Thinking about "The Seige"

[erpowers]

I am reading the book "Why Do People Hate America". The authors mention the movie "The Seige" as one of the movies that depicts all muslims as terrorists who should be feared. I am not trying to fault the authors for pointing out that the movie seems to portray all muslims/arabs in a bad light. However, it seems possible to me that "The Seige" is a film warning against all types of fanaticism and warning against a willingness to give up ones rights in order to be protected. It seems to me that the Colonel who takes over the city is just as bad as the muslim who wants to blow up things. So what do other DUers think?

[DODI]

1. I never saw "The Siege" as anti-Muslim/anti-Arab. Tony Shalub's (sp)

character is Muslim and thru him they showed how unfair classifying people based on race/ethnicity was. I always saw that movie more as a warning of giving into our own fears and giving up our freedoms for a false sense of security.

[rman]

2. I think "The Siege" exaggerates the threat,

much like many of today's politicians do.

Of course the movie is a warning, it's just that fanaticism isn't that pervasive - it's much exaggerated. One problem for fanaticism is its intolerance; they just as easily turn on their populace for not wanting to be followers, as they turn on one another for not being the right kind of fanatic. This makes it hard for fanaticism to ever be popular.

The notion that there's actually a global terror network is a gross exaggeration. A "movement" yes - though there's much more "movement" against US/Western colonialism outside of hardcore fanatic terrorist groups then there's within those.