Oh how the pastries have fallen....

Why, Dunkin' Doughnuts, why?  

I used to like you a lot--your 24/7 operating hours, your over-hyped coffee that was still marginally better than deli coffee, your nice location on my way to work on Sundays, and the cheap addictiveness of your doughnuts.

And then you had to go all crazy on me.

Other people less lazy about blogging have already talked about this, but here I go anyway.  

You pulled the Rachel Ray ad from your website after several wingnuts complained that the scarf she was wearing looked like a traditional Palestinian kaffiyeh, and thus advocated terrorism.  You then posted an apology online.  

SERIOUSLY?!

There are so many things wrong with this that I hardly know where to start. Let's start with the more esoteric, shall we?

The kaffiyeh is a traditional Middle Eastern head covering.  It has enjoyed widespread use in many countries, not just the Palestinian territories.  Generally, the color palette indicates the wearer's place of origin.  (Black on white is Palestine, Red on white is mainly Jordan, white on white is the Gulf, etc.)  And even then, no one can quite agree on the symbolism of the colors--different Palestinian groups favor different designs--the most prominent of which (in the West) was Yasir Arafat, who wore a distinctive black-on-white one.  Along with the Jordanian kings, and the Saudi royal family--lots of pictures of them online--look them up.  And Lawrence of Arabia, and anyone who had to walk around in the desert for a prolonged period of time.  So there's no way the symbol is limited to the Palestinians, or stranger yet, Palestinian militancy.

But, hey, didn't it first really enter the American consciousness when Arafat showed up?  He wore one!  That makes all kaffiyeh-wearing wrong!

Yes, he did, in fact,  the PLO wore them all the time, and so does Fatah (favoring the ones that Arafat used to wear.)  But, if you haven't done your homework, then you don't know that Arafat wasn't an Islamist.  In fact, he didn't get along well with them at all.  They (Hamas, mainly) defeated his Fatah party in the recent elections.     Remember the whole Fun in Gaza Summer 2007?  Fatah doesn't get along well with Islamist political parties--they tend to fight to the death.  Last time I was in Ramallah, half of the legislature had fled the city, in advance of the anniversary celebration of Fatah.  They didn't want to get arrested as a celebratory gesture.  

So really, EVERYONE in the region wears head scarves.  No one color-coordinates with the people whose politics they endorse.  It doesn't symbolize advocacy of anything, except the position of not dying from heat stroke.  

Ok, then, maybe the simple scarf isn't so evil after all.  It looks nice, keeps you cool in summer, warm in winter, what else could you want?

Oh wait, there's one more thing.  One more reason why this is ridiculous.  (wait for it.....)

IT WASN'T A KAFFIYEH.  NOT AT ALL.

That's right.  It was a lovely silk paisley scarf that terrified the wingnutty side of America.  GOD.

There are SO MANY things that bother me about this--the implication that I'm being lectured to by a SCARF, the implied lumping together of all Palestinians, everywhere, always, into 'terrorists', or the fact that it was all a LIE to begin with.  How paranoid do you have to be, how terrified of the big, scary Other, that you invent this story and run with it?  Have we gotten so afraid of shadows that we start screaming stereotypes and wrong information whenever we find the least opportunity?  

Belgium.  I'm moving to Belgium.