Lowe’s Hits a New Low
After a group known as the Florida Family Association (FFA) emailed some 60 companies that sponsored ads on the television show, All-American Muslim, Lowe’s removed its commercials. The show premiered last month and it chronicles the lives of five families who live in Dearborn, Michigan. It airs on TLC on Sundays. FFA maintains the program is “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.”
It’s odd that FFA claims that the show hides the “danger to American liberties and traditional values” when in fact the show demonstrates the opposite. It seems to me that the fear of the FFA lies in the fact that the television program demonstrates that Muslim families are no different than you and me in how they go about their daily lives. From what I read about the show, it is no different than the other reality shows that depict the everyday lives of women on the Jersey shore, the Kardashians or the Reverend Run and his family. It scares this conservative group that the rest of the country will discover that Muslim families are law-abiding citizens that care for the same issues that you and I do-the education of their children, worship, paying a mortgage. The show demonstrates all that we have in common, what brings us together, and not what divides us.
The troubling aspect of this story is Lowe’s cowardly behavior. Instead of standing up, they take a seat. Instead of speaking up and for the Muslim community, they revert to the dialogue that only reinforces what groups and individuals like the FFA spew. Hopefully, the public discussion occurring today may draw more viewers to the show, and after viewing the program, create more allies and supporters for the Muslim community. This is the time for all of us who believe in the goodness of humankind, whether Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or Baha’i, to stand up for our Muslim brothers and sisters. Many have called for a boycott of Lowe’s stores or pulling out any investment one’s 401(k) may have in Lowe’s. The strategy of the FFA may in fact backfire upon them. Both solid actions; however, we need to continue to educate one another on the issues regarding cultural competency. We need to continue to reach out to one another with some intentionality and purpose. If we don’t, then we only endorse the actions of Lowe’s and the FFA in a different fashion.
December 14, 2011 at 12:04 am
Not very surprising. Happy to boycott Lowe’s.
But please, Tom, let’s not leave out of the mix those of us who subscribe not only to religions not on your list, but to no religion at all. I am in that number and manage to get along with people of good will regardless of religious persuasion or lack thereof. All I ask is that they respect my views and keep their religion separate from the public sphere.
Haven’t founded myself proselytized by any Muslims, ever, despite spending time in Dearborn and having lived in Brooklyn, NY several times. Wish I could say the same thing for certain flavors of evangelical Christianity and Judaism, not to mention Jews For Jesus, who have tried to recruit me both in New York City and Ann Arbor, though not with any success. I wasn’t moved by the Mitzvah Mobile-driving folks of the Lubovitcher Hasidim, either.
That said, as an American, I’m far more worried about those groups who are trying to infuse Christianity into public education (e.g., Betsy DeVos and her minions) than I ever have been about fundamentalist Islamists taking over the USA. But attacking them seems to make a lovely distracting tactic for the more aggressive brands of Christian right wing activism. Just as they are happy to attack gay rights and any other issue they think will get their base angry and into donating, voting frenzy.
December 20, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Evidently, this type of thing goes both ways. I went to a Leadership Summit held by Willow Creek Church in Illinois and the president of Starbucks cancelled speaking at the summit because of a petition signed by 7 homosexuals. They claimed that Willow Creek Church did not allow homosexuals in their worship services. It was a lie. They welcome them. We could not make Howard speak at the conference and Muslims cannot make Lowe’s financially support their program.
December 24, 2011 at 6:29 pm
To even suggest that Lowe’s is anti-Muslim or bigoted is ludicrous. If indeed they were, why on earth would they have started advertising on “All-American Muslim” at all? The show itself didn’t seem to get very high ratings or flattering press releases anyhow. It was almost as if the producers were looking to create controversy. This being a free enterprise and capitalistic economy, Lowe’s is free to spend its marketing and advertising dollars any way they seem desirable for business. Now, to cut off their noses to spite their faces, the Arab Nonprofit Network is refusing all donations from Lowe’s! How odd is that? Lowe’s contributes millions of dollars annually to a whole host of charities and organizations and embraces diversity worldwide. Oh, by the way, the United Foundation has decreased it’s subsidies and assistance to Catholic and Christian organizations. Should we boycott them?