Blog
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
It’s human nature to want to understand things. Our relentless curiosity is what drives us forward as individuals and as a culture. Most people take it for granted that the present is a more enlightened age than any previous one, the idea being that we are constantly evolving and improving.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
In early March, the TV Academy hired a consulting firm, ostensibly to address issues of equality head-on. Under the banner of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), the company will analyze “staff and member composition, attitudes and perceptions regarding DEI, opportunities for improvement, and expansion of current practices.”
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
I remember when I first became aware many years ago that there was a Wikipedia entry about me. It seemed, back in the burgeoning digital age, like having your very own Wikipedia entry was some kind of stamp of legitimacy—that you were now officially relevant.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
What I saw was a recognition of the best kind of inclusion: a collection of movies, TV shows, and press coverage where Muslims are not necessarily the story (although in two of the films, they are) but who, in their portions of the stories, are depicted as they are: human beings—not necessarily perfect human beings, but real ones.
RELIGIOUS LITERACY
The Muslim Public Affairs Council Hollywood Bureau held its media awards ceremony on March 20. It was a straightforward affair, shot on a simple stage intercut with livestreams from the homes of the awardees—a far cry from the Golden Globes held a few weeks earlier, but more meaningful to me.
TOLERANCE
This year, International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is chillingly well-timed.
ANTI-RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA
It’s tempting as a filmmaker to go for the low-hanging fruit—to play on people’s fears of the “out” group and reinforce those stereotypes to get some more clicks. But it’s unacceptable.
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
The vast majority of people in the world are good. They have their hopes and dreams. They have family and friends whom they love. They have jobs and projects and passions and art.
SCIENTOLOGY RELIGION
Though I grew up Catholic, I’ve been into many churches of different types and one thing I’ve always noticed is the same sense of relief from the world and the safe space a church can provide.
COMBATING BIGOTRY & HATE
May you come to see the people you write about as actual flesh-and-blood beings, with goals, feelings, failings and emotions rather than as convenient ciphers to scorn.
