Ordinary viewers praised the show for teaching threat rather than diversity

Evidence

In contrast to television critics who acknowledge and criticize these representational strategies, many viewer posts on the Internet tend to praise Sleeper Cell for educating the public—not on the diversity of Muslims, but on the ongoing Arab/Muslim terrorist threat to national security. … My focus here is on a particular strain of responses— those that focus on the realism of the show and reflect a collapsed distinction between television and politics. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 213

Categorization

• QUESTION: What explains the gap between professional critics, who parsed representational strategy, and ordinary viewers, who read the show as straightforward realism about the terrorist threat?
• XREF: connects to: Liberal multicultural TV can legitimate the security state as much as overtly racist shows