US Politics

Outrage Over Scarf

By Jason Leach
Published May 30, 2008

I usually prefer to keep out of US politics and all of its craziness, but this story is just too laughable to pass up.

Actually, it's pretty sad.

For those who want the Coles notes version, here it is: Muslim women aren¹t allowed to have their heads uncovered. Western women aren¹t allowed to wear scarves.

Welcome to the land of the free.

Jason Leach was born and raised in the Hammer and currently lives downtown with his wife and children. You can follow him on twitter.

6 Comments

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By Frank (registered) | Posted May 30, 2008 at 10:40:25

Wow!

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By highwater (registered) | Posted May 30, 2008 at 11:52:44

What else would you expect from Michele Malkin? A scarf will never be just a scarf to people who make a living off manufactured outrage.

Thanks for my morning smirk.

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By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted June 05, 2008 at 19:50:38

This proves two things:

a) Conservatives bloggers, pundits and media personalities will never miss an opportunity to equate anything middle-eastern and terrorism.

b) Celebrities, hipsters and the fashion-conscious in general will never miss an opportunity to "look cool", no matter how ignorant they are of the actual cultural context of that scarf/hairstyle/garment (sports hockey stars with mohawks, Che Guevara tee shirts and white suburban kids in gang colours). This often tends to devalue not only the cultural signifiers they're sporting, but also everybody else's judgment of their intelligence.

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By highwater (registered) | Posted June 05, 2008 at 20:30:37

Unfortunately your second point doesn't apply in this case as she wasn't wearing a kaffiyeh, but only some paisley number that vaguely resembled a kaffiyeh. Which only proves that a) Not only will conservative bloggers, pundits and media personalities never miss an opportunity to equate anything middle-eastern with terrorism, but in their paranoia, they will 'see' middle eastern things even where they don't exist.

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By Undustrial (registered) - website | Posted June 06, 2008 at 18:47:32

Whether or not she's wearing one (and if she isn't, it's a fairly reasonable approximation), there is in fact a big trend toward keffieyahs in the fashion world at the moment. I kept seeing them on hipsters and fashion victims on the bus, which disturbed me greatly because I've wanted one for ages, but don't want to buy a symbol of Palestinian solidarity from Limeridge Mall. Urban Outfitters started selling them a year or two back ("anti-war scarves") and Teen Vogue magazine termed them "breezy global chick scarves" featuring a picture of Kirsten Dunst in one. Everyone from Ricky Martin to Hugo Chavez has sported them, though with varying degrees of awareness of what it actually means.

Cultural commodification knows no bounds. Or, frequently, taste.

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By Frank (registered) | Posted June 10, 2008 at 12:37:56

I don't think your first point is very accurate either. It's not conservatives, it's people who have to much time to think about stupid things whether they be conservative or not.

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