Thursday, May 29, 2008

About that scarf...

I haven't done a political post in a while, probably because so much of it seems like the sort of hysterical doomsday predictions one might expect from a classroom of third graders. That goes for both sides, of course....anyway, about that scarf kerfuffle that some of the hard-core right-wing blogs started having a fit about, well, when even Kate had something to say about it, I kinda felt I had to put in my two cents.

First off, my take on it is much like the Jawa Report's. I don't think it's obviously a kaffiyeh...frankly, it looks like exactly what Ray and Dunkin Donuts said it was, which is a simple scarf purchased for the purpose of the shoot, covered in a paisley pattern, and saying it's a kaffiyeh is silly at best.

Kate is also right to point out that the kaffiyeh, by any of its multiple names, is a functional and traditional part of Arab dress, and some variant of it can be found all over the world in any place where it's hot. She's right that simply wearing one doesn't make one a terrorist, or even a sympathizer with one. I disagree with her on the rest of her post, though, largely because a kaffiyeh with the pattern on it popularized by Arafat and others is not just a piece of cloth, and it's not just a headdress. It's a symbol, and saying otherwise is dangerously simplistic.

When a similar mode of dress, and here I'm talking specifically about the version of the kaffiyeh worn by Arafat, is explicitly worn to identify affiliation with a particular movement, political philosophy, racial identity, etc. the act of doing so creates that connection, whether it was there to begin with or not, as long as one is aware of that connection. The PLO's stated goal since its inception has been to destroy Israel, Arafat's repudiation of that in 1998 notwithstanding; there is an inescapable and very real connection between the violence between the various Arabic and Islamic groups and Israel, and the symbols that the two sides rally around every time things heat up. The kaffiyeh is one of those symbols; Arafat wore one every single time he was in public and became associated with it.

One might just as well say the same of lots of other things, though. In certain parts of Los Angeles, wearing either a blue or a red shirt during the mid-80's was tantamount to a death sentence. Schools these days restrict students from wearing clothing closely associated with gangs as a way of keeping their rivalry off school property - it doesn't always work, but one has to start somewhere. Seventy years ago, one group of people in Europe was forced to wear armbands with a yellow six-pointed star on them shortly before six million of them were hauled off and slaughtered. The color red in Russia, China, and most of Eastern Europe has a particular connotation that the rest of the world doesn't. Take some white stars, and thirteen alternating stripes of red and white, put it on a rectangular piece of cloth, and refuse to take it off the pole it's on because some people are shooting at you, and you have the inspiration for the USA's national anthem. A vehicle with two perpendicular intersecting red bars on a white background on a battlefield has come to be connected with medical attention. The list goes on and on and on, endlessly.

People look for meaning where there might not otherwise be any. We associate shapes, colors, patterns, and textures with particular concepts, it's just how we're wired. Take a kaffiyeh of plain white, hold it in place with a simple black agal, and put it on a blue-eyed Caucasian man, and you evoke Lawrence of Arabia. Take one of white with a black spiderweb pattern on it, or a red and white, and you're possibly associating yourself with the Palestinian intifada. Granted, it's not that simplistic....but the connection is there and either ignoring it or ridiculing those that do make that connection is also simplistic. Granted, there are other associations than the ones we're talking about, but meanings change. Context changes. People change.

As a good example of this kind of connection, let's take it out of the realm of Rachael Ray, Dunkin Donuts, or even Yasser Arafat. Zombietime has done a number of photo essays on this subject, so go have a look at two from this month (and read the comments, which in my opinion are the best part):

Nakba-60 - 4th, 6th, 8th, 11th, and particularly the 17th photo of the banner, masked boys shooting rocks with slingshots, a Merkava tank, et al. There's way more, but you'll get my point, just keep scrolling.

UC Berkely's Palestinian Checkpoint - the one of the students in line, about 5 photos down.

San Francisco isn't arid or that hot. The predominant population there is not Arabic. QED, there is another connotation in mind. Is it as simple as "fashionable scarves"? Maybe. Americans have a tendency to do that sort of thing, else there would be no market at all for Che Guevara or Chairman Mao merchandise (15 seconds with Google found those latter two....you don't have to go far), both of which show a deeply distressing lack of historical knowledge about what those two were all about...or else an equally distressing amount of apathy.

I agree with Kate that the whole thing is a hysterical overreaction on the part of both Michelle Malkin and Charles Johnson. I disagree, however, that it's as simple as "kaffiyehs have been around for thousands of years, way before Arafat or the Palestinians, so wearing one doesn't mean diddly." One might say the same of the swastika.

Edit: Kate rightly points out in the comments that I paraphrased her post inaccurately. The part of her post that I read that way was this one:

What hole do Malkin and Johnson live in that they’re convinced the keffiyeh is, in and of itself, a symbol of terrorism? Or that a woman’s wearing of it means, well, anything?
The keffiyeh (also known as the shmagh, shemagh, ghutra, hatta or mashada), is a
traditional Arabic men’s headdress. It’s a functional piece of clothing designed to protect the head and neck from the arid, blistering heat of the Middle East. As such, it’s been around for thousands of years — long before Yasser Arafat, the Taliban or any other Islamic extremists.
To argue that, because terrorists have been seen wearing such clothing, anyone who wears similar items must also be a terrorist is laughable.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Laptop update

I mentioned previously that there was still some hope of rescuing any of my data from my laptop. Turns out it's not the case - everything I've done since August of last year is totally unrecoverable.

Dammit.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

In praise of McDonald's

Kate's oldest is sixteen and has her first job. I was reading through the comments attached to that post and it got me all nostalgic about my first job. I was really lucky, you see....my first job was at McDonald's.

The notion of "flipping burgers" as somehow demeaning is one I've never really understood. For one thing, my grandparents called things like that an "opportunity", and after watching the way Dad worked while I was growing up, I've no doubt he'd see it the same way. Granted, it's a largely unskilled job that doesn't pay well...but you know what? There is no job...ever...for which education has fully prepared the newly hired fresh meat. Ever.

For another thing, McDonald's is not the easy sit-on-your-ass type job that a lot of people seem to think it is. Let me tell you, you've never experienced bust-your-ass-working until you've been the only cook in a McDonald's kitchen when a busload of post-event teenage wrestlers come in ready to eat the paint off the walls. That is panic making.

Things I learned at McDonald's are legion, and I thought I'd share a few.

1) If you have time to lean, you have time to clean. (My kids hate that one)

2) A paycheck received at the end of two weeks' time spent working the entire evening until 1:30-2AM is eminently more satisfying than being handed money for having done nothing, regardless of the amount.

3) Working quickly does you no good if you don't do it right the first time. Somebody will always catch on and make you do it over.

4) Assembly-line manufacturing, be it automobiles or food, can create a truly amazing amount of stuff in a very short time period.

There's more, but Red and I have to go register for our upcoming baby shower. :)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Most awesome suspenseful moment ever

Let me first say I don't really care for the pageant dog-and-pony show that American Idol has become. I don't really enjoy watching the beginning auditions, aside from the odd snarky comment or two from Simon...after all, he does come up with some memorable zingers from time to time. Largely, it bores me to the point of actual cellular decay.

The middle of the show? Eh...some good, some bad, mostly mediocre with an occasional "Wow, you gotta check this out" moment. That's what DVR's are for.

We got in the habit around here a long time ago of recording everything we want to watch and seeing it anywhere from half an hour to days later, skipping the irritating commercials as we go. Again, remember, I'm really not an Idol fan, particularly.

Imagine, then, if you will, my absolute delight and utter enjoyment when the big moment arrived, and Ryan Seacrest went to announce the winner...after sitting through the whole torturous two hours of show preceeding it...and got as far as, "And the winner...of American Idol...2008....is....." -=bink=- recording over.

I laughed so hard I cried. God, I"m still laughing as I type. I had to go online for the girls and find out that David Cook won (he's definitely got the emo vote, my 14 yr old loves him to itsy bitsy squooshy bits), because they were threatening me with bodily harm if I didn't.

Say it with me....LOL.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Smackdown the way it should be done.

Rachel Lucas is...well, I can't say she's a goddess, because she's an athiest. But she's awesome. Go read.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Catastrophe

Hopefully it's not of the Really Really Bad variety, but my laptop got set in the direct sun the other day, and the ambient temperature here was over 100F. I was trying to burn a DVD of photos and my laptop just went -=poof=-. Now it won't come back on.

It's weird getting used to my desktop computer again. Hopefully I can get my laptop back up and running, as it's got my last years' worth of photos on it. Thankfully, most of it's backed up on the backup drive I have, but not everything's there. If I can't get it fixed, I can't replace either the laptop or the content, so hopefully this won't really really suck.

Stay tuned.

Edit: Well, there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news is that the laptop is under full-coverage warranty (having listened to Red and purchased it, boy am I glad I did), and I did a full backup in January.

The bad news is that the hard drive, motherboard, CPU, and probably most of the rest of the innards were completely fried when it blew. The service people are trying to fix it now, but I won't have it back for about two weeks. Also not good is the nothing-since-January lack of backups, which sucks a lot.

I am displeased, but I think I've learned my lesson about not backing up regularly.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Great definition

Committee:

A coalition of the unwilling, chosen from the unable, to carry out the unnecessary.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Disturbing mail

I got a gift certficate for a Free Panty with purchase of an Angels Bra from Victoria's Secret in today's mail. I can't decide, are the powers that be trying to tell me I'm playing for the wrong team here, or giving me a not-so-subtle hint on what to get Red for her birthday a couple of months from now?



Weird.



Nice pictures on it, though. I know, I know. BAD WG. NO DONUT.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Overheard

Editor's note: To understand this anecdote, you must understand that when Little Red was a toddler, she absolutely LOVED spicy food - she would drink salsa straight at Mexican restaurants. After an incident at the age of 4 in which a habanero was mistaken for a cherry tomato, she refused to eat anything that was spicy, even black pepper & salt.

Me: Did you guys like the (curried turkey with lemon) soup?

Little Red: Yeah....

Red: What? You didn't like it?

Little Red: It was kinda bland.

Me: I made it a lot less spicy than I would have otherwise, because your mother's stomach can't handle food that's really spicy.

Little Red: Yeah, but I thought you were gonna make it all flavorey, like you're supposed to.

Red: Flavorey???? (laughing)