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By Fareeda Ahmed August 14, 2009 Christiane Amanpour’s report on CNN was a roller coaster of emotions for me. The greatest suspense film of all time. And not so much because of the content - which was well presented - but more so because of the audience; the self-conscious Muslim in me ran her mouth at auctioneer speed: do Americans think Pakistan looks like this, do they think my parents went to a madrassa, do they think Afghan Star/ American Idol is a joke ... in short, do Americans work from the assumption that Muslims are dangerous, volatile people, and how much do they apply this heuristic to me? It’s one of the great struggles of Muslims today - being labeled Muslim, and having non-Muslim media define who we are from the outside in. It’s hard enough to live in a pigeon-hole, let alone a pigeon-hole that is 40 sizes too small. I personally respect Amanpour’s work; what threatens to unnerve is the assumption behind the work and the title itself; that is, the assumption that “Muslims are scary to the Western media, so here are some stories about how they are trending to become more scary (madrassa boy) or less scary (Western-sponsored girls’ education).” And how did Afghanistan and rural Pakistan alone come to represent “Generation Islam?” The piece is much less concerned with Muslim youth than it is about the youth in War-on-Terror [cue CNN Graphics] headline nation-states that contain Muslims. Malaysia? India? That big place called Africa? Do these places not count? I watched the piece while working out and blasting my iPod - reading the closed captioning, and looking away from what I didn’t want to see. This is my mental version of the horror movie hands-half-covering-eyes pose. Part of me can’t bear to watch it and have that inner auctioneer questioning like a curious kid on meth. Part of me is hoping that some positive associations emerge. As usual with these types of pieces, there were a few positive elements ("Muslims can be good! Yay!") and many negative or at best, concerning elements ("see Jamal run. See Jamal run with gun. See Jamal get tortured"). Sorry, but these were not scenes from my childhood.  I suppose what I try to distance myself from is the idea that I am part of this religious nation of people with whom I feel I have little in common - I’ve never lived in a war zone, I’ve never seen a gun up close except maybe the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace, I don’t know anyone who is a suicide bomber, I got the best schooling money could buy, and I took all of this for granted. I am the American viewer, forced to view “my Generation” as an outsider. That Amanpour and CNN have an interest in this topic is understandable, as is their thesis on the future of Islam’s interaction with the West is balanced on the fickle fulcrum of the hearts and minds of Muslim children ("generation Islam") What I’m reacting to (or trying my best to distract myself from) is that this is the only representation out there reaching this audience. And I find, ashamedly, that I’d rather turn a blind eye to the whole thing, and remain speechless, than try to represent an entire generation as varied and diverse as humanity itself. Am I the only one? Photo Credit:  CNN http://www.elanthemag.com/index.php/site/blog_detail/am_i_the_only_one_thoughts_on_cnns_generation_islam/