Rachel Ray and the keffiyeh incident.

Culture: LGF and Malkin pointed out the Dunkin Donuts print ad with what seems to be Rachel Ray wearing the keffiyeh which is associated with Yasser Arafat and a symbol of middle east terrorism and groups. I am iffy about it as it does look like a keffiyeh but not exactly like the ones Arafat and others wear. But what is annoying is the intellectual dishonesty from some liberals who seem to think this is nothing but noise. The keffiyeh has indeed been associated with the intifada, and with former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. But its history as an item of clothing in the Arab world -- and a fashion accessory here in the West -- predates that. For a 2007 column in Canada's National Post, a conservative paper, Karen Burshtein turned to Ted R. Swedenburg, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas who lectures on pop culture in the Middle East, for his expertise. "Historically, the keffiyeh was an unremarkable, very conventional clothing customarily worn over the head by Palestinian and other Arabs to protect their head and sometimes their faces from the elements -- wind, sun and cold," Swedenburg said. "Then Arafat wore the black-and-white, which was very mainstream, and it became associated with the current Palestinian situation. But to say it is a symbol of terrorism is to say that all Palestinians are terrorists." Surely Johnson would never imply that. ? Alex KoppelmanProblem with this logic is completely ignoring that items/symbols can have their association changed over time due to certain events, people or groups such as the Swastika that until the Nazis adopted it in the early 1920s meant something good for certain groups. So the keffiyeh may have been an unremarkable piece of clothing before but now it symbolizes something else.Source