as in any co-opting of anything, an echo back to the "original" will always sound... either that or the new keffiyeh yisraelit will just look silly to people who are all too familiar with arafat's signature hat. all of this of course begs the question of "originals" in general. as jews, we sometimes like to think of ourselves as originators of three major world religions, as the original non-baby-sacrificing, more-than-the-surrounding-cultures-women-respecting tribe, but further investigation always reveals more than meets the eye and that we, too, are historical culminations of conglomerations of other "originals." but deconstructing our way out of our originality won't cure anyone from knee-jerk reactions. unless we wait a few generations, maybe. and hope there is still an israel to come up with more statements of the cloth.
as in any co-opting of anything, an echo back to the "original" will always sound... either that or the new keffiyeh yisraelit will just look silly to people who are all too familiar with arafat's signature hat. all of this of course begs the question of "originals" in general. as jews, we sometimes like to think of ourselves as originators of three major world religions, as the original non-baby-sacrificing, more-than-the-surrounding-cultures-women-respecting tribe, but further investigation always reveals more than meets the eye and that we, too, are historical culminations of conglomerations of other "originals." but deconstructing our way out of our originality won't cure anyone from knee-jerk reactions. unless we wait a few generations, maybe. and hope there is still an israel to come up with more statements of the cloth.