Everybody take off your pants!

Why? Because Hitler wore pants, that's why! Hitler!

Comments

[I R A Darth Aggie]

w00t!

[Sean Braisted]

You could also say that the history of Khakis lends itself to being a symbol of colonial oppression in India. So unless you hate Ghandi, take 'em off.

[copndor]

HAW!

[Jim]

heh

[David K.]

Great, now we all have to wear kilts...

[Alasdair]

Oh wonderful ! Just what we need ... more pseudo-sassenachs wandering around with their pigmentally-challenged pipecleaner legs sticking out below the kilt !

{sigh}

[Randy's wife]

This is the most brilliant social commentary I've seen in quite some time. :)

[Patrick]

I just got a ticket for public indecency ...

[Scientizzle]

I just got a phone number...

[Doc]

Ha ha, 'cause pants were, like, the symbol of the Nazis, just like the keffeyeh is the symbol of the Palestinians!

Wait, no, that's not right. Everybody take off your swastikas!

[jlr]

... aaaaah Why didn't we think of this sooner?

[Brendan]

the keffeyeh is the symbol of the Palestinians

Because "Palestinians" = "terrorists"?

Also, to quote James Joyner:

It’s true that wearing the keffiyah as a fashion symbol has been a recurring trend among Palestinian sympathizers and various hipsters over the years. But Ray’s scarf doesn’t look anything like Yasser Arafat’s.

Further, the terrorists wear headdresses because that’s how men throughout the Middle East and North Africa dress. It’s a protective covering for the head in brutally hot climates. In any case, none of them are paisley.

The iconic “spider-web” black-and-white keffiyeh is often displayed symbolically by members of Arafat’s Fatah party (which more generally uses yellow as its party colour), although it has never been able to expropriate it as their exclusive symbol. The zig zag style of stitching is sometimes described as symbolic of their historic struggle and their inability to progress towards their objectives without having to avoid obsticles. This is in contrast to how many members of the radical leftist PLO factions (such as PFLP, PFLP-GC DFLP) prefer the checkered red keffieyhs — red being both the traditional colour of the workers’ movement and the red scarf supposedly more indicative of a bedouin and rural (thus poorer, more popular) background. The Islamist factions, such as Hamas, use green — representative of the Islamic faith — as a party color, but for keffiyehs they stick to the traditional black-and-white or red variants, with no particular preference evident. While widely known, this color symbolism is by no means universally accepted by all Palestinians, and its importance should not be overstated — red or black-and-white scarves are used by Palestinians of all political stripes, as well as by those with no particular political sympathies.

But, just to be safe, we should assume that every white chick wearing a scarf is a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer.

Also:

Michelle Malkin has even caught Meghan McCain...wearing a purple plaid scarf keffiyah! Gawker has the photographic evidence. Nick Denton’s terrorist loving staff thinks it’s funny. They won’t think it’s funny, though, when the Straight Talk Express rams into Gawker HQ and explodes!

Heh.

[Angrier and Angrier]

Michelle Malkin looks like a kamikaze pilot. She should be banned!

[Doc]

Did I say Palestinians = terrorists? Did I imply it? Am I confused about the symbolism of the black and white checked keffeyeh?

If I'm wearing swastikas, is it because:

a) I'm a Nazi
b) I think they look cool
c) I'm a Buddhist

[David K.]

So Doc, does that mean all black and white scarves worn around ones neck are now automatically symbols of Palestinians? I hate to break it to you (and Malkin) but just because one group uses something as a symbol, does not mean it automatically becomes recognized as such by the wider world. Yes the swastika became the symbol of Nazi Germany, but that was because people actively associated it as such. You go up and ask 100 random people from the U.S. what group the scarf around Rachel Rays neck was a symbol of and I'm willing to bet you'd be lucky to get ONE person who got it right, and that might be on a random guess.

This reminds me of a girl I used to know in high school (honor student, athelete, never been in trouble, etc) who got sent to the principals office because she had a pink bandana tied in her hair one day. Apparently it was a gang symbol. The Hello Kitty gang I guess....

[Scientizzle]

Frankly, it just sounds like Doc is afraid to take his pants off...

[Doc]

People - i.e. Palestinians - are actively associating their cause with the keffeyeh. I'm not just inventing the keffeyeh as a symbol of the Palestinian struggle. The Nazis just did a better job of establishing their brand.

The point is that the analogy is bad - pants =/= Nazi. Swastika = Nazi.

What if the symbol in question were that Celtic Cross that the neo-nazis and white power folks are using these days (instead of the swastika)? Should somebody be called out for wearing it?

And what makes you think I'm wearing pants?