Florida Family Association wishes American Muslims a Hateful Christmas

OMG TERRURISTS!

Jezebel writes that American home-improvement chain Lowes has pulled its advertising from TLC's reality show All-American Muslim after complaints from the Florida Family Association.

According to TLC's online preview:

"All-American Muslim follows the daily lives of five American Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan, one of the most established and largest concentrations of American Muslims in the country. Each episode offers an intimate look at customs and celebrations, as well as misconceptions, conflicts, and differences these families face outside and within their own community."

 In other words, it is offering a peek beyond the xenophobia, to portray the diverse people behind the faith.

This infuriates the Florida Family Association, who sent out an alert to all their members to e-mail TLC with complaints:

"The Learning Channel's new show All-American Muslim is propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law.  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."

My. Oh. My. Can't you just feel the love of Jesus Christ throbbing in their veins? The FFA's mission statement is to "educate people on what they can do to defend, protect and promote traditional, biblical values." (Apparently, "love thy neighbour" ain't one of these.)

Lowe's gave the lamest excuse ever for giving in to fundamentalist pressure:

"Individuals and groups have strong political and societal views on this topic, and this program became a lightning rod for many of those views. As a result we did pull our advertising on this program. We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance."

Way to go, asshats. Spineless and callous is no way for a brand to go through life.

Predictably, some public figures are calling for a boycott of the cowardly brand, including Democratic Senator Ted Lieu, who is calling for a Christmas boycott of Lowe's. He says, "The show is about what it's like to be a Muslim in America, and it touches on the discrimination they sometimes face. And that kind of discrimination is exactly what's happening here with Lowe's."

LOTS of room for improvement in this brand.

Related: Buzzfeed's 25 Dumbest Comments On Lowe's Facebook Page About “All-American Muslim”

Tea Party politician's ad says all Muslims want to kill Christians

“Do you really want someone representing you who swears an oath on a Quran? A book that undermines our Constitution and says you should be killed?”

These are the words of Gary Boisclair, who is running against U.S. Representative Keith Ellison in Minnesota's 5th congressional district. Ellison was the first Muslim to be elected to the United States Congress.

Boisclair allies himself with the Tea Party and the anti-abortion movements, and calls himself a Christian.

Here is his press release:

“It is common knowledge that Ellison is proud to publicize his devotion to the writings
contained in the Koran. 

This TV ad references several verses in the Koran which call for violence against Jews
and Christians. 

The call to violent acts against Christians and Jews within this ‘holy’ book should alarm
every American. The fact that a U.S. Congressman swore an oath on a book that calls for
most of us to be persecuted is an outrage. 

The Koran is a pillar in Islam’s ‘Sharia Law,’ which is a comprehensive code of ethics
governing both the private and the public behaviors of all ‘good’ Muslims.  Sharia law—
as seen in dozens of Muslims nations—leads to the oppression of its non-Muslim
citizens, and the loss of fundamental human rights for all.  

The fact that Ellison swore an oath to uphold the Constitution on a book that would
destroy the Constitution is as ludicrous as it is absurd. 

We did not pick this fight; Islam’s war against Christianity and human liberty has raged
against us for 1400 years. We are merely responding with the truth."

The truth... hmmmm.

Wikipedia has Ellison saying, "The district I represent is the kind of district where you can have a Member of Congress stand up for religious tolerance and against religious bigotry, against anyone, but also stand up for the rights of gays too." Not exactly out to kill, is he?

On the other hand, if we're going to accuse people of blindly following every policy in their religion's holy books, let's accuse Boisclair of supporting things like this:

"And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

"I approve of this message"

 Okay, then.

Jamaica's fear of a gay island rears its ugly head in PSA ban

Jamaica has a problem with gay people. At least, that's what I've thought since Time Magazine called it "The Most Homophobic Place on Earth" in 2006 because of the shocking amount of violent hate crime committed against homosexual men and women there (and which, it claims, is often ignored by police).

Male homosexuality is still a crime in Jamaica, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Surprising, from the country that gave us Bob Marley's "One Love"? Ironically, some point to the new generation of Reggae performers as the problem:

Jamaica's popular culture has a strong tradition of music, particularly reggae and dancehall. As a consequence performers are high profile, either (depending on perspective) seen as influencing popular opinion or reflecting it. Artists such as Buju Banton, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Vybz Kartel, Mavado, Elephant Man, Sizzla, Capleton, T.O.K., Anthony B and Shabba Ranks, write and perform songs that advocate attacking or killing gays and lesbians.

Apologists argue that these artists are simply championing Rastafarian values in contemporary reggae music by recording material which is concerned primarily with exploring Rastafarian themes, such as Babylon's corrupting influence, the disenfranchisement of ghetto youth, oppression of the black nation and their abiding faith in Jah and resistance against perceived agents of oppression. Homosexuality is enmeshed with these themes.

One of Beenie Man's songs contains the lyrics: "I'm a dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays." Lyrics from Sizzla's songs include: “Shot batty boy, my big gun boom” (Shoot queers, my big gun goes boom)."A Nuh Fi Wi Fault" by Elephant Man rants: "Battyman fi dead!/Please mark we word/Gimme tha tech-nine/Shoot dem like bird".

Wikipedia goes on to point out that The Canadian High Commission in Jamaica requires "performers who wish to tour in Canada to sign an Entertainer Declaration that states that they have read and fully understand excerpts from the Criminal Code of Canada, Charter of Rights and Human Rights Act and "will not engage in or advocate hatred against persons because of their... sexual orientation."

Yeah. It's that bad down there. And in that context, you will surely not be surprised that this ad by JFLAG, about acceptance, has been refused play on Jamaican television:



The Jamaica Observer reports (with the unfortunate headline "Blow to gay ad - TVJ rejects J-FLAG’s PSA"):

"The PSA, which features former Miss Jamaica World and Miss Jamaica Universe Christine Straw and her gay brother Matthew Straw encouraging Jamaicans to show love to their family members and friends who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, was launched last month. J-FLAG was hoping to have the PSA aired on national TV this month.

However, Television Jamaica (TVJ), one of the island's major television stations, says it will not be carrying the PSA at this time, citing concerns about the structure of the announcement, among other things."

Broadcasters cited complaints from church groups. Associate pastor of the Tower Hill Missionary Church in Kingston, Mark Dawes, gives a typical comment:

"As innocuous and as innocent as that public service announcement might appear, it is part of a wider plan by militant homosexuals to gradually desensitise Jamaicans to homosexuality, so that homosexual behaviour and practice can become mainstream in Jamaica."

Fortunately, the internet is less afraid of catching the ghey than Mr. Dawes...

Tip via Joe My God.