News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
CBS anchor Katie Couric believes a “Muslim version of ‘The Cosby Show’” could open the eyes of Americans and perhaps put an end to all the "seething hatred many people feel towards all Muslims.”
On her CBSNews.com web show, Couric discussed 2010 in review with a panel, and among Couric’s biggest concerns about 2010 was the controversy surrounding the Park51 Islamic Cultural Center project.
“The bigotry expressed against Muslims in this country has been one of the most disturbing stories to surface,” Couric said. “Of course, a lot of noise was made about the Islamic Center, mosque, down near the World Trade Center, but I think there wasn’t enough sort of careful analysis and evaluation of where this bigotry toward 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, and how this seething hatred many people feel for all Muslims, which I think is so misdirected, and so wrong — and so disappointing.”
Fellow panelist and NPR regular Mo Rocca noted that societal changes need to be made when “really smart,” well educated people like him don’t know much about Islam.
“I’m pretty smart, and I can’t tell you … I mean I went to really fancy schools and I cannot tell you five things about Islam. I know almost nothing about a major world religion that sits at the intersection of so many issues that all are undeniably relevant to all of us,” Rocca said.
“Maybe we need a Muslim version of ’The Cosby Show,’” Couric replied. “I know that sounds crazy, I know that sounds crazy. But ‘The Cosby Show’ did so much to change attitudes about African Americans in this country, and I think sometimes people are afraid of what they don’t understand, like you, Mo … If they became part of the popular culture.”
Continue reading at dailycaller.com.
- Comment (43)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
Comments :
Jan '11
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Whoa. I totally "misinferred" the title. I thought she meant it would be a good idea for Muslims to have such a show - little did I know that her motivations were enyirely different. I'm also tired of the block term"Muslims" - Ismaeli Muslims have a totally different mindset than the Wahhabists IMHO.
Aug '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
How about a Muslim "Xena" ?
Maybe some of the older shows maybe, can you see MTM tossing her burqa into the Minneapolis skyline ?
Archie cutting a switch for Meathead ?
Sep '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Sorry Katie, Canada beat you to it.
Nov '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Wow. Nothing like giving Americans the benefit of the doubt, huh? We are not just Islamophobes, but rabid, mindless, bloodthirsty Islamophobes.
Katie Couric is as stupid as she can be (dumb as a box of hammers), and Mo Rocca is as ignorant as he can be (another Harvard-educated moron). They make a great team.
As for a Muslim version of The Cosby Show, why not? There are plenty of black Muslims in America. You could simply re-film the whole series, with Bill Cosby as Dr. Hassan al-Huxtable, the (stern) patriarch of a typical Muslim family. You could introduce all sorts of amusing Islamic twists, like Clair being stoned to death for adultery, or Theo running off to Iraq to become a suicide bomber, or Vanessa being murdered in an honor killing, or Rudy being shipped off to Pakistan to marry her first cousin. Funny, heartwarming and educational! American TV at its best — the most tasteful show since Hogan's Heroes.
Edited on Jan 3, 2011 at 3:34pmMay '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
I can't argue with Couric's suggestion that a "Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show,'" might do us all some good, though the route she took to get there is utterly stupid. Interesting, the way Couric assumes all of us bumpkins would learn how great Islam is if only we could be tricked into listening for ten seconds. Interesting, but not a surprise.
Is anyone watching Running Wilde? The writers make some bold cracks at the expense of Islam, by way of a kooky Muslim character. The most recent episode featured a montage of failed business ideas, including a quick shot of workers packing away crates labeled "Sunni / Shi'ite Jokes."
Sep '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
I guess Mo Rocca isn't really that well educated then, is he?
He is smart and he went to fancy schools, and he needs a sitcom to learn about Islam? Hey Mo...read a frickin book! You remember them, you know, from your college days? Or a magazine article...there are web sites too... my God man, take some initiative!
There are so many levels of absurdity here.
The Cosby Show changed attitudes about African Americans in this country? Really? Really, Katie?
So does this mean Katie didn't know anything about black folk until she saw several episodes of Cosby? Or did Cosby teach her that The Jeffersons was, well, just wrong?
Does she know any African Americans personally, I mean, besides Al Roker?
Are there TV execs who still think Katie Couric knows what kind of thing generates ratings?
Perhaps Katie can invest a fraction of her income on making the pilot?
Aug '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Well, at least there's a Turkish version of rock'n'roll. This group has been around for, well, about as long as Katie Couric.
Aug '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Lady Kurobara
American TV at its best — the most tasteful show since Hogan's Heroes. · Jan 3 at 3:26pm
Edited on Jan 03 at 03:34 pm
Might I ask a question of you, by first acknowledging my respect for your opinions, as to the nature of your Hogan reference ?
Merci,
Cpl LeBeau
Nov '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
flownover
Lady Kurobara
American TV at its best — the most tasteful show since Hogan's Heroes.
Might I ask a question of you, by first acknowledging my respect for your opinions, as to the nature of your Hogan reference ?
Merci,
Cpl LeBeau
I was merely injecting some ironic humor. From the Wiki:
"In 2002, TV Guide named Hogan's Heroes the fifth worst TV show of all time (p 180, Running Press, Philadelphia, 2007). The listing for Hogan's Heroes in particular accuses the show of trivializing the suffering of real life POWs and the victims of the Holocaust with its comedic take on prison camps in the Third Reich."
I think TV Guide was overly harsh, but it cannot be denied that the setting of Hogan's Heroes was rather unusual for a 60s sit-com. Personally, I enjoyed the show — probably because of its touchy theme. It was certainly funny, but you could never call it "tasteful."
Also from the Wiki:
"Mad magazine #108 (January 1967) parodied the show as "Hokum's Heroes." An additional one-page parody called "Hochman's Heroes" took the show's premise to the next level by setting it in Buchenwald concentration camp."
Oct '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
I think the biggest problem is moderate Muslims haven't sorted themselves out yet. Secularist movements have been weakening--in part from the demographic weakening effects of Westernization--and without separation of church and state, the different moderate Muslim groups seem too tied to national borders. Without a transnational, widespread moderate Muslim movement, it's hard to figure out all the factions.
Of course I could be misreading the situation entirely. But until a separation of church and state becomes widely accepted, the incentives may not be there for sects to decouple from ethnic and national boundaries.
I don't know; maybe I'm totally off base.
Dec '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
What bugs me about this is the beginning premise. Why do Muslims get the special softball treatment? Why does Katie put her energies into Islam? Why Islam when there are about as many Hindus and Buddhists?
The answer is simple: The source of much of the world's violence and the majority of large-scale domestic threats are by Muslims.
Hindus don't pose a terror threat and so they don't get all of that attention.
And, come to think of it, there is a Hindu sitcom: Outsourced. It takes place in Delhi and gets pretty good ratings. The actors playing the Indians are Americans and Brits and their characters are Hindu (there are some Sikh turbans and hijabs on background characters). The characters are generally likable if not a little wacky and eccentric. Why aren't Americans, who one would think would not be so receptive to a light workplace sitcom about jobs taken overseas, bigoted against them?
The problem is that Islam has to deal with Islam and it isn't doing a very good job. Katie Couric's noblesse oblige -- which is condescending towards all parties -- is not helping.
Nov '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
You are correct in theory. But the inseparability of church and state is fundamental to Islam. It is, after all, more of a totalitarian ideology than a religion.
Asking Muslims to accept the separation of church and state is comparable to asking Christians to deny the divinity of Christ. It is not going to happen.
Jun '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
There already was a Muslim sitcom, wasn't there? I thought that's what I Dream of Jeannie was. Probably where Obama got the idea that Muslims should be somehow involved with NASA.
Aug '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Lady K So...it's a stooges thing ? Let's jump ahead then and get to proposing a debate as to the semantics of church/state/religion real estate Our western religious traditions are a good deal more civil.
Aug '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Next up: A muslim version of Glee?
Jul '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Mrs. Sisyphus not only listens to NPR, for which I grief her, naturally, but has gotten the little Sisyphuses in the habit of listening to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, so I have heard much about the nationally renowned brain donor, Mo Racca. I normally am in a separate room playing some mix of Rush, Trace Adkins, and Donald Kagan to drown out the idiocy. Any time Prof. Kagan is talking Spartans and Heolots or Thebans, NPR simply cannot penetrate. Sadly, the Athenian coverage is less effective. The audacious stupidity of the late Pericletian period is way too familiar.
If they have Couric in a panel, Mo Rocca is a natural choice to augment. He can make even the vilest newsreader appear nearly sapient. If one were to switch him for a Victor Davis Hanson or a Richard Epstein or a John Yoo, Couric would dissolve in a mass of swirling goo completely unnoticed save the clattering broom, her insubstantiality revealed in a metaphysical wink of an eye.
Couric's ignorant bigotry toward 308 million Americans, a couple of whom watch her, is probably worthy of a good stoning. Maybe they could move the news studios to Dearborn, Michigan?
Edited on Jan 3, 2011 at 6:45pmJul '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Lady Kurobara ...
You are correct in theory. But the inseparability of church and state is fundamental to Islam. It is, after all, more of a totalitarian ideology than a religion.
Asking Muslims to accept the separation of church and state is comparable to asking Christians to deny the divinity of Christ. It is not going to happen. · Jan 3 at 5:09pm
Yes, and Catholicism has eliminated abortion among its followers. But you are mostly right, and all the Muslim dogma is on your side, and yet there are popular movements in the Islamic world that do push for separation of church and state. There are Muslims who migrated to America to escape the psychotic pathologies, not extend them. And they have to avoid the local mosques to fly under the radar of the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda and the Wahhabis and CAIR and all the other Muslim hate groups.
There is no outlet for them religiously in this country, in part because the above hate groups make it too dangerous to try.
Edited on Jan 3, 2011 at 6:47pmJun '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Sisyphus:
Lady Kurobara ...
Yes, and Catholicism has eliminated abortion among the followers. · Jan 3 at 6:40pm
When was it ever tolerated?
Jul '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Because she does not want to get blown to that icky, sulfurous place and to prove to CAIR that she is a nice person and does not need to be picketed as a bigot, either. It is an intimidation racket and she is intimidated.
Jul '10
Re: News Item: Katie Couric: Maybe we need a Muslim version of 'The Cosby Show'
Brian Watt
Sisyphus:
Lady Kurobara ...
Yes, and Catholicism has eliminated abortion among the followers. · Jan 3 at 6:40pm
When was it ever tolerated? · Jan 3 at 6:48pm
The point was not to pick on Catholics, but to highlight the gaps that can occur between creed and practice. Catholicism has always been very clear in this area, though some calling themselves Catholic have been fuzzy. Pelosi being the most recent notorious case.