Criticizing Islam May Be Hazardousto Your Health
the producers of 24 removed some material from the show that they were
afraid might stereotype Muslims. FOX also agreed to distribute CAIR's
public service announcement about American Muslims to their affiliates,
although the affiliates were not bound to run it,
Dealing with the devil
why was FOX playi ng ball with CAIR in the firs t plac e? Were the
exec s who met with CAIR repr esen tati ves awar e that thre e of its offi-
cials have been arrested for various terrorist-related activiti es? Yes, said
aFOX sou rce , tha t is a mat ter of pub lic rec ord. Are the y awa re tha t
CAI Rfounder Nihad Awed helped establish the organizati on after work-
ing at the Islamic Association for Palestine [IAP], where he was public
relations director—and that former FBI counterterrorism official Oliver
Revell has called the IAP "a front organi zation for Hammas that engage s
inprop agan da for Islam ic milit ants "?' Did they know that Awed, him-
self has declared, "I am in support of the Hammas movement"?' Well, yes,
sai d the sou rce , the y wer e awa re of all ega tio ns tha t CAI R had som e
links, however tenuous, with Hammas, but they judged the organization's
comp lai nts on the ir meri ts, Tha t's what FOX alw ays doe s, he sai d; it
consi ders not the sourc e of a complai nt, but the worthi ness of the com-
plaint itself,
So if the Ku Klux Klan called FOX with a complaint, that complaint
would be judged on its merits. not on its source?
Death knell for the West?
Decemb er 2004, two Christi an pastor s in Austral ia were found guilty
ofreligious vilification of Muslims. Although the decision was based on
rel igio us hat red laws tha t are cur ren tly on the boo ks in onl y one
Aust ral ianstate, the greater consideration that such laws are receiving by