So, you might have seen the story yesterday that the home-improvement chain Lowes was getting all sorts of bad press for yanking their ads from TLC's new reality series, All-American Muslim. This was after the Florida Family Association claimed that the show was "propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values." Because, you know, if you happen to show a well-adjusted Muslim family that is not at that moment attempting to blow something up, that is clearly propaganda.
At any rate, Lowes pulled their ads off the show, which has set off a firestorm of negative publicity and online debate (the Facebook post where Lowes apologized currently has nearly 22,000 comments). Now the blowback has reached the Florida Family Association: the Tampa Bay Times reports that the organization's website has been infiltrated by a hacker claiming to be associated with the group Anonymous. As a result, the FFA has been forced to temporarily take down their website.
David Caton, the FFA's executive director, said they took the website down last night, after the hackers broke through "15 layers of security" and they were worried the hackers might steal sensitive data. Caton said that they received an anonymous email earlier in the day letting them know their site would be attacked. Caton has also received at least one death threat.
The ad time Lowes abandoned has since been purchased by celebrities and organizations such as rap mogul Russell Simmons, actor Kal Penn, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
