Challenging the mainstream ideas- and Maz Jobrani

I really appreciated our discussion about Islamophobia, censorship and content of the news. I think as journalists it is more important that we, perhaps more than anybody else, are able to have these discussions and to look at both sides of the issues. As an international studies and journalism double major I have spent the last few years trying to do that, and the most important thing I have learned is that nothing in the world is black and white. Everything has culture, context, background, two or three or five hundred sides to it. Example: There is no internationally accepted term for terrorist. This speaks to how complicated, painful, frightening and vitally important the issue of terrorism is. I would encourage all of you as future journalists to critically analyze all of the accepted norms and mainstream ways of thinking. It is our job to report the facts. And if that means challenging those widely accepted ideas and preconceptions then we need to be prepared to do that. Otherwise we fall right into the old model and will never challenge the sphere of legitimate debate. Anyway, sorry, I really did not mean to get preachy but I really feel that this is the most important issue we have discussed in this class. Anyway, to add to the Islamiphobia discussion here is a clip of a Iranian Commedian addressing the issues we touched on in class through the lens of a Muslim American. And he's hilarious. Its only five minutes, check it out. Thanks guys!