Feelin' low about Lowe's

So my favorite Big Box store, Lowe’s, recently pulled its advertising from TLC’s “All-American Muslim” reality series after the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

What a crock of sh*t.

I’m pretty frikkin’ sick and tired of pompous *ssh*l*s trying to dictate what I can see and hear and watch and do. I really am.

I didn’t like it when fellow Michigan resident Terry Rakolta – who’s related to Mitt Romney, in case you didn’t know – led a boycott against the edgy, hilarious television show “Married...with Children” back in 1989.

I didn’t like it when Tipper Gore and her “Parents Music Resource Center” demanded warning labels back in 1985 for music that contained coarse lyrics, particularly rap and heavy metal, because she didn’t like her daughter listening to Prince’s “Darling Nikki.”

I didn’t like it when the superintendent of Zeeland Public Schools here in Michigan restricted the use and availability of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books in 1999. (School libraries were prohibited from displaying the books and teachers couldn't use them for classroom readings. Students needed parental permission to check 'em out of school libraries and the super pledged to not buy future titles in the series.)

And I don’t like it when retail outlets like Wal-Mart and Target refuse to sell books, CDs and DVDs that they deem unsuitable for public consumption.

Don’t these people who want to censor what we can see and hear know that people are different? Our tastes and needs and cultures and religious beliefs and backgrounds and upbringing aren’t universal. Art is subjective and one person’s junk is another’s treasure. Some are merely entertained by things which offend others. Restricting everyone’s access to legal forms of art and entertainment because a narrow minority opposes it is not only a violation of the First Amendment but is infuriating to those who believe we all have the right to decide what’s in our CD players and on our televisions and bookshelves.

And even my six-year-old knows it’s better to try out a variety of things before deciding what to like and dislike – and it’s wrong to try to force other people to think like we do.

Anita and I have dropped a pretty penny at our local Lowe’s. In the last year, we’ve bought a lawn tractor, stainless steel kitchen sink, washer and dryer, front door, floor tiles, leaf blower and weed trimmer. In the next few months we’re looking at installing hardwood floors throughout our home’s first floor and adding a tier and more steps to the deck in the backyard. I would think Lowe’s would want to keep us as customers, not alienate us by straying from its identity as a home improvement store to pander to bigots and promote a myopic and parochial religious/political ideology.

By the way, I resent that the word “family,” which used to conjure up thoughts of togetherness, support and unconditional love, has been appropriated and tainted by small-minded religious zealots and now brings to mind controlling women’s bodies, restricting marriage, perpetuating censorship and promoting right-wing causes. Thanks a lot, “family associations.”

I’m looking forward to watching “All-American Muslim.” I’m proud that Dearborn, Michigan, where the show is filmed, has the largest proportion of Muslims outside of the Middle East and that my state has the highest concentration of Muslims in the country. I can’t wait to learn more about my neighbors.

I refuse to let someone else’s ignorance dictate my behavior. And I refuse to spend another dime at Lowe’s unless and until they make this egregious wrong right.

You can join me in watching “All-American Muslim” on TLC on Sunday nights at 10:00.

Sources: American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, New York Daily News.