The Word
Main Entry:
sig·nif·i·cant
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Latin significant-, significans, present participle of significare to signify
Date:
1579
1: having meaning ... 2 a: having or likely to have influence or effect : important, e.g. a significant piece of legislation; also : of a noticeably or measurably large amount ...
From DNA: Gay Holocaust Memorial Unveiled In Berlin
The Berlin Memorial to Gays who Perished in the Hitler Years.
Date: 28-May-2008
A memorial to the persecution of gays during the Third Reich years in Germany has been unveiled in Berlin.
Homosexuality did not fit into Hitler’s plan for a superior master race, and 55,000 gay men were therefore classed as criminals. As many as 15,000 gays died in the Nazi’s concentration camps during Hitler’s reign.
The gay mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, unveiled the memorial – a large concrete ‘box’ with a window that displays a film of two men kissing inside.
Wowereit, disappointed that these gay victims had not been recognised until now, says that the delay in honouring them was symptomatic of “a society which did not acknowledge a group of people as victims, only because they chose another way of life.”
On the other hand:
Main Entry:
ig•no•rant
Function:
adjective
Date:
14th century
1 a: destitute of knowledge or education; also : lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified b: resulting from or showing lack of knowledge or intelligence
From the HuffingtonPost:
Dunkin Donuts has pulled a commercial featuring pitchwoman Rachael Ray wearing a scarf because Michelle Malkin and other conservative observers thought the scarf looked too much like a keffiyeh, what Malkin describes as "the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad."
The Boston Globe: Dunkin' Donuts Yanks Rachael Ray Ad
May 27, 2008
Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott.
‘‘The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,’’ Malkin yowls in her syndicated column.
‘‘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.’’
The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it’d be easier just to yank the ad.
Said the suits in a statement: ‘‘In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.’’
(In case you’re wondering, the stylist who selected the offending scarf was not Gretta Enterprises boss Gretchen Monahan, who appears on Ray’s TV show as a style consultant.)
For her part, Malkin was pleased with Dunkin’s response: ‘‘It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.’
[sigh]
sig·nif·i·cant
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Latin significant-, significans, present participle of significare to signify
Date:
1579
1: having meaning ... 2 a: having or likely to have influence or effect : important, e.g. a significant piece of legislation; also : of a noticeably or measurably large amount ...
From DNA: Gay Holocaust Memorial Unveiled In Berlin
The Berlin Memorial to Gays who Perished in the Hitler Years.
Date: 28-May-2008
A memorial to the persecution of gays during the Third Reich years in Germany has been unveiled in Berlin.
Homosexuality did not fit into Hitler’s plan for a superior master race, and 55,000 gay men were therefore classed as criminals. As many as 15,000 gays died in the Nazi’s concentration camps during Hitler’s reign.
The gay mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, unveiled the memorial – a large concrete ‘box’ with a window that displays a film of two men kissing inside.
Wowereit, disappointed that these gay victims had not been recognised until now, says that the delay in honouring them was symptomatic of “a society which did not acknowledge a group of people as victims, only because they chose another way of life.”
On the other hand:
Main Entry:
ig•no•rant
Function:
adjective
Date:
14th century
1 a: destitute of knowledge or education
From the HuffingtonPost:
Dunkin Donuts has pulled a commercial featuring pitchwoman Rachael Ray wearing a scarf because Michelle Malkin and other conservative observers thought the scarf looked too much like a keffiyeh, what Malkin describes as "the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad."
The Boston Globe: Dunkin' Donuts Yanks Rachael Ray Ad
May 27, 2008
Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott.
‘‘The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,’’ Malkin yowls in her syndicated column.
‘‘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.’’
The company at first pooh-poohed the complaints, claiming the black-and-white wrap was not a keffiyeh. But the right-wing drumbeat on the blogosphere continued and by yesterday, Dunkin’ Donuts decided it’d be easier just to yank the ad.
Said the suits in a statement: ‘‘In a recent online ad, Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by her stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we are no longer using the commercial.’’
(In case you’re wondering, the stylist who selected the offending scarf was not Gretta Enterprises boss Gretchen Monahan, who appears on Ray’s TV show as a style consultant.)
For her part, Malkin was pleased with Dunkin’s response: ‘‘It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists.’
[sigh]
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