put your money where your morals are

By now you've probably heard about the controversy surrounding the reality show, All-American Muslim and Lowe's decision to pull out as an advertiser in response to Islamophobic pressure from the Florida Family Association. At the moment it seems that Lowe's and Kayak.com are the only companies who admit that they've been pressured into dropping their ads from the show, but the Florida Family Association claims to have influenced a much longer list of companies:

3M (Command, Scotchbrand tape),
Airborne Vitamin,
Amway, (says it has been misrepresented)
Anheuser Busch Inbev (Select55),
Art Instruction Schools, (says it has been misrepresented)
Bamboozles,
Bank of America (Cash Rewards), (says it has been misrepresented)
Bare Escentuals,
Brother International (Ptouch),
Campbell’s Soup, (says it has been misrepresented)
Capital One,
Church & Dwight (Oxi Clean, Arm & Hammer),
City Furniture,
Conagra (Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes),
Corinthian Colleges (Everst411),
Cotton, Inc.,
Cumberland Packing (Sweet’N Low), (says it has been misrepresented)
Dell computers,
Diamond Foods (Kettlebrand Chips),
Estee Lauder (Clinique),
ET Browe (Palmer’s Cocoa butter),
Gap, (says it has been misrepresented)
General Motors (Chevy Runs Deep),
Good Year,
Green Mountain Coffee, (says it has been misrepresented)
Guthy Renker (Proactiv),
Hershey kisses,
Home Depot, (says it has been misrepresented)
Honda North America,
HTC Phones,
Ikea,
JC Penney,
JP Morgan Chase (Chase Sapphire),
Kayak.com (admits to cancelling ads)
Kellogg (Special K),
Koa Brands (John Frieda),
Leapfrog Enterprise (Leapster Explorer),
Lowe’s (admits to cancelling ads) *** now removed from list on FFA site with no explanation
Mars (Dove Chocolate),
McDonald’s, now removed from list on FFA site with no explanation
Nationwide Insurance,
News Corp (We bought a zoo movie),
Nintendo (Mariokartz.com),
Novartis (Theraflu),
Old Navy,
Pernod Ricard (Kahlua),
Petsmart,
Pier One,
Pfizer (Centrum vitamin),
Procter & Gamble (Align Probiotic, Crest, Febreze, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Pur, Tide),
Progressive Insurance,
Prudential Financial,
Radio Shack,
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse,
SC Johnson (Drano, Glade, Scrubbing Bubbles),
Sears (says it has been misrepresented)
Signet (Kay Jewelers),
Sonic Drive-ins,
Subaru,
THQ (uDraw),
T-Mobil,
Toyota (Camry),
Volkswagen,
Vtech (Mobi Go, V Reader),
Wal-Mart
Whirlpool (Maytag) (says it has been misrepresented) now removed from list on FFA site with no explanation

The American Muslim: American Companies Accused of Joining the All-American Anti-Muslim Bandwagon - updated 12/14

MPAC: Action Alert: Stop Bigots From Pressuring Advertisers For TLC’s ‘All-American Muslim’

Loonwatch: All-American Muslim: Kayak Executive Robert Birge Issues World’s Worst “Apology” Ever

The idea of boycotting Lowe's, Kayak.com and the rest of the companies has got me thinking more broadly about the ethical implications of our purchasing decisions. Depending on the issues which are important to you (e.g. labor practices, support for Israel or other regimes, animal cruelty, genetic modification, sustainability, other environmental impacts, sweatshops, use of pesticides, etc.) it can be a challenge to go to the store without being complicit in one kind of wrongdoing or another. (There are even some smart phone apps out there to help you navigate as you shop)

Some other resources you may want to look at are:
Ethical Consumer: List of Active Boycotts
Palestinian Boycott Divest Sanction National Committee
AFL-CIO National Boycott List
Muslim Yellow Pages

The big picture lesson seems to be that small, locally-based, independent businesses are generally better than impersonal chains.

imagine! china invades america! or "why do they hate us?"

This is amazing (except for the very last frame). If they could just find a way to genetically splice Ron Paul and the Rent is Too Damn High guy, he would be the perfect candidate.

Also see Loonwatch's: Eye-Opening Graphic: Map of Muslim Countries that the U.S. and Israel Have Bombed

many can be religious... you ain't spiritual

For more from Muslim blogger/artist, Mickey Boston / Big Brosky he shares some of his religious orientation in: Many can be Religious…you ain’t Spiritual

ghadafi, frantz fanon and marcus garvey: visions for africa

Mickey Boston: Ghadafi, Frantz Fanon and Marcus Garvey: Visions for Africa

latin america's message to the arab world

Al Jazeera: Latin America's message to the Arab world by Pepe Escobar
Latin Americans should share their experiences with democratisation with other countries in the global South.

"afro-trini muslims are zealots"

In a recent interview with the Trinidad Guardian, Imam Hydal (of the Ahmadiyya community) discusses Islamic extremism in Trinidad & Tobago. His comments are interesting but I wish he had been more responsible in his words. He frames the problem of extremism in very binary terms. On the one hand you have good "docile" Desi Indo-Trini peaceful Muslims. And on the other hand, you have extremist Saudi-trained zealot convert Afro-Trini Muslims.

The interview raises all sorts of issues in terms of racism among Muslims, ownership and authority in Islam, "traditional" interpretations versus "Salafi/Wahabi" interpretations, and other questions. It will be interesting to see if the story sparks a thoughtful response in the Trini media.

"muslim homegrown terrorism not a serious threat"

Loonwatch: Prof. Risa A. Brooks’s Study Reveals the Obvious: “Muslim Homegrown Terrorism Not a Serious Threat”

how islamic sects proliferate

muslim reality

From Muslimah Media Watch: “Me, the Muslim Next Door” – What Muslim Reality Shows Should Be is a review of a Canadian reality show similar to TLC's All American Muslim. The main differences: "Me, the Muslim Next Door" is a web documentary (available here) so you can explore different scenarios and narratives as you wish while All American Muslim is obviously a sequential tv show. Secondly, Me, the Muslim Next Door is much much more diverse racially, ethnically, geographically, doctrinally while All American Muslim is focused on different families of Lebanese Shias in Dearborn.
hat tip to Elenamary

from b-boy to islamic studies scholar

Loonwatch: Exclusive Interview with Reza Aslan

I read Reza Aslan's "No God But God" a few months ago and was really impressed. After reading the above interview I'm now even more impressed with the person. The wide-ranging interview covers Aslan's time as a break dancer, his conversion to evangelical Christianity and his subsequent rediscovery to his Muslim roots, his love-hate relationship with Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, the nature of Islamic reform, the role of rationality in Islam and Christianity, Iranian eschatology, the Arab Spring, the New Atheists, and why Osama bin Laden is like Freddie Mercury. And for an added bonus he shares his super-secret sleeper agent activation code.

are evangelicals a national security threat?

Loonwatch: Are evangelicals a national security threat?

happy (belated) new year

Today is the third day of Muharram, 1433 AH. (So Ashurah will insha Allah be next Monday)

From Seekers Guidance: Virtues of the Sacred Month of Muharram, Its First Ten Days, and the Day of `Ashura

See also:
day after day after day...
muharram facts
ashurah
more muharram posts
ashurah 1428

black friday / buy nothing day / #occupyxmas

Wikipedia: Buy Nothing Day
Adbusters: #Occupyxmas
www.buynothingday.org

um no, camping out for black friday sales is not a part a occupy wall street

Occupy Best Buy

no one can tell i'm a muslim

Su'ad Abdul Khabeer's review of All-American Muslim: No One Can Tell I’m a Muslim: All-American Muslim Debuts delves into how TLC's new reality show and discusses how it simultaneously manages to be full of cliches while covering some new ground. The main limitation of the show seems to be that it only shows a narrow slice of the Muslim community (in this case, Arab Shias in Dearborn, Michigan). If the show is successful enough to spawn a second or third season I hope that would cover a broader spectrum of images (e.g. African-American Muslims in Philly, or Desi Muslims near Chicago's Devon Avenue).

el zahir, borges and sufism

If you are interested in some of the intersections between Hispanic/Latin culture and Islam after the Reconquest, you might want to check out a recent entry at the Technology of the Heart blog: Sufi Themes in Jorge Luis Borges' Writing

another vision of the first thanksgiving

Christina Ricca (well before Black Snake Moan and Cursed) and David Krumholtz (well before NUMB3RS, Serenity and Harold & Kumar) in Addams Family Values.

thanksgiving from the islamic perspective

In contrast to my usual remember-the-Native-Americans type of Thanksgiving post I thought it would be nice to share Thanksgiving from the Islamic Perspective by Ibrahim Gamard which takes a glance at the concept of thanksgiving in the Quran and in Rumi's Masnavi.

interview with hamid dabashi on brown skin, white masks

Jadaliyya: Interview with Hamid Dabashi

see also: review of brown skin, white masks

spiritual message of the occupy movement

Technology of the Heart: Spiritual Message of the Occupy Movement | Driving out the Money Changers, Once Again Bangladeshi blogger Sadiq Alam shares an extended reflection on how multiple spiritual traditions connect to the Occupy Movement, with a special emphasis on the money-changers in the Temple.