"Tyrant"

Friday, July 4, 2014
The Smart Man and I have been watching the new FX series Tyrant. We think it's pretty good, full of politics, people behaving badly, and moral ambiguities. However I've been hearing criticisms of the show, mostly surrounding the idea that it's racist, and depicts Middle Eastern cultures negatively. And to that I say: Shut the fuck up.

Seriously?


Are they seriously going to suggest that entitled Middle Eastern men never rape lower status women with impunity?

Are they seriously trying to imply that Middle Eastern Regimes don't have a history of oppressive dictatorships and murdering their citizens?

Are these critics trying to say that members of the LGBT community aren't persecuted in Middle Eastern countries?

Are they seriously trying to say that the events depicted in Tyrant don't happen on a regular basis in that region of the world?

Bitch, please.

It's not like the American entertainment industry lets America off the hook, either. Consider The Wire, or Syriana, or House of Cards, or any number of other shows that expose the seediest parts of American society (can you say "Reality TV," or perhaps "Media coverage of the latest school shooting?").

The Wire showed an important aspect of American urban life, just as Tyrant shows an important aspect of Middle Eastern life in unstable or oppressive regimes. The stories of the former do not imply that every black man in America is a drug dealer, a murderer, a thief or an addict. Just as the stories of the latter don't imply every man in the Middle East is some sort of animal who can't wait to savage women and shoot boys in the street. Get some perspective, people.

0 comments: