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Muslim Characters
Apr. 18th, 2015 07:38 pmThere really need to be more Muslim characters like Semir Gerkhan from Alarm für Cobra 11, he's a Turk and a Muslim and he's amazing. When he and his partner were talking about religion, Semir said, "There's only one moon, but many, many stars..." When another Turkish man complained about his son being gay, Semir told him, "I have three daughters. And if every one of them turned out to be lesbian and I never became a grandfather, it wouldn't matter to me - because I love them!" Both his former and his current boss are women and he respects the hell out of them! His wife is Catholic and it's no big deal!
Please, let's stop showing Muslims only as terrorists or religious bigots. There are those who do not pray five times a day and who don't evoke Allah at the end of every sentence - just like there are Catholics who don't go to church every Sunday and don't stuff their God down everybody's throat all the time. Why is it okay to portray the latter but not the former? Especially in the US TV. Even when American shows try to show Muslim people in a positive light, they still portray them only as religiously devout people, as if casual faith were some trademark of Christianity or something.
I was brought up as a Catholic but I turned agnostic. Not atheist, agnostic. And it really bothers me that, when I watch TV, characters who don't talk about their faith are always Christian. When there's a Muslim in there somewhere, their faith HAS TO be an issue, a plot device, a reason for a clash of cultures. Why? Just... why?
Please, let's stop showing Muslims only as terrorists or religious bigots. There are those who do not pray five times a day and who don't evoke Allah at the end of every sentence - just like there are Catholics who don't go to church every Sunday and don't stuff their God down everybody's throat all the time. Why is it okay to portray the latter but not the former? Especially in the US TV. Even when American shows try to show Muslim people in a positive light, they still portray them only as religiously devout people, as if casual faith were some trademark of Christianity or something.
I was brought up as a Catholic but I turned agnostic. Not atheist, agnostic. And it really bothers me that, when I watch TV, characters who don't talk about their faith are always Christian. When there's a Muslim in there somewhere, their faith HAS TO be an issue, a plot device, a reason for a clash of cultures. Why? Just... why?
