Updated December 12th, 2011: Today’s USA Today has a column on the “All-American Muslim” controversy written by an American Muslim. In it, the author is asked by an Ohio man if Muslim girls can own dolls. It’s a valid question and understanding starts with honest curiosity, respectful interrogation and civil cross-cultural dialogue, which also seems to be the purpose of the show. But, Ohioans are no strangers to super-conservative Abrahamic sects whose women have to cover their heads and are subservient to the males of their culture, and that have crazies who form cults and conduct acts of physical and sexual violence. They’re known as the Amish. If “normal” Americans in Ohio and Pennsylvania are willing to tolerate and live side by side with the American Amish, why not extend the same courtesy to American Muslims? More importantly, if Christian Americans cannot recognize within their own religion what they object to in others, then it’s not unAmerican precepts and acts they fight against in Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus but just the fact that they are ethnically different. Those of us who are non-Christian are then absolutely being judged by the color of our skin.
Again, I keep pointing things like this out because an overwhelming majority of non-Christian non-whites who live in America are just trying to make it to tomorrow like everyone else, without some nosy, jobless, hateful assholes trying to chip-chip-chip-chip away at our American-ness and peace of mind because we happen to be superficially Other. The economy sucks, one-third of the families without shelter in America are in Florida and the FLORIDA FAMILY Association is busy fighting a television show called All-American Muslim, which in all likelihood was invented to educate and prevent against just an ignorant situation such as this. And there you have it.
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Lowe’s is planning to stick by its decision to yank its ads from [TLC“s All-American Muslim] despite the growing opposition the home improvement chain is facing over the move.
But Lowe’s knows that the consumers they alienate will shop there anyway for, unless Khalid the halal butcher branched out into nationwide hardware stores, where else are they going to shop?
This started over “American liberties and traditional values” and the Florida Family Association’s seeming obsession with them. Phillygrrl over at Sepia Mutiny has more suggestions for the American Wholesomeness Crusade.
I applaud the strongly-worded email you sent to the FFA, in which you wrote, While we continue to advertise on various cable networks, including TLC, there are certain programs that do not meet Lowe“s advertising guidelines, including the show you brought to our attention. Lowe“s will no longer be advertising on that program. I definitely agree with you that unless a certain program accurately displays every single variation of a certain demographic it has no place on American television. Incidentally, while we are on the subject of advertising, may I humbly suggest a few more dumb reality shows that I believe could benefit from your advertising guidelines? In no particular order:
- 19 Kids and Counting. The Dugger family. Super Christians. Super fertile. Super nice. But this show only profiles Christians who appear to be somewhat ordinary folks while excluding those fringe-radical Christians that pose a clear threat to our American values.
- Sister Wives. One man. Four wives. Sixteen children. This show purports to innocuously depict a harem of weepy, cake-baking mothers. But it riskily hides the Mormon agenda“s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.
- Strange Sex. Glamorizes strange sex acts without fully portaying the dangers that can accompany certain fetishes. Erotic asphyxiation is a silent killer, people.
Read the whole thing, it’s pretty good.
And why should Lowe’s hog the media attention? The following companies – Bank of America, the Campbell Soup Co., Dell, Estee Lauder, General Motors, Goodyear, Green Mountain Coffee, McDonalds, Sears, and Wal-Mart – have also pulled advertising support from All-American Muslim.
Hope you’re happy, true Americans! Traditional values have been kept alive where values equals the constitution minus the smelly bits that, by the way, assure that you can practice your own religion in this country without harassment! Merry Christmas!
Speaking of Christmas, did you know that Sikh-Americans are single-handedly killing Christmas in Stockton, California? Fox & Friends says so! Never mind that Sikhs got Republican Nikki Haley elected to the office of governor in South Carolina.
OH NOES NON-CHRISTIANS HAVE JOINED THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND SUPPORT AMERICAN LIBERTIES AND TRADITIONAL VALUES … uh … wait a second.
The thing is I’m not going to stop shopping at Lowe’s because of this. If I were to boycott all the American companies that forget human rights, decorum, cultural sensibilities, community relations, i.e. the true American values, I couldn’t shop anywhere. Go over to Home Depot instead? The ones with a strong union-free policy and who sell old-growth lumber? As I was saying, I’m not going to stop buying Lowe’s hardware, Dell laptops or Campbell’s soup, Republican Sikh-Americans aren’t going to stop watching Fox News and we’re not all going to give up habits that support large, multi-national companies which put mom-and-pop shops with real values out of business.
And these companies are fully aware of it, which is why they get away with this shit.
