PC in Entertainment

[New World Man]

Hey gang,

Thought I would let you know about an Entertainment Weekly column I read and commented on.

The 2/11 EW had an article alluding to the show 24 using stereotypes of Arab-Americans as the bad guys and the Council on American-Islamic Relations is upset. This has effected Fox so much they will air a tolerance touting PSA. I am so fed up with being PC, I wrote a letter to EW and it was published in the 3/4 issue. I have already received an email about it since my email address is listed in the magazine. I can't include the article, but I am copying the letter and subsequent emails to let you know the response. Just in case I get attacked by terrorists you will know why...........hahaha.

Hope everyone is doing well, JT is walking more and more everyday!


Andy
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My letter to EW

Not to belittle the Council on American-Islamic Relations, but last time I looked, 24 was a fictional show. How PC does the entertainment business have to get? Should I be offended that Kevin James in King of Queens portrays my demographic of overweight middle aged white guys as not too bright? Eventually the bad guys will have to be pigmies or aliens to not offend some of the TV watching public.
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email response
Andy,



I am writing to you in reference to your letter to the editor. I would like you to close your eyes and picture that every time you sit down to watch your television you see very few white guys. Also picture that every time you see a white guy on that television he is a terrorist or ?evil? in some way. You see plenty of African Americans, Hispanics, Orientals, Middle Easterners, and American Indians. These groups are depicted on television shows as good as well as bad. You never see a bad representative of these groups without seeing a good one in the same show. The only people who are depicted on television as strictly bad are?the white guys.



That is the very definition of prejudice. And, if you truly pictured this scenario, I?m betting you didn?t like it.



Jayne Ruiz

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My return email
Jayne,

As stated in my letter, the show is fiction. If you don't like the show, don't watch it. In an industry that has a majority of white people shown to a society that has a majority of white people that is the result you are going to get. Asian shows in Asia would be different, etc. pick your country. Take entertainment for what is designed to be, just entertainment. I don't know many people that form their opinion on a race solely on what a fictional show, book, movie they are exposed to. Bigotry dates back before such entertainment.

Thanks for writing and please don't take any offense to my statements here or in the letter, none were intended.

Andy Cheek

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return email
You never answered my question?
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my response
Read your letter, you did not ask me a question. You made a statement.




If you want to know if I wouldn't like your scenario, I can't say it would bother me. I would know that the teleplay before me was fiction. I would take the shows as what they were intended, as escapism, fantasy, and entertainment. I would worry about real bigotry, real hate and not what Hollywood or whatever other industry could come up with. If someone lets TV or other entertainment outlets form their opinions about any other group, they need to get out more. Take the tsunami relief as an example, the US can bomb one country that has a majority of Muslims/Arabs living there and then commit huge aid to another country with the same makeup. Was any of the war or relief based on racial or religious hatred or love? Was it just human compassion? We need to analyze the real issues with real people instead of worrying about what the entertainment industry is doing.

Peace be with you,

Andy Cheek
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I will keep you updated on the continuing saga.

[Slaine mac Roth]

Perhaps you should also mention that the ABC show 'Lost' has, as a major 'heroic' character a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard.