My little brother recently turned four years old.
He can say all his alphabets, count to 10, sing a handful of nursery rhymes, and when asked what languages he can speak, he proudly answers, “English and Spanish.” We have never spoken a word of Spanish in my household, mainly because we don’t know how to speak it! And surprisingly enough, if you ask him, he can speak some pretty good Spanish. We’ve had him checked out by professionals and it’s been decided that he’s a four year old genius. Not. Although I wouldn’t mind if I had a genius for a younger brother, turns out that my baby brother is learning Spanish the traditional way…through television!
Yes, the overweight, disproportionate, Dora the Explorer who appears to have Alzheimer’s and speaks to inanimate objects, has the power to not only teach my younger brother Spanish, but millions of other young viewers around the world. Not only that, but she also has a cousin, Diego, who now hosts his own show (and I have to admit, he’s a lot better than her!), who features on her show a couple of times. These explorers (who are thought to be refugees by most) do so much for the creative and curious minds of young children. They have to the power to make these little kids believe that they can not only learn a new language, but save baby iguanas from their inevitable doom.
We always hear that children are our future, our hope and our beacon of light. They are meant to change the world for the better and constantly be open to the concept of 'different'. Now I believe that is a lot of pressure for children who are filled to the brim with biases and prejudices and countless shades of grey. Who’s to say that they know the difference between right from wrong, justice from injustice? Can we proudly say that we are a good influence?Why is it that they (and when I say ‘they’ I mean the general population) believe in allowing our children and younger viewers to be aware of various cultures and be open to the concept of ‘different’, yet do not provide them with a variety of television shows? If there’s a Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go and even a Chinese version called Ni Hao Kai-Lan, then why can’t we have a Miriam the Muslimah? Or how about Haroon the Hajji? We don’t need to express our religious views to the children, but we can at least express our cultural values. We make numerous technological advances, we can pass the law to allow same sex marriages, yet we are unable to accept all religious values and morals equally. Adam’s World should be available on Treehouse TV—I shouldn’t have to go out and buy separate DVD’s, for God’s sake!
Yes, Islamic culture is itself a debatable term. And being Muslim is not the same thing as being Spanish or Chinese. Muslims live in many different countries and communities, and it can be difficult to isolate much that unifies them other than the religion of Islam. However, secular academia does not acknowledge this distinction, since it views religion as one aspect of cultural anthropology and history. Islamic culture generally includes all the practices which have developed around the religion of Islam, including Qu'ranic ones such as Sala’at and non-Qu'ranic such as divisions of the world in Islam (Marshall Hodgson).
If I had the choice, I would love to see the show as a religious show, but in this day and age, that is highly unlikely to happen. I wouldn’t appreciate my child or brother watching a show that promoted a different religion. However, what gave me the idea for this blog was the fact that there ARE television shows out there shown on other channels that have high religious content.
He can say all his alphabets, count to 10, sing a handful of nursery rhymes, and when asked what languages he can speak, he proudly answers, “English and Spanish.” We have never spoken a word of Spanish in my household, mainly because we don’t know how to speak it! And surprisingly enough, if you ask him, he can speak some pretty good Spanish. We’ve had him checked out by professionals and it’s been decided that he’s a four year old genius. Not. Although I wouldn’t mind if I had a genius for a younger brother, turns out that my baby brother is learning Spanish the traditional way…through television!
Yes, the overweight, disproportionate, Dora the Explorer who appears to have Alzheimer’s and speaks to inanimate objects, has the power to not only teach my younger brother Spanish, but millions of other young viewers around the world. Not only that, but she also has a cousin, Diego, who now hosts his own show (and I have to admit, he’s a lot better than her!), who features on her show a couple of times. These explorers (who are thought to be refugees by most) do so much for the creative and curious minds of young children. They have to the power to make these little kids believe that they can not only learn a new language, but save baby iguanas from their inevitable doom.
We always hear that children are our future, our hope and our beacon of light. They are meant to change the world for the better and constantly be open to the concept of 'different'. Now I believe that is a lot of pressure for children who are filled to the brim with biases and prejudices and countless shades of grey. Who’s to say that they know the difference between right from wrong, justice from injustice? Can we proudly say that we are a good influence?Why is it that they (and when I say ‘they’ I mean the general population) believe in allowing our children and younger viewers to be aware of various cultures and be open to the concept of ‘different’, yet do not provide them with a variety of television shows? If there’s a Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go and even a Chinese version called Ni Hao Kai-Lan, then why can’t we have a Miriam the Muslimah? Or how about Haroon the Hajji? We don’t need to express our religious views to the children, but we can at least express our cultural values. We make numerous technological advances, we can pass the law to allow same sex marriages, yet we are unable to accept all religious values and morals equally. Adam’s World should be available on Treehouse TV—I shouldn’t have to go out and buy separate DVD’s, for God’s sake!
Yes, Islamic culture is itself a debatable term. And being Muslim is not the same thing as being Spanish or Chinese. Muslims live in many different countries and communities, and it can be difficult to isolate much that unifies them other than the religion of Islam. However, secular academia does not acknowledge this distinction, since it views religion as one aspect of cultural anthropology and history. Islamic culture generally includes all the practices which have developed around the religion of Islam, including Qu'ranic ones such as Sala’at and non-Qu'ranic such as divisions of the world in Islam (Marshall Hodgson).
If I had the choice, I would love to see the show as a religious show, but in this day and age, that is highly unlikely to happen. I wouldn’t appreciate my child or brother watching a show that promoted a different religion. However, what gave me the idea for this blog was the fact that there ARE television shows out there shown on other channels that have high religious content.
“VeggieTales is a series for children's featuring anthropomorphic vegetables. Developed by Big Idea, the films convey moral themes based on Christianity, often compatible with Judaism, spliced with satirical references to pop culture and current events. It was adapted for television and began broadcast on Saturday September 9, 2006 through Qubo and the NBC network. As of 2009, the program is also shown on Gospel Music Channel. VeggieTales has also been released as books, music CDs and branded items such as toys, clothing and seeds for vegetables and flowers. Their aim was to produce children's videos which conveyed Christian moral themes and taught Biblical values and lessons.” (Wikipedia)
Although they originally started off as films/videos, they were able to broadcast it on television.Now, there is nothing wrong with the fact that VeggieTales was allowed to produce and air a Christian based television show, other than the fact that I would not want my child watching it on a public network. And many other people didn’t either. It showed that teaching about religion on public television is just unacceptable. Why?
Think about the ramifications of producing an Islamic based television show. Many would be against it, the idea would be immediately vetoed, and we can just imagine the outrage for even thinking about producing it. These may just be assumptions, but think about the day and age we are living in. The Islamophobia people are experiencing, the fear they have of Muslim men and women alike.
And, not surprisingly, television is the cause of all of this. It’s a well known fact that television is the number one influential source out there that can either make or break our children. Television has always made people believe that they are too fat, too stupid, too ugly, or too weak. There are messages out there that make people believe that some people are better than others, that some people are more superior. Unfortunately, religion has been dragged down with all the other stupidities out there. The anti-religion rhetoric is strong.
Citizens are regularly bombarded with negative messages about Islam, and religion in general. You expect your children to grow up without any biases, to accept anyone and everyone no matter what their difference may be, yet you do not PROVIDE them with the resources for them to be open and understanding to religious groups.
I admit we’ve come a long way since the first idiots who believed that white was pure and black was not, but by the mercy of Allah, although we cannot erase the mistakes we made back then, at least humanity has taken a step in changing the way we behave. But what do we have to say for ourselves to what we currently experience? To those Muslim sisters and brothers who dread going to school because they fear being ridiculed by others? What will we tell our Lord about how we helped our brothers and sisters in their time of desperation, the effort we made in changing the views on Islam, the sweat we poured in making our religion known?
By the grace of Allah many of us have it extremely easy. We wake up and go about our daily business without even so much of a thought of fear for expressing our religious values while there are others out there who are fighting for their life just because of it. Some of us have not truly understood the meaning of Islam, while others have embraced it and fought diligently so as to not lose the meaning.
We need to start small, and if we don’t, we’ll never achieve the goal we want. We need to make others aware of what Islam really is about, and reach out to outside world so that they can accept the different religious views that are out there. If television is the only option we have available, then so be it.
Haroon the Hajji, here we come.
Although they originally started off as films/videos, they were able to broadcast it on television.Now, there is nothing wrong with the fact that VeggieTales was allowed to produce and air a Christian based television show, other than the fact that I would not want my child watching it on a public network. And many other people didn’t either. It showed that teaching about religion on public television is just unacceptable. Why?
Think about the ramifications of producing an Islamic based television show. Many would be against it, the idea would be immediately vetoed, and we can just imagine the outrage for even thinking about producing it. These may just be assumptions, but think about the day and age we are living in. The Islamophobia people are experiencing, the fear they have of Muslim men and women alike.
And, not surprisingly, television is the cause of all of this. It’s a well known fact that television is the number one influential source out there that can either make or break our children. Television has always made people believe that they are too fat, too stupid, too ugly, or too weak. There are messages out there that make people believe that some people are better than others, that some people are more superior. Unfortunately, religion has been dragged down with all the other stupidities out there. The anti-religion rhetoric is strong.
Citizens are regularly bombarded with negative messages about Islam, and religion in general. You expect your children to grow up without any biases, to accept anyone and everyone no matter what their difference may be, yet you do not PROVIDE them with the resources for them to be open and understanding to religious groups.
I admit we’ve come a long way since the first idiots who believed that white was pure and black was not, but by the mercy of Allah, although we cannot erase the mistakes we made back then, at least humanity has taken a step in changing the way we behave. But what do we have to say for ourselves to what we currently experience? To those Muslim sisters and brothers who dread going to school because they fear being ridiculed by others? What will we tell our Lord about how we helped our brothers and sisters in their time of desperation, the effort we made in changing the views on Islam, the sweat we poured in making our religion known?
By the grace of Allah many of us have it extremely easy. We wake up and go about our daily business without even so much of a thought of fear for expressing our religious values while there are others out there who are fighting for their life just because of it. Some of us have not truly understood the meaning of Islam, while others have embraced it and fought diligently so as to not lose the meaning.
We need to start small, and if we don’t, we’ll never achieve the goal we want. We need to make others aware of what Islam really is about, and reach out to outside world so that they can accept the different religious views that are out there. If television is the only option we have available, then so be it.
Haroon the Hajji, here we come.
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