Is Rachel Ray a Terrorist? [Indie Rock Scarf Scandal]
Last summer, my friend/insurance liability Justin nearly got into a physical fight with a Palestinian man in downtown Calgary over his wearing of a Keffiyeh-like scarf. The Keffiyeh-like scarf has become an ubiquitous accoutrement on and off the scenester dance floors. It is now an impulse item at the check-out tills in self-conscious anti-culture retailers like Urban Outfitters and H&M and makes constant appearances on MTV.
In the news, Rachel Ray, the spokesperson for Dunkin Donuts, appeared in a black-and-white Keffiyeh-like scarf in a recent ad and ignited a firestorm of condemnation.
Ultra-rightwing blogger Michelle Malkin picked up the scandal, writing:
The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not so ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities and left-wing icons.
Dunkin Donuts initially defended the commercial, and then — when threatened with a boycott by Israeli apologists who love Dunkin Donuts and double standards — agreed to stop running it.
I’m tremendously torn on the issue. On one hand, activism becomes counter-culture which becomes culture which becomes consumerism. So is the great circle of (consumerist) life and these very critics of the commercial are the corporate-caplitalist glee-club. It is their greedy short-sightedness in exploiting conflict that produced the high-supply of Keffiyeh-knockoffs and commodified the traditional item.
On the other hand, while Chavez and Gore might wear the scarf as a political statement, Justin was not. Nor was Rachel Ray. The commodification of political iconography takes all of its power away. Michelle Malkin and her rightist ilk should be pleased to see all meaning of the Keffiyeh being stripped away wrapped around the neck of Kanye and Paris.
She writes:
Naturally, liberal commentators on the Internet are now up in arms over Dunkin’ Donuts’ decision to yank the ad and mock anyone who expresses concern over the keffiyeh’s symbolism.
I’m not going to mock anyone for expressing concern about the scarf’s symbolism — it has symbolism. I’ll disagree with her and others on what she believes the symbolism to be. Malkin again:
It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists. Too many of them bend over backward in the direction of anti-American political correctness….
Fashion statements may seem insignificant, but when they lead to the mainstreaming of violence — unintentionally or not — they matter. Ignorance is no longer an excuse. In post-9/11 America, vigilance must never go out of style.
Wow. Just — utterly — wow.
Innumerable Palestinians continue to wear this scarf daily — either for tradition or function. British soldiers have worn them for years. And now, rock stars and progressive politicians. They are symbolic, yes, but not of the mainstreaming of violence as Malkin asserts.
For most observers outside of Malkin’s post-9/11 copy-and-paste sphere, they represent the exploitation of criminal state terror and cultural genocide in the Middle East by U.S.-Israel — not Islamic terrorism.
And while ignorance of the source characterizes most wearers, even those who do wear it knowingly do so for reasons far beyond Malkin’s willingness or ability to accept. Declaring it an item of Islamic-terror is a vicious and ignorant misrepresentation.
And if there’s anything afoul with the Keffiyeh in America, it’s the scarf’s renewed dance-floor chic.
via HuffPo
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