DO NOT SHOP AT LOWE'S

Home Depot is better.
Seriously though, Lowe's recently pulled ads from the reality TV show All American Muslim on TLC. Why? Well apparently it is misleading to portray a Muslim as a real American.
It all started and ended with the Florida Family Association. This Christian conservative group convinced Lowe's and 65 other companies to pull ads from the TV show. Again, why? I took the chance to go on their website where I read, "The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish."
Wow. This organization actually thinks they are saving American values by opposing this TV show. What about the American values that give all individuals the right to practice their own beliefs and religions. The Florida Family Association argues because some terrorists happen to be Muslim, it is necessary to be racist and stereotype every Muslim as a terrorist. There are so many ways I could respond to that, but since no one wants to read this blog post for an hour I'll start with this. Many convicted serial killers in America are white Christian middle aged men, yet many American TV shows portray white Christian middle aged men as just normal people, usually as faithful husbands and loving fathers. The truth is, just because many serial killers fit the characteristic of a white Christian middle aged man, does not mean all people with those characteristics are serial killers. There are many more that aren't than those who are. Same for Muslims. Although many of the terrorists in the world are Muslim, there are still many more Muslims who are not terrorists than those who are terrorists. It's funny how this conservative organization has no problem with their race being portrayed positively, but when it comes to other races they find it wrong. The truth is, the show All American Muslim is just what American society needs. After 9/11, the lives of American Muslims have been hard because the terrorists in charge of the attack were Muslim and American brains are now unable to differentiate between the two. Somehow people see the religion of Islam to coincide with terrorism. If you are a Muslim you are automatically a terrorist. If they took a minute to study the religion they would find Jihad does not mean killing innocent people. In fact, killing innocent people is against Islamic Law. Many human rights activists in our country, like Malcolm X for example, happened to be Muslim. There is definitely no automatic connection between Islam and terrorism. Before Lowe's makes a decision to pull ads they should pay more attention to what kind of message they are giving in doing so. Since Lowe's pulled their ads from the TV show the message they are sending is that Muslim's are all terrorists and cannot be treated like the proud and faithful Americans most of them are. Unless Lowe's comes out with a statement changing their viewpoint I do not plan on shopping there and I suggest you don't either.