Posted by
SaintJimmy on Thursday, May 29, 2008 12:00:00 AM
Recently posted on Townhall was this doozy of an article written by the oh-so-lovable Michelle Malkin:
Are we supposed to be impressed by this? So, Rachel Ray wears a scarf in an online Dunkin' Donuts ad that kinda, sorta looks like a keffiyeh. According to right-wing blogger Michelle Malkin, this is just unacceptable. The keffiyeh symbolizes violence and terrorism. Apparently groups like Hamas and Islamic jihad co-opted them so therefore it is an unacceptable form of attire for decent and civilized people. I hope Mrs. Malkin here won't mind if I ask her what toxic fumes she's been exposed to lately.
First and foremost, contrary to Malkin's claim, the keffiyeh does not symbolize terrorism, oppression or violence. That claim is misleading at best and mendacious at worst. No, the kheffiyeh does not symbolize anything except a staple of Arab culture as anyone would realize if they spent enough time studying the Middle East and its various societies. It makes about as much sense as saying that anyone wearing a double-breasted blazer must be a member of the mafia. Just because one group of people who commit violent acts wears something doesn't mean that it somehow symbolizes violence. To equate a piece of clothing with violence the way Malkin and some of her readers did was not only a specious argument but shows a profound lack of understanding of how the world actually works.
It is one thing to have commentators like Malkin shoot herself in the foot but what can be called frightening are the ludicrously stupid comments that a lot of people have posted following her article. I find it horrifying but not surprising that so many people would actually be willing to obliterate entire countries just because "they attacked us". Who's "they"? Iraqi and Afghani civilians that had nothing to do with 9/11, bin Laden or Al-Qaida? Let me see if I have this right. We're going to right that wrong by doing exactly what we accuse other nations of doing? What is this? The Twilight Zone?
Most of those posts show people's sheer ignorance and outright hatred for something they don't understand and never bothered to attempt to understand. Some of them talk about "symbols of hatred" yet Jesus taught people to "love thy enemy". If they're going to respond with something idiotic like "they attacked us", I'll respond "since when do two wrongs make a right?" Are we civilized human beings or are we animals? I find it hysterical that people seem to think it will be great to blow up entire countries because they (whoever that is) "attacked us". I hate to break it to those people but we do not live in a comic book universe where life is universally simplistic and black and white. This is an extremely childish way of thinking and it is very reminiscent of the mindset of a toddler. Actually, I take that back. I won't insult every toddler on Earth by comparing these people to them. Even toddlers know better than this. This mentality is utterly grotesque eminating from so-called "adults".
Does it make any sense or make people better to denigrate another's faith without having any knowledge about it? If they did have any kind of knowledge about what Islam really is then they wouldn't be making such moronic statements. Jihad is not synamonious with terrorism. It means "to struggle" and it refers to the struggle Muslims go through to try and peacefully practice their faith. They struggle to go to the mosque and pray. They struggle to do their fasting and so on and so forth. The term "holy war" does not appear anywhere in the Qur'an. Likely those people at this point will be Googling passages from the Qur'an to "expose" Islam as I have seen done plenty of times each time more laughable than the next. So don't bother mincing pieces of it and posting it to "prove" Islam is this wicked religion because a.) you would ignorantly be using a bad translation and b.) you don't have any knowledge about the historical context of it. One can also rip bits and pieces from the Old and New Testaments and make them say whatever they wanted. Doesn't make it true or accurate. It is intellectually dishonest to do something like that to any of those texts.
They like to pretend that they believe in religious freedom yet they don't bother to at least try to understand Islam and prefer to mindlessly repeat the same nonsense uttered to them by the likes of Malkin. They prefer to let Malkin and her ilk do the "thinking" for them. Then after all is said and done, they sit there and wonder why the rest of the planet ridicules Americans. Here's a clue: It has nothing to do with us and our supposed freedoms but everything to do with the callous attitude some people have towards people who aren't American or don't embrace an American lifestyle.
To those posters I say this:
Most of you people making such ridiculous comments have either been asleep during history classes or you were never taught proper history. Having never learned anything from British imperialism, the Civil War, both World Wars, the Civil Rights movement and so on, you should be ashamed of yourselves. That would at least show you have some form of humanity left than the blithering hatemongering and utter stupidity that you've displayed beneath that thing you mistake for an article. If you feel no shame, then you are utterly hopeless. No, the center of the universe is not America and its so-called "values".
As for Dunkin' Donuts, I'd like to thank them for the way they handled this situation. The word "spineless" comes to mind. So, you'd rather take the risk of angering a lot of Arab Americans by buckling over something that's a non-keffiyeh just to please a right-wing nutjob like Malkin? Yeah, that's great for business let me tell you. Take your junk food and stick it where you seem to be speaking out of lately. I'll give you a hint: It's 'round back, down south and it's not your mouth.