Looking for Trouble
We have noted before that the level of US prejudice against Muslims is often exaggerrated by the media and advocacy groups. Now there is a shocking story about NBC's news show, Dateline, which sent "Muslim-looking men" (whatever that means) along to a NASCAR race in order to gauge the level of racism amongst the spectators.
We agree wholeheartedly with the NASCAR spokesman who stated, "It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news" and that, "Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt." NBC should be ashamed of such outrageous muckraking, although in fact their actors provoked no reaction from fans rather confirming our point.
The story reminds us that the prejudice most routinely aired in the war on terror is not against Muslims, but against ordinary Americans. For liberal critics of government policy, the 'NASCAR man' is held responsible for all the worst aspects of the WOT. They are considered illiberal, ignorant, and likely to react badly to the slightest provocation. This, of course, allows such liberal critics to evade much of their own responsibility in the genealogy of the WOT. Stereotyping of Muslims is profoundly problematic, but stereotyping of working class America is no less so.
We agree wholeheartedly with the NASCAR spokesman who stated, "It is outrageous that a news organization of NBC's stature would stoop to the level of going out to create news instead of reporting news" and that, "Any legitimate journalist in America should be embarrassed by this stunt." NBC should be ashamed of such outrageous muckraking, although in fact their actors provoked no reaction from fans rather confirming our point.
The story reminds us that the prejudice most routinely aired in the war on terror is not against Muslims, but against ordinary Americans. For liberal critics of government policy, the 'NASCAR man' is held responsible for all the worst aspects of the WOT. They are considered illiberal, ignorant, and likely to react badly to the slightest provocation. This, of course, allows such liberal critics to evade much of their own responsibility in the genealogy of the WOT. Stereotyping of Muslims is profoundly problematic, but stereotyping of working class America is no less so.
2 Comments:
I completely agree that the NASCAR thing is ridiculous and does show the bias against certain segments of red state America, but to say that the US prejudice against Muslims is often exaggerated by the media strikes me as even more ridiculous. In fact, your blog consistently speaks of how every one under the sun has got those Muslims wrong (which, actually, seems like a not so bad point), so why be such the contrarian here?
This fits in with a general middle class attitude in much of the west against the white working class. In our multiculturalist heaven the only group it is PC to attack these days is the white working class.
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,,1751272,00.html
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