Rachael Ray Involved in Keffiyeh Controversy
The following is a true story, not some Saturday Night Live skit drawn up to mock extreme conservatives:
Rachael Ray may be a sell out, but at least she isn't a fear-mongering nut job such as Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin.
Due to pressure from Malkin - who makes Karl Rove seem like a benevolent liberal - Dunkin Donuts has canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
What, you didn't know that a keffiyeh was a symbol for terrorism? As Malkin succinctly puts it, you must be a clueless moron.
"The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad," Malkin wrote in her syndicated column. "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."
Note to Malkin: these types of scarves are available at Target. Get over yourself.
Not wanting to drum up controversy, Dunkin Donuts has pulled the ad, which featured the photo above. Its response to Malkin?
"In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial."
Readers, if you care about the state of this nation, you'll send in your thoughts to Michelle Malkin and let her know America, similarly, has no use for her.
May 28th, 2008 3:34 PM
How long have these scarves been around? I think a little bit longer than this terrorism ordeal from 9-11... learn when to keep your mouth shut.
May 28th, 2008 6:48 PM
Some people need to get a life.
In 1980, I visited Germany on a school trip and bought a keffiyeh, one of the most popular accessories for students of all ages. I wore it for years. In 1994, I bought another one in The Netherlands, again because nearly everyone I knew in Europe had one. I bought yet another in Paris in 2001.
It is an attractive accessory and I still wear it, despite having lost friends and colleagues on 9/11. The scarf has nothing to do with terrorism. It's a piece of clothing.
Do my black jeans represent the devil because they're black? Do my blue jeans represent freedom because they were worn by cowboys? Does my long hair mean I am a hippie? Or a woman who is kept under the thumb of a man? If I wear a black dress, am I Amish? If I wear a red dress, am I a prostitute? If my son wears pink, is he gay?
The answer to all of the above is No. To give so much power to an item of clothing that has been an innocent accessory for centuries is ridiculous. Just because you decide to say it symbolizes terrorism?
Give me a break. You can't tell that a man is gay by what he wears. You can't tell if a person is Catholic by what she wears. You can't say that a person is a terrorist sympathizer because she wears a keffiyeh, or a scarf that resembles one.
May 28th, 2008 10:02 PM
If I wear COMMIE CHIC (hammer & sickle earring, Lenin t-shirt), that's cool. If I unintentionally wear a design even remotely similar to a swastika or the Confederate battle flag, I'm insensitive and disrespectful, or perhaps even engaging in hate speech. Malkin is only doing what the Left has been doing for decades, and what McCarthyites did before the Left: political correctness run amok. Since commie chic continues to be allowed by cultural norms, Malkin's ridiculousness has a long way to go to resist Leftist cultural hegemony.
May 28th, 2008 10:53 PM
No one still understands the symbolizm related to the scarf. Dr. Ghada Karmi an established novelist and palestinian activist sometimes wears the scarf. It is a tribute to the extermination of palestine while the world looks on ineffectually as told by Dr. Karmi. People need to seriously read up on Palestinian occupation before making assumptions and presumming that it is solely about terrorism. Yes Yasser Arafat was considered a terrorist as I am partially Lebanese I remember vividally the Palestinian invasion of Lebanon but he was also trying to establish a Palestinian State which will obviously never happen thanks to the worlds ignorance and lack of comprehension towards the middle east in general. READ UP PEOPLE!
May 29th, 2008 5:50 AM
Rachael Ray needs to pack her shit up and move back to palestine. Alla Akbar!
May 29th, 2008 6:49 AM
Why shouldn't people be upset by the support for terrorism? If left-wing nut jobs are trying to deny symbolism in items that have clearly gained symbolic status for violent terrorism, they are being deliberately obtuse or truly are naive. Not all liberals support terrorism, though it's getting harder and harder to distinguish between liberals and terrorists. Stop supporting murderers. This is as much a fashion statement as wearing a swatstika.
May 29th, 2008 8:55 AM
Seems to me that Dunkin' Donuts is to blame here.
Don't blame the spineless behavior of the execs at DD because Michelle Malkin has an opinion; whether you agree with her or not.
June 1st, 2008 2:19 PM
Dunkin Donuts suck anyhow. I thought they all closed down. And who cares what she wore, at least she wore clothes. They should have given the gig to Britney, then we wouldn't have to worry about her wearing "offensive" clothing. Or all you fools crying and bitching about how the symbolizm related to the scarf offended the liberals and terrorists. WHO CARES!
June 2nd, 2008 12:09 PM
It isn't a keffiyeh and any one claiming otherwise has been sniffing too much glue. This makes Jerry Falwell's attack on Tinky Winky seem almost sane. LOL. Nothing, except the fact that Rachael's scarf is black and white, corresponds to the Keffiyeh. Oh wait!! They are both scarves. "It's now time to ban the scarf in all forms as a tool of terrorists!"
Personally, I think Michelle has a problem with Rachael's skin color. She does look quite Mediterranean in the pictureâ€"wait she IS Mediterranean (Italian). Doesn't Michelle know that Italians, Greeks, Spaniards Semitic Jews and Palestinian Arabs all look like that?
There is NO WAY a reasonable person could mistake Rachael Ray's scarf for a traditional Arab headdress. But Perhaps Michelle can only see the world in black and white. Since 9/11 I have become hardened to stupid paranoid people, but this is too stupid and too paranoid to be tolerated.
The only thing sadder than the brain dead comment from Michelle is the cowardly response of Dunkin Donuts. The correct response would have been: "Michelle, that is the stupidest thing we have heard in decades, and the kindest thing we can do for you is to ignore you."
June 3rd, 2008 11:25 AM
There is nothing wrong with the ad. Rachael ray is got to be the best dressed women on television. That picture of her means nothing to me. Nothing!
June 13th, 2008 9:22 PM
Someone below said "Not all liberals support terrorism, though it's getting harder and harder to distinguish between liberals and terrorists."
I cannot believe you just said that. It's getting harder to distinguish between liberals and terrorists?! That is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard.
And, a lot of people don't recognize the real issue here. It's not just the idiocy of someone making such a big deal over a scarf...it's that people actually reacted enough to push Dunkin Donuts to drop the ad.
It's things like these that are a testament to how little America has progressed from the Civil Rights Movement, The Arab-American population's very attire has been put into question. the kheddiya is an EXTREMELY common scarf worn by Arab men in the Middle East, the significant majority of Arabs wear one. While it's true that terrorists like Arafat have thought to turn it into a symbol, this in no way turns the Kheddiya into the new-age swatstika. This is a piece of cloth identifiable with Arab culture, and by calling it's place in American society into question we are calling the very image of Arabs into question. People see that scarf they think Arab, they think Muslim...they think terrorist?...people see a women wearing hijab (a head scarf) they think Muslim...will they soon begin to associate that with terrorism? People are being discriminated against for not just how they look now, but what they wear.
And there is nothing wrong with supporting Palestine in ending occupation. It doesn't make you a terrorist, especially if that's your homeland. It's a personal opinion and people shouldn't have to apologize for it.
June 17th, 2008 8:06 AM
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^^
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June 19th, 2008 7:46 PM
Had she worn a Yamaka do you think that bitch would have complained !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!