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Rachel Ray. |
Recently, an advert was made starring American celebrity chef Rachel Ray. It looked totally harmless and followed in the footsteps of millions of Western adverts before it, using a pretty lady to sell everything from toothpicks to toothpaste.
However, the ever watchful American Neoconservative blogosphere honed in on a potentially fatal flaw.
This was not just another advert; this was actually an assault on freedom loving people everywhere.
The problem? Rachel Ray was wearing a Keffiyah.
A Keffiyah is the traditional headdress of Arab men according to countless dictionaries. According to the conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, it is “the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad… and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.”
Rachel's lonely outrage at the use of such a fashion accessory in an advert for her beloved Dunkin Donuts snowballed and eventually led to many complaints by equally concerned citizens.
| What is the first thing comes to your mind when you see the Palestinian scarf? |
Within days, Dunkin Donuts released a statement saying, “…given the possibility of misperception, we will no longer use the commercial.” The right wing bloggers slept well that night, happy in the knowledge that their children would not be exposed to the well known terrorist tactic of brainwashing through chic fashion accessories.
But surely, Dunkin Donuts must have considered the inadvertent signal that the withdrawal of the advert sends out, i.e. that an item of clothing associated with Arabs can be justifiably viewed as a symbol of terrorism? The response from Arabs and Muslims was as muted as ever.
Although the Keffiyah is not an Islamic symbol, it has become confused as one and therefore became a target for attack. A few individuals tried to highlight the shocking Islamophobic and racist overtones of the row, but they were largely ignored and their efforts went unreported.
No one would dream of making a link between the Sikh turban or the Jewish Yarmulke and terrorism. But many Western commentators happily compare Muslim women’s Hijab to the brown shirts of the Nazis and the Keffiyah to Klu Klux Klan regalia.
Yet, even as we speak Muslims will continue to ignore such attacks and choose to buy food from an establishment that panders to such theories. Not one of the ten Arab and Muslim countries that house franchises of Dunkin Donuts dared so much as raise a squeak at this insult.
We see it time and time again, Muslims placing their own narrow interests above those of their community, their faith and their dignity.
Throughout life, we are asked to make tough choices that require much thought and deliberation. Whether to choose donuts over our dignity should not be a difficult choice, but somehow it is.
We should not be surprised that others care so little about our sensitivities when we so obviously do not take it seriously enough to act when it is abused.
In a world where Muslim life is so cheap, it is little wonder that our dignity is worth next to nothing.
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