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 .