SURVENT

According to an article on CNN, Muslims are upset and protesting the hit television show '24' on Fox because this season is portraying Muslims as the terrorists who are trying to detonate nuclear bombs in the United States.

"The overwhelming impression you get is fear and hatred for Muslims," said Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. She said Thursday she was distressed by this season's premiere. "After watching that show, I was afraid to go to the grocery store because I wasn't sure the person next to me would be able to differentiate between fiction and reality."

I find it hard to believe that many people are actually confusing the television show with real life. I know there are some stupid people in America, but let's get real. People know they are not watching 'Nightline' or '60 Minutes' when they turn on Fox to watch '24'.

I am not trying to be insensitive to the concerns of certain groups in this country, but at some point people need to understand that mankind is not made up of complete idiots and that fiction is simply fiction. Story telling has been around forever and is healthy. I saw the movies Hannibal and Silence of the Lambs, but that does not mean that I worry that some guy in the grocery store next to me is going to kidnap me and eat my brain.

And the writers of '24' are at least being fair about making sure every race has a season where they are the bad guys.

In a written statement issued late Wednesday night, the network said it has not singled out any ethnic or religious group for blame in creating its characters.

"24 is a heightened drama about anti-terrorism," the statement read. "After five seasons, the audience clearly understands this, and realizes that any individual, family, or group (ethnic or otherwise) that engages in violence is not meant to be typical.

"Over the past several seasons, the villains have included shadowy Anglo businessmen, Baltic Europeans, Germans, Russians, Islamic fundamentalists, and even the (Anglo-American) president of the United States," the network said. "The show has made a concerted effort to show ethnic, religious and political groups as multidimensional, and political issues are debated from multiple viewpoints."

I do not recall anyone getting upset when the President of the United States was a bad guy or when the Russians were portrayed to be involved in terrorism on the show. Yes, tension is high everywhere when it comes to relations with anyone who is or appears to be of middle Eastern descent and they may even be unfairly singled out by the government, but that does not mean that a television show is going to make anyone go out and do something. If people were to act on anything they saw on television, I would think it would be related to the detailed stories told of the conflict going on in the Middle East, not a show like '24'.

Sohail Mohammed, a New Jersey immigration lawyer who represented scores of detainees caught up in the post September 11, 2001, dragnet, watched the episode depicting the nuclear attack with an Associated Press reporter.

"I was shocked," he said. "Somewhere, some lunatic out there watching this will do something to an innocent American Muslim because he believes what he saw on TV."

What is the suggestion? Do we have anyone who is going to watch a television show take a stupidity test first to determine what they can or cannot watch in case they may act upon it?