ABC Family Caves To CAIR- Nixes "Alice In Arabia"

After a firestorm of negative social media postings and pressure from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Muslim Public Affairs Council, ABC Family network has nixed the pilot for the proposed TV series "Alice In Arabia." And it didn't take very long for that decision to be made.

CAIR, of course, is thrilled that ABC caved.  Without knowing much about the story, other than the fact that it was "about an American teenage girl kidnapped by her extended royal Saudi Arabian family and forced to live with them," it was immediately assumed there would be stereotyping.

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR said of ABC's decision:

 "We welcome ABC Family channel's decision to respond to community concerns by canceling plans for a program that had the potential to promote ethnic and religious stereotyping."  "We thank all those who voiced their concerns on this issue." 

Of course a lot of actors are now out of a potential gig because of that 'potential', including a slew of minority performers, mind you, but that means naught.

According to an article in The Hollywood Reporter, ABC had this to say about the controversy and its subsequent decision to not move forward:

“The current conversation surrounding our pilot was not what we had envisioned and is certainly not conducive to the creative process, so we’ve decided not to move forward with this project."

I realize that it was easier for them to just say forget it rather than deal with the likes of CAIR, but it's setting a terrible precedent. It's just adding more fuel to the Muslim censorship fire, and confirming that all they have to do is hit the social media sites to eventually get their way. Take a look at what people like Muslim convert Irish/Iranian/American Cyrus McGoldrick has to say. He posted this on his Facebook page:

Getting #AliceInArabia cancelled was a good move - I'm glad it got done so quickly, too. These skirmishes with Zionist Hollywood should be easy and decisive, and I'm so pleasantly surprised that this was. S/o to ADC, CAIR, and the many individuals who stormed the internet and handled this.

I have a question, though, based on what activists said in media: Is "representation" the issue? Do we really need film terrorists played by real Arabs as opposed to random brown people? Do we really want to spend time asking the US military (the greatest force of destruction in decades) to accommodate religious beliefs so we can join it?

Side note on Goldrick- he was affiliated with CAIR a while back as advocacy director of the New York office.

Zionist Hollywood?  Nice. But that first paragraph shows exactly their M.O. It's only going to get worse.

H/T: Creeping Shariah

Racist? Arab/Americans Want Coca Cola Super Bowl Ad Pulled or Changed

Good Lord, people have been calling for V.W. to pull its Super Bowl ad because some found it racist, and now Arab/Americans are calling for the Coca Cola company to pull its  'Coke Chase 2013' ad, also scheduled for the Super Bowl, because they believe it too is racist. Why? Because it shows an Arab man walking his camels in the desert, along with some Mad Max type motorcyclists, a bus load of Vegas showgirls and a bunch of cowboys all headed for a huge bottle of coke in the middle of a hot desert.

The president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Warren David, asked:

"Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich sheiks, terrorists, or belly dancers?" 

Uh, why not?  Arabs don't have camels? There aren't oil-rich sheiks?  Or terrorists or belly dancers in the Middle East? His statement in and of itself is quite a put down, at least to belly dancers and oil-rich sheiks.

Perhaps they are taking umbrage with the fact that people can vote for which character should win the race except the Arab.

"The Coke commercial for the Super Ball is racist, portraying Arabs as backward and foolish Camel Jockeys, and they have no chance to win in the world," Imam Ali Siddiqui, president of the Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies, said in an email.

and

"What message is Coke sending with this?" asked Abed Ayoub, ADC's director of legal and policy affairs. "By not including the Arab in the race, it is clear that the Arab is held to a different standard when compared to the other characters in the commercial," he said.

The way I see it, is the Arab is a calm observer watching the Westerners do whatever nastiness it takes to win the race. I'd be more upset at how they were portrayed than the Arab.

Ayoub said:

"I want to know why this happened and how can we fix this if possible before Sunday." 

Here's my advice: learn the meaning of creative license and get a life.