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American McMuslim [VIDEO]

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 11:01 AM on December 23, 2006.


A Christian from Middle America spends '30 Days' as a Muslim...
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This program, from a series created by Supersize Me's Morgan Spurlock, has a young white Christian man from West Virginny live with a Pakistani Muslim couple in Michigan for a month.

They eat, pray, study and live together.

The man, Dave Stacey, is an exceptional sport, participating when he can, questioning when he can't. He's also under the additional discomfort of being away from his family and all that's given his life meaning in the past. In other words: it suffers from the same heartily unscientific flaws that all "reality" TV suffers from.

The participating Muslims, on the other hand, are far more practiced at dealing with proximate discomfort so their tolerance often (though not always) appears effortless.

Spurlock peppers the experiment with 'man on the street' interviews on Islamic culture, exposing ignorance and resurrecting the American Holy Ghost of the Wild West.

Asked what he would do if the Muslim call to prayer were broadcast next door, a man responds (paraphrasing): I'd go crank up my stereo with some Tom Petty or maybe some Duran Duran and give 'em some payback. Because that's my right as an American.

This video is over 40 minutes...

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Tagged as: tv, christianity, islam

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.


Return to Video  » Post Tools: email EMAIL print PRINT 33 COMMENTS PERMALINK
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Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated. 		View:
30 Days is a great show
[Report this comment]
Posted by: lessbread on Dec 23, 2006 11:18 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's too bad it's not aired by the broadcast networks.

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» RE: 30 Days is a great show Posted by: Merchant_Of_Menace
Fringe People
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Dale Dressler on Dec 23, 2006 2:08 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I had an epiphany moment toward the end of this video when the Muslim women said, "They're not just fringe Muslims. They're fringe people". Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jew, Atheist, etc. and you make war on other people you are simply fringe people. It will change my language.

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Like Christianity, and Judism, Islam a hate religion.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: douglashoyt on Dec 23, 2006 6:06 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Read any the the above Holy Books. They all subscrib to killing the "others." Why? Because the others don't believe what they believe.

Religions are the problem. They give weak people the justification to hate, kill and steal from fellow humankind.

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Um, Not To Distract From This Episode, Or "30 Days" In General As Being Worthy Television...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: grumble-bum on Dec 23, 2006 11:14 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
... But the episode in question is from last season. I certainly appreciate the attempt to call attention to a good episode of an interesting show, but seriously - ANY PLANS TO WATCH TV THIS YEAR?!?

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» More than "30 Days" old Posted by: YogiBear
Religion stunts one's spiritual growth.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: waves999 on Dec 24, 2006 3:14 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Religion stunts one's spiritual growth. Waking up at 5:30 a.m. to pray, and then going back to bed again... puleeze!

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." Seneca

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There was a brief moment...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: pcushniesr on Dec 24, 2006 6:50 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
... in the video (which, overall, was worth watching) showing the phrase "Religion is a fraud" spray painted on a white wall. I have to say that there is more truth in those words than in any others in the presentation. The entire quote is: "Religion is a fraud, God is a lie, and these are perpetuated by the fraudulent to manipulate the ignorant."

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It Would Be Much More Interesting And Revealing If...
[Report this comment]
Posted by: thirdmg on Dec 24, 2006 6:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I think it would be much more interesting and revealing to have a gay man live with a Muslim family to see how they would treat him. Then, we might find out truly tolerant they are.

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Americans just don't think
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Posted by: YogiBear on Dec 24, 2006 9:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The most poignant part is where the guy is speaking to the woman whose brothers were murdered by the Saddam regime. It kills me to see people condemning all Iraqis ("wipe them off the face of the earth") in response to the war, while in the same breath, bragging about saving them from Saddam. Yo! It's the same people.

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» RE: Americans just don't think Posted by: JoeCraine
Now I'm hungry for kabobs
[Report this comment]
Posted by: YogiBear on Dec 24, 2006 10:05 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
And barbecue.

And beer.

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The problem is not Islam
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Ellie1 on Dec 24, 2006 2:42 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
ANY radical religion or belief-whether it be Islam, Christianity, Scientology , or any radical belief- is wrong and evil. Look at the harm radical Neocons have inflicted upon this country!!!! The problem, of course, is defining radical. To me, George Bush is radical, and so are most born again Christian believers.

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Religionists and Atheists
[Report this comment]
Posted by: Plexius on Dec 27, 2006 8:29 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If the history of humanity has proven anything, it has shown that religionists are mostly low-browed, greedy, selfish hypocrites, liars, murderers, rapists, drunks, child abusers, thieves, and generally immoral, unethical, repressive, ruthless bastards. Of course, atheists, when they got their shot in the 20th century with the establishment of officially atheistic, communist states, have proven themselves to be equally depraved monsters. Obviously, religion or lack thereof, doesn't seem to matter when it comes to grotesque behavior. I think it's mostly a species biosociologic trait. With the exception of a few aberrant individuals who are thoughtful, relatively selfless, and compassionate, it appears the overwhelming majority of homo sapiens are pretty much worthless pieces of shit. Hopefully, we will be replaced by something better.

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Thanks
[Report this comment]
Posted by: JoeCraine on Dec 27, 2006 9:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Thanks for posting this - a little long, but very valuable.

I think one the of the things the show brought out was the ignorance that many Christians are kept in - even about their own religion. Dave's lack of ease around Christ's death and even forgetting the resurrection showed this strongly. His belief that he, a "good" Christian, could possibly pray to any other God showed a typical confusion; my prayers are always to my God, where ever I am, whomever I am with.

I wonder how many muslims actually think 911 was a crime comitted by muslims - the on-screen conversations judiciously avoided the topic of who did committed that crime? The on-sreet interviews illustrate just how succesful this administration has been in fomenting religious, ethnic and racial intolerance/hatred.

We have returned to the days of lynching the colored kid for the crime committed by the "Southern Shriff"'s son. It's sad, really.

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Christians uncomfortable with God
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Posted by: alternetrose on Dec 29, 2006 2:23 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When Christians speak about their religious belief it is mostly referenced as a religion of Jesus Christ, with little or NO mention of God. This is confusing to me, and I think accounts for the guest's difficulty understanding the commonality of religions. Several clips show discussions with the teacher trying to get this across, yet the guest was in a complete fog how there could be such a connection. He could not rationale praying with them because this was somehow a blasphemy to "his" God. His religion teaches that Jesus Christ is the son of God, part of the Holy Trinity, sent by God to "teach" God's expectations for mankind. Where does this get lost in translation and come across as 'just' about Jesus? Where in this arrangement is Jesus the highest Almighty? Why is the name "Jesus" so much a part of Christianity, while God (the Father) is downplayed? IF more could understand what the teacher was trying (in vain, I'm afraid) to explain in very clear terminology to the guest, I feel, as a country of many religions, many nationalities, and many colors, we would be much closer to living together in peace, respectfulness and harmony.

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» Other similar characters / stories Posted by: doctorsquared