Imagine if a major American advertiser were to pull its ads off of Jersey Shore because they received objections that the show while portraying a group of Italian-Americans, made the glaring error of excluding Mafiosi.
Imagine if the absence of characters "whacking knee caps" and "making offers you cannot refuse" was deemed as an "omission" and therefore pro-Italian propaganda, and as a result too controversial to sponsor.
Pathetic? Incredulous?
Well imagine no more.
Such is the pitiful state that Islamophobia has reached in this country, and it's very real.
All-American Muslim is an American reality show like any other. It portrays the trials and travails of five Michigan families with typical reality show themes like marriage, birth, business, faith, food and of course drama queens.
There is one problem however, at least for the Florida Family Association: the characters in the show are American Muslims.
The Florida Family Association got its members to send in dozens of emails to the show's advertisers based on a pre-written template that stated in part:
"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 the liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish."
We are more or less used to the unfortunate fact that there are anti-Muslim loons lurking about out there. There's the burn-a-Quran-day pastor from Florida, there's the group from Florida that tried to ban a Muslim professor from the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission because he was Muslim, and there's that guy who tried to organize against Muslim family day at a Six Flags Texas theme park in Texas. Yes, yes, he was from Florida.
But what is the real cause for alarm is the creeping influence of Islamophobia into mainstream American politics and culture. From the Peter King radicalization hearings that use taxpayer funds to put mainstream American Muslims and their institutions on mock trial, to the frequent anti-Muslim rantings of the Congressman from Florida, Allen "Islam is not really a religion" West all the way to presidential hopeful Newt "Palestinians don't really exist" Gingrich. And now, we have the weak-kneed primetime corporate sponsors.
That a group of extremists from Florida would exercise their First Amendment right to carry out bigoted campaigns is unfortunate but not all that shocking. That 65 out of 67 advertisers (according to the Florida Family Association's website of which only Lowe's is independently confirmed) would capitulate to their nonsensical complaints that "ordinary Muslims are being portrayed as ordinary" is an alarming new milestone in the mainstreaming of bigotry in this country. For that reason, it ought to catch the attention of Americans who, for far too long, have stayed on the sidelines of the Islamophobia horror picture show.
Lowe's admitted that they cut their ads short as a result of the emails they were receiving and after reviewing some websites and blogs out there (in the "bigotosphere"). Lowe's is not just a tool in the hands of the far right, it's the entire hardware store.
What Lowe's is essentially saying by choosing to pull its sponsorship is that NOT portraying American Muslims as terrorists is just, well, too controversial for its brand:
"We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance. We strongly support and respect the right of our customers, the community at large, and our employees to have different views. If we have made anyone question that commitment, we apologize."
The running complaint used to be that Muslims are always portrayed as terrorists. But now, the message being sent is that "not portraying American Muslims as terrorists" is sufficient for complaint and controversy. It's moving the goal posts to a dangerous new "lowe."
First, it is a confirmation of what we have been stating all along: Islamophobia is not merely a reaction to terrorism or radical ideologies (which would have been a welcome exercise), but, in fact, it is a form of bigotry that targets an entire faith community: the religion of Islam itself and its mainstream practitioners.
Second, Islamophobia is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's sort of like "we hate you because you are terrorists, but when you're not terrorists, we want you to be terrorists so we can hate you." In the case of American Muslim leaders and organizations, the line is "we hate you because you are terror-linked, but when you're not, we need you to be terror-linked so we can hate you."
Third, Islamophobia is but a smokescreen, a projection of sorts. We are often told that Muslims are trying to Islamize America and institute Islamic Shariah law ("Sharrorize" America as Imam Suhaib Webb puts it). We are told that the less than 1 percent of American Muslims is but a fifth column who is here to take over and subjugate the remaining 99 percent. Setting aside the obvious ludicrousness of the claim for a second, ask yourself when was the last time American Muslims organized to pull advertisements off the air from shows that do not conform with their faith values (and trust me there are many)? Our organizing campaigns are themed around anti-bigotry and social justice, not the imposition of our faith.
To the contrary, it is the Christian right, the same folks who comprise many of the leading anti-Muslim alarmists, groups like the Florida Family Association (and trust me there are many) that are time and again organizing to force their way of thinking on other Americans. A quick visit to their website shows that this is not the first time they have successfully harassed advertisers for advertising on shows that do not conform to their ideology. They've targeted gays, sexually liberal shows, and others they disagree with.
It is not a coincidence that the organized Islamophobia networks in this country often include the same people who are trying to force-feed the Bible into government, schools, and public life.
And so comes the most important realization:
The organized American Muslim community's agenda is in fact a social justice agenda. Any objective scrutiny of our organizations, campaigns, projects and discourse reveals that this is widely and consistently the case.
On the other hand, as I already mentioned, you will find that it is it is none other than the far right that is out to force their narrowly conceived socio-religious ideology and way of life on Americans.
They conveniently promulgate the whole Islamist supremacist takeover fantasy and the Shariah scare as a divergence, a distraction, a smokescreen.
Projection is the name of the game.
They often use soft namesakes like "family" and "freedom" to give the impression of docility, and they inundate their websites and blogs with American flags and eagles to give the impression that they are the tried and true patriotic Americans who are best poised to speak for the majority.
They are not the majority, but they are not less than 1 percent either. They are in the millions, have access to billions of dollars, and have sufficiently organized at both the grassroots level and onas well as the internet in recent years to start to flex some muscle. (It is often stated that if fascism were to ever come to America, it would be wrapped in the US flag and bearing a cross.)
There is a ray of light. More Americans are beginning to wake up to the Islamophobia disease and the attempts at divergence from the real threat to our freedoms and democracy.
A year ago, the scorching Park51 controversy, while contrived and sensationalized at the end of the day, failed to impress the media or the public. In the case of the Lowe's controversy, Americans are joining hands in speaking out against bigotry. Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish groups, as well as notable individuals, including 2010 Spirit of Anne Frank awardee Anya Cordell, California State Senator Ted Lieu, music mogul Russell Simmons, actress Mia Farrow, and several other celebrities, have come out strongly to say "enough is enough."
For Lowe's and other companies that gave in to bigotry, the choice is simple: own up to your error and do the right thing -- or risk being chalked up on the wrong side of history (not to mention the wrong side of an impending boycott).
Their motto is "let's build something together." Well how about some backbone for starters?
Follow Ahmed Rehab on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Ahmed_Rehab
Shariah: The Threat to America
Measuring the homegrown terrorist threat to U.S. military - CNN.com
Iran now top threat to U.S. says military official - Yahoo! News
CAIR Targets Muslims Who Oppose Radical Islam
http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2011/12/cair-targets-muslims-who-oppose-radical-islam
- This conversation and ones like it are not useless. They clearly display the wide gap difference in culture and civilization between the west and Islam.
I'm seeing quite the opposite trend. I'm seeing people who don't have a bigoted bone in their bodies taking note of the impact Islam is having across Europe: the rape gangs, the Sharia-governed micro-states, the intimidation of women and gays (I do look forward to seeing this author write a piece on any of those topics) and saying "we don't really want that here", and refusing to let the pressure to be politically correct shame them into looking the other way.
I'm certainly no fan of the Christian right either, but how about for once, just once, owning up to the fact that Islam has a right wing too, that it isn't just "a handful of fringe radicals", and that it's at least as bad as the Christian right. When muslims speak out against the problematic elements within their ranks (and I realize that it does happen), it takes an important step towards bridging the gap between muslims and the rest of America. You cannot browbeat people into accepting Islam. You cannot stifle criticism of it and expect that this approach will somehow make people embrace it. If you really want to put and end to "Islamophobia", take steps to turn Islam into something of which people have nothing to be afraid.
Make any derogatory public mention of Islam and you are liable to be physically attacked, including murdered, at any time.
A phobia is an irrational fear of an imaginary threat. Fear of Islam, which is at its heart a declaration of war on the rest of Humanity, including the wrong type of Muslims, is not irrational.
By the way, the term "Islamophobia" was invented by the Institute for Islamic Thought, an arm of the Virginia based Muslim Brotherhood in order to label and demonize those who warned about the dangers of Islam. Saul Alinsky would have been proud of them.
Have the other companies clearly stated that? Or is it just Lowe's?
"All-American Muslim" cannot be considered merely yet another innocuous, inane "reality" show simply because of the messages it promotes. Take, for instance, the episode in which one of the show's characters seeks counselling from a religious leader on the subject of her infertility. That she would do this in the 21st century is suspect, but, to make matters worse, she turns for advice to Imam Abdul-Latif Berry. Imam Berry is noted for his particularly retrograde and misogynist views of women and marriage, including the sanctioning of wife-beating, which he describes as "disciplinary confrontation."
He's not one to shy away from promoting them, either, as his website attests:
ttp://www.imamberry.org/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=151:questions-from-issue-70&catid=52:islamic-times-newspaper&Itemid=177
I find it difficult to believe that those who are in an uproar and calling for a boycott of Lowe's have any idea what messages the show actually promotes.
Now the facts. Reality shows are usually not actually reality. To get an audience
If you are not this kind of Christian then perhaps you could use your name calling and rhetorical skills to chastise the so-called pseudo Christians who do them??? Please
I've found myself instantly under verbal assault from acquaintances and co-workers, citing poorly-researched propaganda about Muslims, as soon as it is known that I am a Muslim. In an instant, I am required to become the civics instructor, informing my fellow American citizens how and why all Muslims should not instantly be jailed without trial or why Shariah is not the threat that media outlets would have them believe.
It's often difficult to look at the radical right objectively and not see them as extremist Christian ideologues. I don't want extremists in control of my government... Christian or Muslim, nor do I want to live in a country where civil rights are unequally upheld. I know and work with Christians and know that these extremists represent an extreme minority of that group. Inter-faith cooperation, political moderation and equality in our society must be the means by which we calm this storm.
However, when I started going to big box Christian churches, I saw a disturbing trend. The pastors would recommend that their church members be politically active to impose their particular Christian values in the government. The stated logic was that since we are a predominantly Christian nation, Christians have that right. This reasoning, of course, ignores the Constitutionally-based values of protecting individual religious rights. It occured to me that their thinking was the same logic that Muslims use for having an Islamic theocracy in Muslim countries.
I have a problem with how they cover the conversion of one of the people on the show. To your point, I suppose that was best because then they didn't go into proselytizing mode. However, it made it seem as if he put no thought into it at all except that his fiance told him to do it, which may have been the case. As it turns out, the show may have a hidden agenda: be careful when you make life-changing decisions.
So far, I have seen no attempt to answer the charges, which, if true, change the complexion of this story substantially. If these charges are true, why did TLC officials not know about them? Or did they know and ignore them?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/volanj/lets-face-it-its-the-radi_b_1144842_124045825.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/volanj/lets-face-it-its-the-radi_b_1144842_124029455.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/volanj/lets-face-it-its-the-radi_b_1144842_124032757.html
Sympathy toward Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. are deep rooted in the Muslim diaspora (ummah). Similar feelings for the populations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq--and by extension dislike of "America." This is expected, and to some degree understandable; and the same attitude is prevalent throughout the political left, which thinks that the West (not to mention Israel) is to a great extent responsible for the discontent among Muslims.
The government can forbid the transmission of funds to those organizations, but cannot regulate attitude on the matter.
This brings leftists and Muslims into confrontation with the right--which considers itself the vanguard for "America"; and the opposition to the show by the FFA and others, if inarticulate, is not surprising.
Another of @volanj's comments highlights something very interesting. That behind all this hijab donning and traditionalism, lies an implicit opposition and dislike of the majority culture, "(America) is a country where you don’t know family and everyone is your enemy and out for themselves."
So, it's not just "Why are people hostile toward my cultural practices?" But, a superior attitude of "Your culture is lacking in values."
Has there really been any single idea that has led to more misery and suffering than the Doctrine of Exclusive Legitimacy? I can't think of any root cause with more toxin in its grand assumptions and deadly conclusions than this one.
Therefore, the Doctrine achieves its highly dubious honor as THE WORST IDEA IN HUMAN HISTORY.
Fortunately, the growing strength of the interfaith movement shows that reason and justice and compassion are prevailing over the individual and collective madness of the Doctrine. May the day come when the vast majority of people -- religious or non-religious -- see and practice the wisdom of this approach.
The Radical Right has successfully mixed religion and politics, and employs various techniques to distract people.
One such technique is to bash Islam, demonize it and spread fear of it.
But the Radical Right is not totally honest like Franlin Graham, so, instead of Islam, they use the word "Shari'ah" to scare people off.
They then look for the worst examples from the Muslims and highlight them as true representative of the Shari'ah, completely ignoring the good and noble works of the Muslims.
Haven't European Christians colonized every part of the world and forcefully subjugated everyone to their beliefs and left chaos in their wake? They were FORCED out because the people could not take the oppression any longer
They want to say that the only Muslims have been responsible for worldwide terrorism. Are they unaware of the time when white Christians bombed Black people from the air in the Omaha race "riots"? Or how many innocent black men and boys were killed in the name of white woman-hood? These acts of tyranny and terror all done by Christians who honestly believe that they were doing something good in God's name. And that's just in the US. If we go to the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, and Asia we can find stories just as horrifying and even worse.
Funny how selective people are.
You all say that Muslims are the ones bent on world domination yet that hasn't been tried nor achieved by anyone other than the European Christian. And they have done so in the ugliest way possible.
I have ‘359-KIA-No-Dna’ as a result of Islamic_Apostates, (NYC division).
I wish the ongoing 'war-of-pillage', (Iraq-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Grand-Cull & Petrolum-Mineral-Removal), aka, Mess-O’-Potamia’, had been as imaginary as the (alleged) ‘western-victory’, (&/or, W.M.D.’s-related ‘Plausible_Deniability’!).
Monotheism has been fightin' amongst subsets, (Judaism-Christianity-Islam), & sub-sub-sets, (Sunni-vs.-Shia, Catholic-vs.-Protestant, Believers-vs.-Non-Believers), for centuries & lovin' every sanctimonous-minute!
The ONLY agreement among ‘those-so much-more-the-apple-of-the-Deity’s/Deities’-eye-then-me' is to keep-on-fightin’!
The more they-all agree on that one function, ('fighting'), over-the-rest-of-us, the more modern people leave or take-up more-moderate-faiths, like (that ‘no-kill-shelter’ of spiritual_tolerance), paganism.
To hear ‘their-fearless-leaders’ tell it, business-has-never-been-so-good’! Why, homes-O’-worship-buildin’ must be leadin’ the reconstruction by the-(imaginary)-world_economic_recovery!
Per bishopacccountability.org or vanilla-media, the bad-shepherd’s-hair only went white, like, yesterday, (boy-play, honor-killin’s, transport-bombings, sidewalk-laycounseling-by-counselors, ‘woman-gave-way-on-sidewalks’ &/or, ‘move-to-the-back-of-busses’ demands, (‘Rosa Parks’!)!
And…the less they see us, (&/or, tithes), on ‘Fundie-Sunday’!!