The TLC reality show All-American Muslim, which follows five families in Dearborn, Michigan, has a lot of points to make about the lives of average Muslim citizens in America, among them the lingering discrimination they face after 9/11.
Last week, hardware big-box store Lowe’s pulled its advertising from All-American Muslim under pressure–and thereby proved the show’s point.
Lowe’s pulled its ads following a protest campaign from the Florida Family Association, which objects to the show, in essence, because it portrays Muslims too positively. That is, it argues the show is “propaganda” because it portrays peaceful, ordinary Muslims without mentioning horrible things that other Muslims have done.
Right: because a decade of news reports, eight seasons of 24 and constant political grandstanding have done a bang-up job of utterly ignoring Islamic extremists.
The FFA’s specific complaints debunked:
“The show portrayed a Roman Catholic who converted to Muslim to marry. However, there was no mention of a Muslim who attempted to convert to Christianity which has resulted in a multitude of conflicts in America and abroad.”
This is flatly false. The arc in which one of the Muslim characters married her Catholic husband noted his mother’s discomfort with the conversion, but then directly, specifically discussed the fact that her conservative Muslim parents would have had an issue with her conversion.
“Many Imams who are at the head of [the show's] prayer rituals believe strongly in Islam and Sharia law.”
Leaving aside the question of “Sharia law,” a shibboleth that anti-Muslim advocates have used to whip up suspicion against Campbell’s soup, why exactly would an imam not believe strongly in his own religion?
“Many woman were shown wearing hijabs and many who were not, but the program did not show what happens if one of the hijab-wearing women decides to take it off.”
False again: All-American Muslim actually pays a tremendous amount of attention to the personal decision to wear the hijab or not, and specifically follows the story of one character who did decide to stop wearing it, to avoid workplace repercussions after 9/11.
I could go on, but it would be fruitless.
I’m sure Lowe’s would rather have rather avoided this whole controversy. I’m sure it would be glad to quietly continue making money from consumers of all faiths.
I will say this for Lowe’s, however (and any other advertisers who may join them in the pullout): I don’t believe they’re bigots. They're cowards. They’re the kind of penny-ante self-interested cravens who, throughout history, have passively made the work of blatant, active bigots possible.
... if you raise a big enough stink about a show, they’ll pull out, if they feel it’s cheaper than the alternative—and implicitly, that bigotry against Islam is acceptable enough that it’s OK to kowtow to it.
James Poniewozik writes TIME magazine's Tuned In column, about pop culture and society. Tuned In, the blog version, is about the stuff we used to call "TV," whether it's in your living room, on your computer or - once the networks figure out the technology and line up the advertisers - in your dreams themselves.
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