The backlash against the home improvement giant Lowe’s appears to be intensifying after the company pulled its ads from TLC’s show All-American Muslim, caving to pressure from the right-wing group Florida Family Association.
As The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart noted last night, FFA says it objects to the show because it advances Islamic fundamentalism by failing to portray Muslims as radical jihadists.
The move sparked anger from lawmakers and prompted calls for a boycott.
New Jersey’s largest newspaper The Star-Ledger added its support today in a blunt and forceful editorial that concludes, "for as long as Lowe’s continues to ‘defer’ to discrimination, let’s boycott this chain."
Ed will offer his take tonight on The Ed Schultz at 8p/11ET on MSNBC.
Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn, shares his thoughts on why the hardware giant has angered so many Americans over ads pulled from the TLC show, "All-American Muslim."
Do you plan to join the boycott? Share your thoughts and leave a comment!
Leave a Comment:
I know that I'll never patronize Lowe's again.
Lowe's wont miss you.
So, how do you feel about bigots, prejudice...and religious zealots?
It is ashamed that this country finds itself so religiously paranoid. Come on Lowe's what is you bottom line. Did we forget you back our Olympic athletes?
Typical over reaction by Lowe's prompted by a group reacting out of racism, ignorance and fear about a show depicting normal American families who happen to be muslim. I will never shop at Lowe's again.
Been, missing you kid, have you been working too hard? Or are you fed up with the Scrooges on the vine.
Thats the effect of a radical movement on a weak economy. They've managed to bully Lowes into submission. That's religious fundamentalism, and if doesn't really matter what they are, Christian or Muslim or whatever, fundamentalism doesn't belong in the United States.
Shame on Lowes, no backbone there. Shame on the Tea Party fundamentalists, they need to read that Bill of Rights again.
Lowe's should have stood their ground. They have a reputation for doing good deeds. Don't they think that would have stood for itself. I'm sorry they caved.
If fundamentalism did not belong in the country you would be answering to the crown. Do you usually post your ignorance and stupidity often or do you just piss on the constitution regularly?
Another one that doesn't know what the Constitution says. To bad the SCOTUS says you are wrong.
ER: You may want to get your history straight. The Founding Fathers were not fundamentalists. And almost all were Free Masons too.
So you are saying that religious freedom was not fundamentalism? That puritans who fled from the state religions were not seeking their religious justifications. They were exactly that. Not to be lead,distorted or governed by the king. The founding fathers who found the premises of life liberty and freedoms we celebrate today are exactly, that fundamentalism processes. The belief system of God, what ever god and the ability to pray to what god you believe is a function of fundamentalism. Citizens came together politically, rallied and became defiant to the anarchy of rule of a dictator.
And DA thanks kathe, yeah we know they were free masons, with a deep culture of religion and belief in Christianity. You do know the free masons have one of the oldest bibles in the world , right. Many of presidents have been sworn in, with one hand on this bible. You never heard of skull and bones? A secret society that is hundreds of years old, and forms the secrets of the free masons. Its traditions, initiations and membership.
Nope had nothing to do with religion except that the founding fathers were escaping from state sponsored religion and they decided that the US would be a non secular country where everyone could choose their religion or not to have a religion.
Religious freedom is the choice for everybody to decide in their own terms what they want to do, pray or not, believe or not. Fundamentalism is the base of what Bachmann proposes, a religious state, precisely what the founders wanted to prevent. And the argument made here about the Crown, asinine, it merits no further consideration.
That said, I know the type myself, it's a waste of time trying to argue with some religious fundamentalist, here or anywhere else.
Lowes Blows.
Rabid racism is tearing the country apart.
Case in point: immigration policies to "protect Americans from job-killing foreigners" which is very popular with media that supports GOP politics. This protection applies to immigration from Mexico, but not from Canada.
Timeline:
Mexican, Canadian, and Chinese credit industries mature and begin to grow in 2003.
Meanwhile, 800,000 immigrants flood into the US every year fueling a construction boom that builds about 3 million excess homes. The Responsible Lending Act of 2003 authorizes predatory lending that effects immigration like dumping gasoline on a fire.
Then this happens.
Over 4 million undocumented workers flee to avoid prison. Vacancies skyrocket (US Census Bureau).
Departing immigrants cease paying for rents, mortgages, and consumer goods. Sub-prime lenders increase interest rates on jumbo loans to compensate for these losses. Home owners cannot afford the increase and real estate mortgages begin to bankrupt lenders that fail to recover losses through foreclosure sales.
Bankers explain the problem to President Bush, who signs the following.
These authorize a $1 trillion bailout that does nothing to protect housing occupants.
At the same time, consumer demand vanishes in Mexico, Canada, and China as factory production explodes and an economic boom begins. US automotive and technology companies collapse as the US economy rapidly pumps wealth into these countries.
Banks force stock market sales to cover losses in an attempt to remain in business.
Over 60% of investment funds are lost as banks extract hundreds of billions from the stock market to cover real estate losses by 2009.
Texas avoids the catastrophe because a positive immigration atmosphere prevents population shrinkage (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas).
States with the most hostile immigration policies are affected by the economic collapse, but others are spared.
Unemployment reaches 9% by 2009 and is growing exponentially.
President Obama signs the following, which injects $840 billion into the economy.
That halts the economic collapse. Unemployment exceeds 10% for a few weeks in late 2009 before the trend reverses.
The stimulus amount is too low because economic forecasts under President Bush are intentionally underestimated to favor GOP candidates.
A bankruptcy boom is unavoidable, and that begins by 2010 as a result of the overall decline in wealth.
The Tea Party gains control of the House of Representatives in 2010 with a promise that there will be no cooperation with President Obama. There is only one remaining source of economic stimulus.
President Obama begins the State of the Union address with the following in January 2010.
2.6 million undocumented workers flood back into the country by late 2011 due to more favorable US immigration policy. Vacancy rates hit 4.8% (US Census Bureau).
This injects about 40 billion dollars into the US economy, and that reverses the downward economic spiral by providing enough consumer demand to offset 2 million lost jobs (about 1% drop in unemployment).
This boom-bust cycle has the effect of injecting more wealth into wealthy homes while extracting wealth from poor and middle class homes.
By late 2011, unemployment falls below 8% for the first time in 2 years while real estate value stabilizes due to increased demand as the immigrant population rises.
Confused citizens that become perpetually unemployed and homeless because of this boom-bust cycle flood into the Wall Street area as a form of protest.
Occupy Wall Street is born as a direct result of the same phenomenon that caused Hoovervilles to spring up during the Great Depression while Mexican Repatriation "protected American workers from job-killing foreigners".
The problem was created intentionally by the GOP, which eliminated depression era financial protections that trigger the boom cycle to gain popular voter support.
President Bush becomes more reclusive as OWS crowds grow larger.
This political platform was first popularized by the "Save America for Americans" campaign that began with the KKK in about 1915. I believe Mitt Romney has been caught quoting things from those campaigns. Gingrich has been very vocal about supporting this kind of thing.
----
Kevin R. Johnson, September 1, 2005, The Forgotten "Repatriation" of Persons of Mexican Ancestry and Lessons for the "War on Terror", Pace Law Review,http://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawrev/39/
J.K. Galbraith, 1954,The Great Cra$h 1929 Wednesday, October 23rd 1929 (ch. VI, end of 4)
Anonymous, US Census Bureau, various, http://www.census.gov/
Walden Slew, March 8, 2008, Banks face "systemic margin call," $325 billion hit, JPM,http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/03/08/us-wallstreet-losses-jpm-idUSN0832645120080308
Anonymous, NASA Finds Source of 1930s Drought in Tropical Waters, Goddard Space Flight Center, March 18, 2004,http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html
Esmeralda Rodriguez-Scott, Patterns of Mexican Migration to the United States, Center for International Studies, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas,http://www1.appstate.edu/~stefanov/proceedings/rodriguez.htm
http://www.doctorlindstrom.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Crosby-Virgin-1976.pdf
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/state-bankruptcy-filings-statistics-1276.php
http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/gapmap/
Various, Dallas Federal Reserve, http://dallasfed.org/research/eclett/2010/el1005.html,
http://dallasfed.org/fed/annual/2010/ar10b.cfm, ...
KKK was started by the Democrats. Just an FYI
@Steve, WTF has that got to do with Lowes????
Actually, there is no way to assign a political affiliation with the founders of the KKK. It was started by 6 Confederate Veterans as a "social club". "KKK ideology holds that the allegedly White and Christian roots of American life are constantly under attack"
Doesn't really sound that much like today's Democratic Party.
Read more: What Is the Origin of the KKK? | eHow.com #ixzz1gYljzryG
@Steve Johnson-3013587,
Factual statement to be sure. No disagreement from me. Dixiecrats is a valid historical term used to describe Dems. that HATED Pres. Lincoln for freeing the slaves.
Difficulty.
Most of the John Birchers and white supremacists that used to be equally split between Dem. and Repub. seem to have all gravitated rightward shortly after Pres. Obama was elected.
The demographics seem to have shifted to some extent.
Yes really on crack! Wow, the dairy of a progressive hater! You, ed and Rachel should meet for dinner to see who can out whine each other.
You seem to give credit to only the dems, of course you are one of them So I expect to see your bias. You make no claim to the Dodd-Frank bill that started the building opportunity for the housing(bubble) building boom and of course for all the citizens that could not afford their mortgage. Ya know the LIBERALS supported,government left wing get them in a mortgage program that will lead to default.Oh and don't forget lets get the taxpayers to hold the bag. Thanks again dems. B-T-W Remember TARP was repaid to the taxpayer, the so-called stimulus designed by Obama are a complete failure, no long term jobs no industry building and no resiliency to the tax base. We can go on and on, but I think your left centered obsession with sub-par leadership and dependency on government handouts are what you need to feel like you matter. >>I dont see you screaming for the native Americans or are you just prejudice in your own right, seems like you are. ...AND TO THE POINT WHAT DOES ANYTHING ON YOUR RANT HAVE TO DO WITH LOWES.
Hello E.R.-1800193,
Pleased to meet you.
Bush imploded the economy in exactly the same way as Herbert Hoover.
Don't you think Bush should get credit for the fine work he did?
Credit where credit is due?
No?
I registered Democrat half way through Bushes' first term. I had switched from Democrat to Republican in 1979 shortly after Pres. Carter said he wanted to stick his head into the damaged reactor at Three Mile Island to prove there is no danger.
I changed back to Democrat about the time I realized Bush was racist.
I choose the least racist candidate.
I have no particular political bias.
When Obama messes up, I say so.
Debunked tea bagged republican nonsense
Don't feed the trolls...
Trolls.
Tasty tolls.
Yum.
Lowes was wrong to pull there adds. We are the nation of immigrants and diversity. The only way we can understand one another is to reach across the isle. Muslims came here decades ago as well. They do not share the beliefs of terrorist as we don"t . Religion can not be our weapon , it has to be our guide and strength. No matter what you believe. If you believe in heaven and hell. There is not a separate one for each denomination, color or religion. God sees us as one only we make the division.
Nobody is saying that, certainly not me.
What bothers me is this insistence from far right groups that Christianity is the only valid religion there is, and they trying to define virtue by the God you worship. The Constitution says religion is nothing but a personal choice you make and it's not a reference to character or ability. So why these so called purists, who use we the people as their background image insist on this ridiculous points?
Did you know that the KKK was started by Democrats?
The KKK was started by conservatives that wanted the same things conservatives today want, no changes to the society that they consider radical.
Well thats just funny, didn't do well in history class did you. I bet you very proud of yourself to punch the keys and someone responds to your obvious need for attention. Please find a hole in the ground and then look at your backside you don't the difference between the other.
Nope I did extremely well in history and in fact my history teachers often turned to me for information that the class room books failed to go into detail about. Like how conservatives tend to try to slow progress down because they fear changes to society. Like it was conservatives that said interracial marriage would cause the decline of the white race, or god didn't want blacks and whites marrying. And who is it that say about the same type of nonsense today about gay marriages, here is a hint it isn't liberals. So you ignore that it was conservative democrats and republicans that voted against the civil rights act of 1964 and it was liberal democrats and republicans who voted for civil rights.
Steve- get a life- you must be a right winger and you are accustomed to the way you learn from the right, and that is by F.E.A.R. or as Michelle says to keep it simple
False Evidence Appearing Real
Well, I will admit that I do not have a great deal of knowledge about the American Muslim community. I do have many Muslim friends and every one of them seems a heck of alot more likeable and a heck of alot less extreme than your average republican tea partier. But it is also true that a small minority of my Muslim friends have told me that they have drifted away from their mosque because some of the people they encounter are frightening.
Now, Lowes' CEO claims that nearly all imams in the US Muslim community are extremists who wish to impose Sharia law on all of us. IS this true or false? I suspect that it is false because it is just very hard to believe. But MSNBC and Ed in particular would be doing a service by doing a hard news story on whether this is simply racist, bigoted nonsense or whether there is some truth to it. Instead of just calling all of us that honestly dont know bigots. I dont think I am a bigot, and I certainly do not want to believe that Lowes' CEO is telling truth, but I also freely admit that I am ignorant and want to learn more about this. I casnnot be the only American non-muslim who comes to this story with good will but would like to learn more about why this guy at Lowes is spouting this stuff.
Think of what Iraq looked like before Bush ordered the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Iraqi people, though under the sometimes brutal dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein, had very few instances of outbreaks of sectarian violence between the Sunnis and Shiites. There was even intermarriage between Sunnis and Shiites. And Christian Iraqis could freely worship without fear of being gunned down in the streets because of their religion or having their Christian church burned down. Plus, Iraqi society had a vibrant middle-class, with top-notch medical facilities and doctors, and schools where young Iraqis, boys and girls, could get a pretty good education, one more Western oriented, not one based on hardcore Sharia law or at some hardcore religious madrassas.
The point I'm trying to make is that American Muslims primarily are more from this pre-Iraq War, Westernized version of Iraq society, not from the tradition of the more hardcore Islamic regimes (like Saudi Arabia or Iran) or from what horror has arisen in Iraq in the sectarian violence that Bush's invasion unleashed in Iraq.
Sure, in the American Muslim community there are bound to be those spouting a strict right-wing adherence to Islamic orthodoxy (just like certain "Christians" in the American Christian community), but most American Muslims are just as freedom-loving as all other American citizens, meaning, that there are varying observance levels in the American Muslim community as there are varying observance levels in all other religions in America. It's the individual's choice.
So, I agree with the Dearborn Michigan mayor's statement that these hardcore right-wing anti-Muslim groups like FFA, in trying to blacklist this program about the ordinary lives of American Muslims (a program which doesn't include any scenes of radical right-wing religious nuts), are trying to keep planted in certain right-wing minds the idea that ALL Muslims, even freedom-loving American ones, are somehow all terrorism related or proponents of terrorism...which actually means that the FFA and anyone who agrees with them are the terrorists.
How low can Lowes go?
And the thing is, I vaguely remember Lowes backing something outrageous in the past decade, but I can't recollect what it was, just that I thought at the time that the Lowes' CEO sounded like a hardcore right-wing religious fundamentalist, a goofy un-American GOPer.
Well I will be shopping at Lows next week.Been eyeing a new drier that's energy efficient.The Ironic thing to this article is the salesman, who I have purchased two appliances previously, who asked for my business and has provided good customer service. I do believe he is from the middle east,however it dont matter.When I choose to purchase an item,if you provide a service your nationality,political or religion affiliations do not matter. I think people put too much emphasis on whats inflammatory not relationships.
Well good for you gee and here we thought you had a moral back bone. Well to bad so when a Lowes sales clerk says happy holidays you no longer get to whine that there is a war on xmas.
The KKK went after the Rep. party hard. They were as left as it gets.
Then there is reality why don't you try joining. That you keep repeating the same debunked nonsense tells me we are looking at someone who will get collapsed by the community.
It is not debunked. You all just can't handle the truth.
You really should quit while you're behind. With each post, you expose your ignorance of history. You should ask for a refund from beck u. They really let you down.
Its debunked nonsense as todays democrats and republicans are not what they were in the 1920's and 30's. Back then the driving difference was conservatives vs liberals. Today there are no liberal republicans because they were driven out of the GOP by fanatics, while the democratic party still have conservatives they are called blue dogs. That you want to point fingers at the whole party because of a few is just showing your prejudices. You wouldn't know truth if it came up and bit you on the face, your are just attempting to claim superiority just like any good racist brown shirt.
I am happy to see Lowe's pull there ads. I will start shopping there.
I'm curious as to why. Do you feel that all Muslims are somehow less than because you disagree with their faith? BTW, I don't follow Islam or Christianity for that matter; none of the patriarchal religions.
It was a business decision guaranteed in the constitution and they can spend their money in any way they see fit, whether it is agreeable or not, at least for now.
No Kim, I agree that most Muslims want to get along and are as decent as everyone else. The problem is the show is trying to pretend as if there is no problem with a certain faction within Islam. There is clearly an element not only in this country but around the world, where Muslims support the murdering of innocent people. Christianity has nothing to do with it. Every country in the world that is controlled by Muslims, suppresses the human rights of women, gays and Christians.
Well then, I guess HOME DEPOT comes out ahead. How stupid, however; if they, Home Depot, are on the same boat, I will always patronize our very "local" home improvement store, regardless the price of materials and power tools.
If you want to read something that is absolutely 100% BS, then read #5. I guess if you twist it enough, you can make up an argument for anything.
As someone whose summer home is near Dearborn, I can tell you that we get along with our neighbors and this area really sticks together when under attack by right wing religious groups. People that hate other humans are not welcome here, just ask Terry Jones how things went for him when he invaded our peaceful neighborhoods. Shop at your local hardware stores and avoid large mega-corporate stores as much as you can. Support local small businesses. Avoid hatemongers.
It sounds like you hate right wing religious groups. How well did you get along with your neighbor, Luqman Ameen Abdullah?
Last time I looked, my neighborhood was located in FREE AMERICA. I don't care what their names are, what breed of pet they have, what kind of care they drive or what religion they chose. Now if they are bigots I might care about that!
I don't want to see America make the same mistake and Herd American citizens into a prison camp and take away their way of life because they were born in another culture, right here in most cases the USA. No more Shame because of bigots.
That is an interesting comment, TM. Jewish people suffer from hate crimes more than any other group in America and the left does not seem bothered by that. In fact Muslim hate crimes are very small in comparison to all other groups. So what is your point?
I think I made myself perfectly clear. I did not say anything against Jewish people. I think I included them under freedom of all religious belief. So what is your point. I did include that those who are the bigots are the problem. I wasn't attacting any one but the bigot......so what is your problem?
You talked about herding people into a prison camp. Maybe you should clarify who you are speaking about. I assumed you were talking about Muslims. Even though to date it has not happened.