Is an inept, self-absorbed man, whose commitment to his own desires constantly veers into the territory of misogyny and narcissism, a “good” portrayal of the Arab American Muslim? [https://thebaffler.com/alienated/the-comedy-of-multiculturalism-zakaria](https://thebaffler.com/alienated/the-comedy-of-multiculturalism-zakaria)

When television portrays Muslims without hostility, it’s a small victory

Some time after the 1986 NBC broadcast of a two-hour movie called Under Siege, in which Arab terrorists bomb the U.S. Capitol, Ted Flicker, the late Jewish American writer-producer, noted in a letter to the Writer’s Guild and the Screen Actor’s Guild: “Arabs are portrayed as crazy billionaires, terrorists, devious voluptuaries, barbaric white slavers, etc., ad nauseam. Dear fellow writers, on behalf of my Arab cousins, I say to you, think before you write that Arab.” Flicker continued: “I think honor requires that we, the makers of our nation’s myths, consider the plight of these people . . . and help get rid of the Arab stereotypes.” Under Siege committed many sins; foremost was the xenophobic presentation of Muslims as savage terrorists.