Empires striking back

Lowe's is under tremendous pressure now to reverse its decision not to advertise on the TLC show All-American Muslim (see "Be careful about boycotts," Dec. 13).

The home improvement store chain stopped advertising in response to a campaign by the Florida Family Association, but liberal groups including People for the American Way, Change.org, and Faithful America now say they have gathered 200,000 signatures on petitions asking for reinstatement of the ads.

When the company stopped advertising, it said, "Lowe's has received a significant amount of communication on this program, from every perspective possible. 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."

Now Lowe's is the lightning rod. People for the American Way, which calls those who disagree with it "bigots" and "haters," asked Lowe's to "reverse course on your company's recent capitulation to bigoted anti-Muslim extremists. I urge you to reinstate Lowe's advertising on TLC's All-American Muslim and send the message that Lowe's rejects hate."

The controversy is likely to give All-American Muslim a far wider audience than it has had before. We'll see what the next move is. Boycotts are a form of chess: It's important to look a few moves ahead. Majorities tend to have success with them. They can backfire on minorities. Christians are a minority in the United States.