An article in The Atlantic by Yair Rosenberg challenged al-Arian's criticisms, arguing that they missed what made the show valuable, which was that it was no gung-ho salute to U.S. militarism and tactics on the war on terror nor a black-and-white portrayal of good Americans versus evil Muslims, but rather a show that challenges the prejudices of its viewers rather than affirming them.[118] Similarly, Zach Novetsky asserted that al-Arian's criticisms was a function of the show's having enough "depth and layers for someone to concoct a totally inaccurate interpretation of what the show really is about."[119]