirely
murderous.
These two circles, he trotted out bizarrely, represent 20 percent of
the Muslim world, according to "a bunch of poll results". Outside the
two circles are the rest of Muslims, who are all conservative and hold
troubling views about human rights, women, and homosexuality.
Hollywood has a history of left-wing politics. But
pointing out racist representations of Muslims or Arabs, or - perish the
thought - Palestinians, has been a no-no for both conservatives and liberals.
During the recent war on Gaza, Hollywood and the music industry entered the
fray - or rather, dipped their toes in it.
Various celebrities posted tweets condemning
Israel's bombings of Gaza, or simply expressing concern about the deaths of
children, which was enough for supporters of the military operation to
understand that there was sympathy for Gazans, apparently a taboo in itself,
and even A-list celebrities felt enough pressure to modify their statements.
Only outspoken comedian and actor Russell Brand
entered the fray wholeheartedly, taking on a new role as political satirist
with his homemade YouTube clips "The Trews" (True News). Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem felt the need to clarify their
position after signing an open letter in Spanish that called on the
European Union to end Israel's operation in Gaza following severe criticism
from some Hollywood producers and fellow actors like Jon Voight.
Singer Selena Gomez ended up explaining her
Instagram post "It's about humanity. Pray for Gaza." Rihanna deleted
a tweet containing a "#freepalestine" hashtag after only a few
minutes, and Jon Stewart's consistent criticism of the war on Gaza prompted
Hillary Clinton herself to appear on his programme to take issue with him.
Challenging stereotypes?
McCarthyism may be long gone, but certain topics
are sure to generate a swift response, and Hollywood's recent attempts to
challenge stereotypes about the Middle East remain cautious. Most celebrities,
even those who do humanitarian work in the Middle East, prefer to remain
silent.
So why is it so important for pundits and chat show
hosts, who are intent on presenting themselves as educated and liberal, to
trash Islam with simplifying, blanket statements? Taking a cue from Harris, let
me "break it down" into circles.
My three circles aren't concentric; they overlap,
and can lead to infinite combinations and variations. The circles correspond to
(a) pundits who are less liberal and more racist than they claim to be, (b)
pundits who have overriding political agendas and very consciously promote
half-truths and stereotypes in order to influence large audiences who don’t
have the time or inclination to do their own research, and (c) all remaining
pundits. There is a poll out there somewhere showing that category (b) accounts
for 20 percent of pundits worldwide, and 70 percent of pundits in the
Christian, English-speaking world.
More seriously, what is the overriding agenda?
Trashing Islam is about disseminating simplistic ideas that lend support to
precise political goals, and it allows supporters of certain aspects of US
foreign policy to justify past, present, and future mistakes.
If American voters can be given the impression that
most Muslims are sexist, homophobic, intolerant fanatics who murder and behead
at the drop of a hat, then they may just believe that it is necessary to invade
countries in which Muslims are the majority - it hardly matters which country,
as long as wrecking its political, economic, and social fabric serves the
primary goals of controlling oil resources, profiting from the arms trade, and
allowing Israel to feel safe (irrespective of whether its feelings of
insecurity correspond to reality).
'Unsophisticated'
The primary example of this in recent times was
going to war in Iraq in 2003, which took place despite the largest
international anti-war protests that have ever taken place, and which directly
contributed to creating extremists on the ground.
The perfectly rational idea that the overwhelming
majority of Muslims want peace, political freedom, economic comfort, and
education for their children, is far too dangerous for leaders, their advisers,
and the powerful pundits who support them and disseminate a particular message,
as it would require them to look reality in the eye and make decisions based on
it.
Earlier last week, previous comments about Islam by
Maher led to Reza Aslan's excoriation of his
"unsophisticated" thought process on CNN, which went viral. Aslan
is an Iranian American academic and scholar of religions, but Affleck's
contribution to the debate proves that you don't need to be a specialist or a
PhD to recognise racism and speak out against it.
That Affleck's passionate defence is so unusual
reveals, depressingly, that stereotyping relating to the Middle East, Arabs,
and Muslims, who are all lumped together as if they were the same thing has
remained unchallenged in mainstream US media, entertainment and television -
hopefully until now.
Lana Asfour is a journalist based in London and
Beirut. Her articles and photographs have been published by the Times, BBC
online, the New Statesman, Observer, New York Review of Books, Daily Star
Beirut, OpenDemocracy and Granta, among others.
The views expressed in this article are
the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/
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