Fashionable...Pacifism/Fascism?

Wikipedia:
[The keffiyeh, Arabic; (ya)shmagh, Turkish, is] a traditional headdress typically worn by Arab men made of a square of cloth (“scarf”), usually cotton, folded and wrapped in various styles around the head.

• (Ya)sh(e)magh: a piece of cloth, usually made of cotton or flax and decorated with many colors but usually by red and white.
• Ghutrah: a piece of white cloth made of cotton mild, worn in western Iraq and the Persian Gulf states.
• Kuffiyeh: a piece of white/black cloth made from wool and cotton worn primarily by the Palestinians.

The reason I'm telling you this? A conversation I had with a palestinian friend of mine;

4:46pmAyat

i saw pictures of colin fareill wearing kufyyeh!

4:46pmStefan

hahaha

thats awesome

do you like him?

4:48pmAyat

i like him,but also i like to know if he knows what he wears,or if he thinks its just a fashion statement or a trend?

http://sites.google.com/site/roooooza/kofyya1.jpg

4:49pmStefan

its very trendy

he probably didnt originally

he might now

4:50pmAyat

:s

please its not a trend

4:52pmStefan

they're not a trend there?

4:54pmAyat

please listen, el kufyyah is a part of a culture not a trend

it really really pisses me off when they use it as fashion trend without knowing what theyre doing

4:58pmAyat

it has a political meaning also"

4:57pmStefan

one could argue that trends are part of culture, but i want to know what extra meaning it has

because at that point, I thought;

yes that is what i want to know

because the U.S. always bleeds the meaning out of culture, turning everything it touches into mindless and useless nonsense.

I strive to know the cultural significance of every action I see and word I hear in the world around me. Until then, I can't be content, because much of culture that has been unique to the U.S. (thus far) is dead.

Wikipedia:"It is commonly found in arid climate areas to provide protection from direct sun exposure, as well as for occasional use in protecting the mouth and eyes from blown dust and sand. Its distinctive woven check pattern originated in an ancient Mesopotamian representation of either fishing nets or ears of grain.^[1]"

"Symbol of Palestinian Solidarity

Outside of the Middle East and North Africa the keffiyeh first gained popularity among activists opposed to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

The wearing of the keffiyeh often comes with criticism from various political factions in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The slang “keffiyeh kinderlach” refers to young left-wing Jews, particularly college students, who sport a keffiyeh around the neck as a political/fashion statement. This term may have first appeared in print in an article by Bradley Burston[*] in which he writes of “the suburban-exile kaffiyeh kinderlach of Berkeley, more Palestinian by far than the Palestinians” in their criticism of Israel. While this political use is generally associated with the left wing, the keffiyeh has also been worn by neo-Nazis and far-right activists in Europe."

Maybe now I need to write on one of my black coats, "Hate Neo Nazis"
Just so there's no confusion?

Actually I really like that idea....


I just worked a temporary job at a Jewish Temple, and I felt so comfortable there. I have so much respect for their culture, and they were the nicest people too.

* So who is Bradley Burston mentioned here? "We are plagued with leaders who think too highly of themselves, untroubled by an unjustified sense of entitlement, an exaggerated sense which too many of us in the Jewish public share."
OK this is going a bit deeper than I thought it would, but it's the kind of thing that I would bring up in a conversation on a first date only to realize that I found it way more interesting than anyone else- the kind of thing that Americans love to ignore, owing to its complexity (and apparent near-paradoxical nature). (And I use the word 'Americans' even though I mean 'U.S. citizens', because I couldn't speak for even the rest of North America, let alone the part in the southern hemisphere)
"Even extreme cases of self-hate, like the pre-caliphate court Jews leading British boycott campaigns, or the suburban-exile kaffiyeh kinderlach of Berkeley, more Palestinian by far than the Palestinians, can play a positive role. If nothing else, they serve a unifying purpose, putting internal squabbles in perspective and bringing Jews of many stripes together in disgust. " ("Last update - 00:00 17/07/2007 What self-hating Jews can teach Muslims By Bradley Burston")
So for the people who understand this fashion statement, you thought I was telling you that I'm a humble pacifist- IF, that is, you thought I actually had KNOWN what it meant. Well, I didn't. But not only do I loathe arrogance and pride, but I believe (in my limited understanding, sitting far away, safe and isolated in the U.S) that this Israeli-Palestinian war is one of the many conflicts in this world that have gone on for far too long. (For a little while I just thought it looked a little gay, but now I realize that's probably only the U.S.)
But, if I'm going to make this statement, and I will now that I know, I have to say that self-hate is much too strong a negative emotion to do anybody very much good. Yes its better than arrogance and I very much believe that two humble approaches to a resolution would without a doubt prove to be helpful, but it's benefits generally end outside of a context like this one. I speak from personal experience with a possibly Judeo-Christian-induced exceptionally low self image/depression, thinking that was the only spiritual way to live until I read the new testament for myself. Now I realize that spiritual life is a personal journey in search of justice and the positive truths, and many people get lost in negative truths. I focus on the truth of justice. That is what the Keffiyeh now means to me.

"...men wish to be serious but they do not understand how to be so. Between their acts and their ceremonies lies the world and in the world the storms blow and the trees twist in the wind and all the animals that God has made go to and fro yet this world men do not see. They see the acts of their own hands or they see that which they name and call out to one another but the world between is invisible to them."
"He told the boy that although he was huérfano still he must cease his wanderings and make for himself some place in the world because to wander in this way would become for him a passion and by this passion he would become estranged from men and so ultimately from himself. He said that the world could only be known as it existed in men’s hearts. For while it seemed a place which contained men it was in reality a place contained within them and therefore to know it one must look there and come to know those hearts and to do this one must live with men and not simply pass among them. He said that while the huérfano might feel that he no longer belonged among men he must set this feeling aside for he contained within him a largeness of spirit which men could see and that men would wish to know him and that the world would need him even as he needed the world for they were one. Lastly he said that while this itself was a good thing like all good things it was also a danger." (Excerpts from The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy)

A mistake is to commit a misunderstanding.
Bob Dylan

Here's a link to a poem I started writing two weeks ago, posted to my myspace blog.