Lowe's steps in it

We have some stupid people in this country with too much time on their hands and too few brain cells to live peaceably with the rest of us in the real world. They're easily (mis)led and make far more noise in support of their wrongheaded beliefs than their numbers and the validity of those beliefs warrant. Case in point: the Florida Family Association, now in the headlines, albeit in somewhat small print, for cowing Lowes, the home-improvement chain, into pulling its advertising from TLC's reality TV series All-American Muslim.

First things first: I haven't seen the show. I'm not coming to its defense because I'm a fan. The reviews I've read have been mixed, lauding it for being a step in the right (that is, "not paranoid") direction while lamenting that it's simply not all that good.

However, I don't have to have watched the show to see the Florida Family Association for what it is: a bunch of ignorant, paranoid bigots who know sod-all about Islam or Muslims.

The blog The Pulp, "your daily dose of news from Broward and Palm Beach", has an entry by Matthew Hendley devoted to the controversy. Hendley looked up FFA's suggested letter to send to offending advertisers like Lowe's. In that letter, here's the unambiguous message the FFA wants to send:

Clearly this program is attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad and to influence them to believe that being concerned about the jihad threat would somehow victimize these nice people in this show.

As Hendley notes:

Not surprisingly, all of the "research" promoting the theory that TLC is trying to help advance a Muslim "agenda" is from Pamela Geller, who's been posting her work on World Net Daily -- which typically saves its space for 9/11 and birther-related conspiracy theories.

It's a sorry spectacle, the ignorant being led by the hateful.

Sarah Posner at Religion Dispatches has more info on the FFA and its overwrought leader, David Caton. People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch put together a "greatest hits" list of FFA's regressive campaigns over the years.

Time to make Lowe's understand what it has done. Let them know that you will not spend a penny at their stores, physical or virtual, until they disavow their cowardly caving to the ignoramuses of the FFA. The phone number for Lowe's Public Relations is 704-757-9210 (fax 704-757-0611). The company's "help" number is 1-800-445-6937, if you want to contact them on their dime.