Abdullah Brothers Expanded

I would like to expand a bit on a blog post I wrote a few weeks ago.  The first half of this blog can be found below as an individual post.  I wrote it after walking past the TV when a section on Rock Center caught my eye.  In this section, shown below, Brian Williams discusses the story of two brothers, Hussain and Hamza Abdullah, who left their NFL football careers this year to make the Hajj to Mecca and support their Muslim beliefs.

I thought the way in which this story was portrayed was fascinating.  In the first sentence of the description of this story, found on the Rock Center website, it is called an "American dream story".  You'll also notice if you watch the beginning of the video above that Brian Williams uses the word "American" twice in the first three seconds.  Later in the same sentence however, he admits that it "runs counter to just about every message our society sends out".  Personally, I found this juxtaposition very confusing.  How can something be American if it goes against the messages of our society?  In my opinion, it can't.  Isn't American defined by the messages of our society and what we believe?  I would argue that what these brothers did was very un-American.  They were on the path of an American dream and chose to step off of it.

Why then would would Rock Center be so adamant about portraying this as an American story?  My guess is that is was an attempt to make sure the brothers were seen as heroes by the audience.  I would absolutely agree that they are heroes and great role models, but I don't see any reason why they can't be heroes and role models supporting un-American values in the US.   I am not at all questioning these brothers' loyalty to their country. In fact, if you start watching the video at 5:30 you will see that they call themselves patriots.  All I am saying is that their actions, leaving professional football to make the Hajj, are not American, and show that un-American heroes can exist in the US.

I was more recently exploring the Abdullah Brothers' website, created by themselves.  The first thing I saw was their official video.   I thought it was fascinating that throughout almost the entire video, except for four seconds (0:19-23) which shows them praying to Allah, they show some very American ideas.  The appear to wake up and train and run like anyone might imagine an American football player.  And also, for much of their video they talk about their "dream".  It's a classic American dream story of coming from nothing and putting in heart and struggling until they accomplished their goal.

I think the way their praying is juxtaposed with these other things that seem very normal to our society does a great job at showing how their religion is an important part of their lives but that does not make them  unrelatable to the American people.  In fact I think that this video does an even better job at portraying the brothers positively to an American audience than the "Rock Center" clip with its contradictions about what is American and what is not.

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