CliffyWorld

A few days ago the Food Channel hostess Rachael Ray was sited as a terrorist sympathizer by Fox News contributer and conservative blogger Michelle Malkin. Shown wearing a black and white paisley scarf in a Dunkin Donuts TV commercial Malkin associated the wrap to a Keffiyeh, a secular symbol of Palestinian nationalism. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant [and not so ignorant] fashion designers, celebrities and left-wing icons. Dunkin Donuts was quick to pull the commercial off the airways.

Is Malkin over-reacting as a fashion terrorist or does she see something covert in this advertisement? Was the advertising agency purposely duping Rachael Ray into promoting it's agenda? Obviously Ray is not a terrorist nor had any idea of any misleading innuendos that could have been formulated by wearing the scarf. She innocently accepted the wardrobe to wear from an ad agency staff member.

France has taken religious phobia over the top banning all ostensibly religious symbols from public schools including head scarves, yarmulkes and crucifixes. Legislation may also bar turbans, bandannas and even beards. Gérard Mermet, France's "national psychiatrist" a sociologist who publishes very respected bulletins about his countries' state of mind suggests that France now suffers from a collective form of three mental illnesses: paranoia, schizophrenia and hypochondria.

There have been no decisions yet here in the USA on wearing Elvis T-shirts, Indian Beads, holistic crystals and magnetic bracelets. Women should definitely not wear gel bras if they intend to fly on commercial airlines.

The civilized world is suffering from "Persecutory Paranoia" the most prevalent type of paranoia. Defined, people make themselves believe that all those around them are their enemies, bent on harming them or even taking their life. In this delusion people of an aggressive temperament often turns dangerous killers.

Can a modern civilized nation survive continuous scrutinization of the wearing of religious artifacts or the way individuals dress to express themselves? Will we compile a unified table or chart to reflect what we wear against the likelihood of being a terrorist? The future of expresionalsm in modern societies could be very grim if we let this disease continue to take this course.

As a comedic end to this article, perhaps a consideration to delay our demise would be to shed our clothes and shave our bodies clean. Muslims would obviously reject this and stay the course. The ones that complain the most would likely be suspect and would be denied any acting or TV commercial jobs.

Your comments on this article are always appreciated.