Regular readers will remember my virtual “Islamophobic and Proud of It” button from back in March. Well, a version of this same button, printed on a t-shirt, has turned up in an unusual place.We were tipped off to this Rantburg article by a moderator at the site.
The image at right was displayed with an article at Islam Online, over the caption, “T-shirts with anti-Muslim slurs are being circulated by right-wingers in the run-up for the World Cup.”Cool! We made it to Islam Online! But who’s making and selling the shirt?
According to the article:
World Cup Muslim Fans Urged to “Give Example”
BERLIN, May 25, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – With right-wing groups charging batteries to provoke Muslim teams taking part in the FIFA World Cup, to kick off on June 9, Muslim fans are urged not to fall into the trap and to serve as an example.
A German Muslim website has exhorted Muslim football supporters to take into their strides provocations by right-wingers.
“Muslim fans should give an example of Muslim behavior and enjoy the contests no matter what the results are,” wrote the muslimmarkt website…
“The far right-wingers are out to provoke the fans to cause riots, particularly during the matches of the Iranian team.”
T-shirts emblazoned with anti-Muslim slurs are already been circulated by far rightists.
One of these T-shirts reads “Islamophobic And Proud Of It”.
Am I proud of it, or what? Hoo-ee! We made the German Muslims afraid of Islamophobia!
Well, it’s a start.
Let’s read some more of the article, to get the bird’s-eye lowdown on this caper.
Right-wing groups are encouraging supporters to flock to Iran’s matches and use Israeli flags in supporting any team playing against the Islamic republic.
Israeli flags are being delivered to the homes of those interested at 25 euros per piece.
Okay, now we know — it’s the friends of Israel who are behind this plot. The international Zionist cabal and its willing dupes are making and distributing these shirts. And, no doubt, making a huge profit at the same time.
But wait! There’s more:
Germany has been a scene of a spate of race-related attacks in the run-up to the World Cup, raising concern of violence and intolerance during the world gala.
In the latest incident a politician of Turkish origin was beaten and slashed with a broken bottle in Lichtenberg, a suburb of Berlin known as a neo-Nazi stronghold, at the weekend.
Does this mean that neo-Nazis are handing out Israeli flags and encouraging demonstrations on behalf of the Jews?
Will. Not. Compute.
But… when the worldwide Jewish conspiracy is involved, anything is possible. Presumably they’re putting mind-altering drugs into Berlin’s water supply to turn the local skinheads into compliant servants of the neocons.
To make matters even more convoluted, Seafarious, a commenter at Rantburg, has doubts that the T-shirts even exist:
NOW. The questions are:
1. Does this shirt even exist outside of the Islam-Online photo library? a. GoV does not have a Cafe Press store. b. I’m not even sure that the shirt exists at Cafe Press, the logo almost looks like it was photoshopped onto a picture of the shirt. c. I did a search for “Islamophobia” at Cafe Press, and found no matches. (Though that doesn’t surprise me.) 2. If the shirts do exist somewhere, which “Right wing extremists groups” are distributing them and how did Islam-Online discover them and get a picture? Why are no groups specifically named?
I can confirm that Gates of Vienna does not sell “Islamophobic” merchandise, although I wish we did. From our point of view, the button exists only as an orginal bitmap and two jpegs. That’s it.
Now, right after I posted the button image, and word about it spread through the blogosphere, the German blogs seemed to take a particular interest in it. One fellow wrote me to say that he wanted to buy some of buttons, and where were they available? I wrote him (and others) and told them that there was no “real” button, but that I would be happy if some enterprising individual wanted to use the image to make buttons, coffee mugs, t-shirts, etc.
So… maybe one of them did.
Or maybe not. Maybe this is a truly postmodern internet event, with non-existent photoshopped buttons photoshopped onto imaginary t-shirts and spread around the globe in virtual form, alarming the sensitive and the gullible.
If any of our German readers sees someone wearing a real version of this shirt, please take a photo of and send it to us, and I’ll post it for all to see.
But please — no photoshop jobs!
Update: Commenter St. Pancake at LGF tells me that the shirts really are for sale, and gives a link to this online shop. I can’t get in without a password, but St. Pancake quotes from it:
Artikeldetails
Islamophobic and proud of it!
Promodoro Raglan Kurzarm, Baseball T-Shirt aus 100% Baumwolle, weiß/navy
Preis 19,90 € zzgl. Versandkosten
Yes, they are for sale.
If anyone can actually get me onto the page, I’d be grateful!
12 comments:
Try this:
http://www.spreadshirt.net/shop.php?p=19&op=articles
or this:
http://www.myblog.de/politicallyincorrect
100% cotton. That's nice! And anti-Turkish sentiment in Germany has absolutely nothing to do with Islamophobia. There is a lot of violence against them done by the neo-Nazi's...but there is a huge culture clash I cannot begin to describe. Living in Germany near where many Turks lived was difficult for me. My host mother greeted our Turkish neighbors with curse words and forbade me ever to speak with them. They were "das Dreck der Erde." (the filth of the Earth). But on the other side, I was frightened walking to the train station. Young Turkish men hung out of every apartment window, gawking, whistling and calling out things in Turkish. Two or three would follow me, and you could see in their eyes what they were talking about. One of our group was sexually assaulted by one of the Turks. And rapes against German citizens are disproportionately done by these minorities. It was hard for me to not become "racist" when I feared walking this gauntlet from my house to the train station every morning and afternoon. If the fear isn't irrational, it is not a phobia. In fact, if it is rational, those who do not possess it live in a fantasy.
Well, Baron, you explicilty gave away the rights on this one (on the other hand, how many images have you used on your blog with permission of the copyright holder? - it's the nature of the medium). 20 euros for an Islamophobe tee? Whoo-ee! You guys need to come up with some new designs and set up your own shop. Is is very easy these days to produce custom logoed tees, polo shirts, coffee mugs, bumper stickers and buttons in almost any quantity. You know several people who could help you get that going.
Wally, you're right! I did deliberately give the rights away, and am pleased that others took the idea and ran. I couldn't spare the time, and didn't need the money.
That was back when I still had a job, though...
well i tried to do a trackback to this somehow i screwed it up maybe someone can point me to to or tell me how to do a proper trackback
Jimmy --
I wish I knew how to do trackbacks! I enabled them in the template, but beyond that they're a mystery to me. As far as I'm concerned, they're magic.
Normally, if you have a blogspot blog, a trackback will appear here automatically after you link to it, thogh it may take a while.
In any case, here's a manual trackback to your post: Things i right clicked on.
Dana said:
"If the fear isn't irrational, it is not a phobia. In fact, if it is rational, those who do not possess it live in a fantasy."
Actually, this is quite profound.
Well, one up for the Fatherland! As your blog reminds us, this is where the last Islamic jihad was broken.
Incidentally, it was the austrians who originally invented the Croissant - not its first name - as a way of humiliating Islam, because it resembles the crescent.
You sick dirty racists. The entire world should find each one of you who says such evil things about an entire religion, and be wiped out. We should be trying to work for peace, but evil children of satan don't want peace. We will never forgive you.
The entire world should find each one of you who says such evil things about an entire religion, and be wiped out.
Excuse my pedantry, but what are you trying to say here? On the one hand we have this first clause:
"The entire world should find each one of you who says such evil things about an entire religion"
Which makes sense in isolation, and on the other:
"and be wiped out."
Which also makes sense in isolation. But, placed together, they imply that the world should find us, and then the world should be wiped out. Freudian slip of the tongue, perhaps...
And I noticed the "racist" epithet, which is, as they say, is the sine qua non* of a baseless argument. Racism by definition cannot apply to a religion, otherwise Islam would be as racist for saying christians are apes. And considering some of the things I've been called by muslims in the past...
The irony of your whole statement is that you have evidently not read this site very far, as there is one muslim who posts here in agreement with the broad thrust of the place: that militant islam is a threat to the world. Evidently you like that idea. You have, after all, show a remarkable lack of tolerance for opposing views.
You call us racist, say we should be destroyed and refuse to countenance forgiveness. Now I'm sure that I need forgiveness for saying this, but it strikes me that this response is fairly typical of the kind of ignorant, pid-headedness that Islam instills in many of its followers. Islam as I understand it doesn't contain much in the way of forgiveness and love. Allah claims he cannot forgive what people do, as he pre-ordained they would do it, so it's not surprising that you can't concieve of forgiving people who don't agree with you. That, my friend, is why I find Islam dangerous and why I will fight it, because as long as Islam continues on its current path it is a danger to our freedoms, personal, political and religious.
If that makes me a racist then so be it, but I think any dictionary writer would disagree...
* Forgive this. My wife has started speaking latin in her sleep. It's quite educational but it means I'm starting to sound like a snob... Anyway, it means "without which nothing" ifyou were wondering.
I'm not Islamophobic...I'd much rather a shirt that said "Islamonihilic" instead.
Trust me, plenty of anti-Islamic products at CafePress. None of mine seem to sell, but there is a lot of competition. TONS. Some people have even set up the Cafe Press "shops" that are paid for and allow multiple products with more designs. Maybe nothing under "Islamophobic", but there's plenty.
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