is it just me or...

i usually do not use this blog to post about current events, but something struck me recently that i wanted to point out to someone, and this seems like the appropriate forum on which to do it.

recently, there has been some outcry from right wing crazy fox news commentators that rachael ray is promoting terrorism by wearing a particular scarf in a recent dunkin donuts commercial.

fox news personality michelle malkin wrote about the scarf, which she claims resembles a traditional headdress, known as a keffiyeh, worn by arab men, on her blog. she pointed out that they are clearly sold by urban outfitters, but even that doesn't mean that they are in no way related to this "terrorism chic" malkin virulently opposes:

"The scarves are staples at anti-Israel rallies in San Francisco and Berkeley. Balenciaga made them chic on the runway. British retailer Top Shop sold them stamped with skull prints. Urban Outfitters turned the keffiyehs into a youth trend a few years ago and marketed them as 'anti-war scarves.' Which brings us to Rachael Ray.

Ray hawked Urban Outfitters scarves on her website before appearing in the Dunkin Donuts ad. If she (or whichever stylist is dressing her) wasn’t aware of the jihad scarf controversy before she posed for the Dunkin campaign, she should have been. Urban Outfitters initially pulled the keffiyeh merchandise and apologized when Jewish customers protested, but reintroduced them with different names and colors in several global markets. This is the same company that marketed a bigotry-laced “Everyone loves a Jewish girl t-shirt” stamped with dollar signs and shopping bags."

the offending ad, which dunkin donuts subsequently pulled, is below:



now, according to malkin, anyone who wears such apparel and accessories, no matter how clueless they may be about their alleged meaning, should be considered to promote terrorism. ironically, amidst all of this fervor over the rachael ray scarf, indie rocker pete wentz went out to dinner with new wife ashlee simpson-wentz wearing some very familiar neckwear.



so far, i have not seen anyone calling the expectant father a terrorist, and it looks like he might escape the wrath of fox news. but maybe that's because no one at fox news knows who he is.

poor rachael ray. national ads for dunkies and her omnipresence on daytime tv and the food network have made her an easy target for haters like malkin. all over a stupid (probably overpriced) scarf from urban that rachael's stylist thought was cool and hip. the question now becomes: who is this sylist and will he/she ever work again?