What does this say about our American Poltical Culture?

Washington (CNN) -- A controversial congressional hearing Thursday on the radicalization of Muslim Americans touched on sensitive questions involving terrorism and tolerance a decade after the 9/11 attacks.

At times emotional and theatrical, the four-hour session of the House Homeland Security Committee included calls from moderate Muslims for support in overcoming extremists seeking to indoctrinate their children, as well as protests from Democratic legislators who complained the hearing unfairly implicated all Muslims for the criminal acts of a small minority.

In the end, committee Chairman Peter King, R-New York, said the hearing that generated widespread media coverage "actually went a lot easier than it could have." He blamed what he called the "mindless, baseless hysteria in the media" in preceding weeks for the controversy, and promised additional hearings in coming months, with the next perhaps focusing on the radicalization of Muslims in U.S. prisons.

Despite strong criticism from Muslim Americans and accusations of a McCarthyist revival, King started the hearing by defending it as neither "radical or un-American."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/10/radicalization.hearings/index.html?hpt=Sbin



Then there is this re-run Political Warrior post from 2008 -- seems some wedge issues stay with us for a long time.


Who Speaks for Islam?

Who speaks for America? Who speaks for African Americans? Who speaks for Catholics?

It seems to me you would all say these are ridiculous questions. Isn't it, "We, the People?"

Then why do extremists and terrorism too often monopolize the media's coverage and thus the message coming out of the Muslim world? Why is it that a robust anti-Americanism seems to pervade the Muslim world? Is it the sign of a clash of cultures – do they hate who we are? Or is it what we do?

Rather than listening to extremists or simply relying on the opinions of individual pundits, why not give voice to the silenced majority?

The purpose of this post is to try to get through (MSM promoted?) the cultural stereotypes we may be looking through when we analayze the political systems of states like Iran ruled by Sharia (Muslim) Law -- or more importantly -- the poltical culture what ("We the People") are saying...in the Muslim world....if there is such a thing?

First, Al Arabia reports on a massive project in which Gallup pollsters interviewed 50,000 people in 35 Muslim countries. The results have been published in a book called Who Speaks for Islam? What a billion Muslims really think.

"A recent survey gathered on what Muslims truly think of the West revealed that Muslims feel disrespected by the West and although they admire Western values they feel that democracy when applied in Muslim countries was hypocritical...

"'Despite widespread anti-American and anti-British sentiment, Muslims around the world said they in fact admired much of what the West holds dear', including freedom of speech and citizens, democracy, technological progress and access to knowledge, co-author Dalia Mogahed said.

[She continued] "'When we asked Muslims around the world what the West can do to improve relations with the Muslim world, the most frequent responses were for the West to demonstrate more respect for Islam and to regard Muslims as equals, not as inferior.'..."

http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/04/07/47995.html

Second, from Salek (a 2008 WV grad, 5 on the AP Test BTW):

"I just wanted to tell you about a Canadian sitcom called "Little Mosque on the Prairie."

It's about a Muslim community in a small town of rural Canada and the challenges they face from within and outside their community.

The show is currently airing its second season on CBC and is HUGELY popular in Canada, and has received rave reviews from critics.

I wanted to bring this to your attention because so much in the news and media these days is negative coverage of Muslims (i.e. Danish cartoons). This show challenges those stereotypes and misconceptions and does it effectively through humor.

I appreciate the show not just for the laughs, but also for it's realistic portrayal of issues facing Muslims such as the gap between conservative and progressive Muslims and post 9/11 fears (propelled bya hillarious Rush Limbaugh-esque radio host). The issues may be serious but the show maintains a light-hearted tone."

Here's what the NY Times had to say:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D81030F935A25752C0A9619C8B63&scp=1&sq=little+mosque+prairie&st=nyt

Here's an episode of Little Mosque on the Prairie.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=4689644836814333621