December 12, 2011

Lowe's Does Something Stupid - AGAIN.

There's a call for a boycott against Lowe's going around the inter-webs. 
As you may have heard, home improvement giant Lowe’s pulled their advertising from TLC’s All-American Muslim. That in and of itself might not be a massive sin — companies have a right to spend their advertising dollars where they like, or order for a few episodes and don’t re-up. But Lowe’s, at every step of the way, has managed to give the impression that they’re rather aggressively folding to virulent Islamophobes.
- thinkprogress.org
I won't be joining this boycott; but that's only because I'm already boycotting them.  I have been ever since they tried to build a shopping plaza in the Everglades.  Fortunately, the state got involved and stopped it, but Lowe's never did display any kind of epiphany that what they wanted to do was an egregious violation of what's best for society.

But it's not just Lowe's refusing to back programming that promotes religious tolerance and expands our understanding of our fellow Americans; it's a lot of the soul-less corporations that we mindlessly do business with every day:
... companies that initially supported the program, but later did not have any advertising aired, were Airborne Vitamin, Amway, Diamond Foods, Dyson Vacuum, Estee Lauder, HTC Phones, Home Depot, McDonald's, Petsmart, Pfizer, Sears, Sonic, T-Mobil and Wal-Mart.

The point of the TLC program isn't to proselytize for Islam; it's to give non-muslims a look into the lives and beliefs of some of our fellow Americans.  People upset about the program don't have any kind of moral high ground that should dictate anyone's behavior; they are simply bigots.  Their only goal is to suppress knowledge and enforce ignorance to give them the freedom to spin out any lie they can imagine in order to divide our country into religious factions.

So yes, boycott these business, but take it one step further; pull out whatever discount card or loyalty coupons they've given you, and mail it back to them.  And let them know why:
Dear ________,
I have decided to shop exclusively with stores that embrace the virtues bestowed upon us by our forefathers.  Since you have chosen to pull your advertising from programming designed to encourage understanding of my fellow citizens who practice a faith different from mine, your organization no longer reflects the ideals of our great nation.  I will find someone else to do business with; someone who acknowledges that the first step to becoming a truly united people is to foster an understanding of each other.
Sincerely,
A patriotic citizen.
Some of the irrational right-wingnuts are going on about how this is "nobody's concern.  They should be allowed to advertise, or not, as they choose.

And I agree; they can do business as they choose; but they'll have to do it without mine.