‘24’s’ Latest Plot Twist Pains Some Muslims

The one TV show I absolutely do not miss is “24.” Nor can I in good conscience speak ill of it.

The Fox drama with the ticking digital clock delivers crackling political intrigue, unpredictable plot twists and a bevy of memorable characters, both good and deliciously bad.

Season four premiered Sunday and Monday nights, and I’m hooked again.

Premiering against the backdrop of post-Sept. 11 America, “24” has always been about figuring out terrorist plots, but this year it will test viewers in a different way.

The story line so far: A seemingly normal, upscale Muslim family is a sleeper terrorist cell. We’ve learned that Mom and Dad are knee-deep in a plot that has resulted in a train derailment and the kidnapping of the U.S. defense secretary. And that they’ve actively involved their teenage son. Not to mention that in Monday’s episode, they ordered him to shoot his non-Muslim girlfriend because she stumbled onto information that could prove dangerous to them.

“24” comes through again. Can’t wait till next week.

Then again, I’m not the Muslim living next door. I’m a blue-eyed boy from Nebraska, immune to cultural stereotypes.

Thus, the test. In an era where Americans are fearful of attack from Islamic fundamentalists, will a TV show depicting “normal” people as terrorists deepen our paranoia? Will it lead to violence against Muslims or Middle Easterners?

Or will we realize that “24” is just a TV show?

The show also tests Middle Easterners in America. After three seasons in which “24” terrorists have included Eastern Europeans, traitorous U.S. government agents and the blond-haired daughter of a CIA contractor, will they accept a Muslim family as a terrorist cell?

Will they realize that “24” is just a TV show?

The easy answer is to say that of course, everyone realizes that. But it’s not quite that simple, says Sabiha Khan, a spokeswoman for the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, headquartered in Anaheim.

She’s not a “24” fan but has seen this year’s episodes and is worried. Today, in fact, she and other CAIR officials will take their concerns to Fox in Los Angeles.

CAIR doesn’t want to curtail Fox’s creative license, Khan says. However, CAIR is concerned that the depiction “will contribute to an atmosphere that it’s OK to harm and discriminate against Muslims. This could actually hurt real-life people.”

CAIR doesn’t expect Fox to dump the story line but might ask that it consider ways to mitigate it in future episodes. “We’re realistic,” Khan says. “We’re not asking for something that can’t be done.”

It would be naive to dismiss Khan’s concerns. At this point in American history, it’s an unfortunate fact of life that some people harbor unfair suspicions of Muslims in our midst.

So while I tout “24,” how does my favorite show look like through Khan’s eyes?

“It was almost like a heart-sinking, crashing feeling down to the floor,” she says. “Just being attacked, seeing your religion attacked, which, if it is the essence of your being, is a very difficult thing to take. You feel mixed emotions -- anger, disappointment, hurt.”

The “24” terrorist family, she says, “is not a family I’ve ever known. None of the 9/11 hijackers had that kind of family.... It’s not really based on any reality of what we [in America] are going through.”

It’s just TV. We all know that, right?

Khan can only hope that Americans won’t stereotype Muslims any more than they typecast whites after Timothy McVeigh’s terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City. “Unfortunately, there are only 7 million of us in America and not everyone knows one of us,” she says. “That’s the reality we’re dealing with.”