If you wear a black & white scarf, the terrorists win

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Thanks to Wonkette I found out about the most asinine snippet of fabricated outrage since Falwell warned us all about that sinister homosexual Teletubby. This time, right-wing cheer squad Michelle Malkin and Charles Johnson have frothed up at the mouth over the fact that Dunkin Donuts and Rachael Ray are colluding to support anti-Semitic terrorism.

Wait, what?

Look, right there! In the middle of the picture. No, above the “artificial sweeteners and skim milk are better for you” latte she’s hawking… she’s wearing a black and white scarf! Or more precisely, what the froth squad are calling a keffiyah — the traditional Arab headscarf that, in a particular black-and-white pattern, became a symbol of the Palestinian people and their struggles for sovereignty. Sadly, they’re not joking. Although I have to say I laughed out loud at the phrase “hate couture.” The thing is, if you look at the scarf Rachael Ray is wearing in that picture, it doesn’t even remotely resemble the pattern traditionally associated with the keffiyeh, which resembles an interlocking net or a chain-link fence. Look, here’s Yasser Arafat wearing one… a fairly iconic and well-known image. But Ray’s scarf doesn’t even have a regular geometric pattern on it.

It’s easy to joke about the obvious problems here. Dunkin Donuts has already responded to the controversy by saying:

Thank you for taking the time voice your concerns about the Dunkin’ Donuts Rachael Ray advertisement. In the ad that you reference, Rachael is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design purchased at a U.S. retail store and selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. This is not a ‘kaffiyeh’, which is typically a checkered and cotton/wool fabric.

It has paisleys on it. You can see one if you look closely enough. At this point, we’re in the territory where any black and white scarf becomes suspect, whether worn around your head like Arafat or draped loosely around your neck. Extra Axis-of-Evil points if it has knotted tassels! And yes, Jon from Exurban League seems to feel perfectly fine jumping into that territory and saying that no, you shouldn’t wear a black and white scarf unless you want to send an anti-Semitic message of hate and support for terrorism. What’s next… is Santa Claus a Communist again because of the red suit? You know, we really shouldn’t stop at black and white scarves; even more radical Palestinian groups than Arafat’s (such as Hamas) have been known to adopt checkered scarves in red or other colors. We better check the whole Urban Outfitters catalog and boycott suspect neckwear — especially that one called “Desert Scarf,” that’s very suspicious."

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[Deja Q]

1. How about this scarf?

[Barrymores Ghost]

3. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

:D

[samsingh]

2. that's how silly it can be

[liberalmuse]

4. These assinine people actually breed. Think about it, and experience true horror.

Jesus. H. Christ, stuff like this makes my brain cringe.

[Warpy]

5. They were all the rage in the late 80s in big cities up north

I still have 2 of them, a black and white one and a blue and white one. They're beautifully woven and I occasionally use them for tablecloths now that the fashion craze is dead and buried.

Every time I think right wingers can't come up with anything more stupid than they've already said, they keep right on talking.

[muntrv]

6. If the reichwingers want to fight what they call "Islamofacism," then they need

to go and enlist in the army.

[Berry Cool]

7. OMG, sometimes these wingnuts are just trying too hard to win Worst Person in the World.

There must be times when Keith Olbermann says "Look, I'm gonna have to make duplicate medals tonight. There's no way I can deny any of you your rightful spot on the podium."

[azurnoir]

8. OMG someone should tell them

quick, apparently the wingers have overlooked their own 5th column, you know the guys with the black and white checkered flag at the finish line of every NASCAR race, it's really a scarf tied to a stick.

[mainer]

9. That makes all French women terrorists?

They wear some pretty darn nice scarves.

[number6]

10. rotting pieces of dog crap ....

Michelle Malkin and Charles Johnson