This TV show has garnered the reputation of being one of the most bigoted shows on television for its inaccurate, undifferentiated and highly biased depiction of Arabs, Pakistanis, and Afghans, as well as its gross misrepresentations of the cities of Beirut, Islamabad and the so-called Muslim world in general. For four seasons it has maintained the dichotomy of the photogenic, white, American protector versus the evil and reactionary Muslim threat. Even though it is a very successful show, well produced and with good actors (the awards won prove so), it is a show that deals with complicated and actual issues, so it cannot afford to make mistakes or insinuations such as the fact of naming one of the Muslim terrorists after the current Pakistani ambassador in the United States.
This bigotry led a group of Arab artists, after having been asked for their participation in the decoration of some of the film sets –specifically, a refugee camp in Lebanon–, to react, painting graffiti on its walls which denounced, through slogans and proverbs, the islamophobia this show entails. Of course, no one realized it, as they were written in Arabic, so some of the graffiti can be seen throughout the show.
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