Primitive Terrorist T-Shirt
I can't decide how I feel about this design. Is it serving to make fun of the stereotype of terrorists as beard-growing, kuffaiya-wearing yokels? Or promoting it?
I think the "primitive" part is rankling me particularly. Many Westerners view Middle Eastern cultures in general as "backward" or "primitive" in both a technological sense ("they don't have electricity, let alone the Internet") and an ideological sense ("they're inhuman savages--just look how they treat their women"). Technological determinism--the theory that technology has an inherent [assumed to be liberalizing] effect on societal values--is directly undermined by the fact that terrorists use the Internet just as much as reform-minded activists. Every terrorist group has a website, they all recruit online, etc. You can read more about this in Gary Bunt's iMuslims (the last two chapters) and Global Terrorism and New Media by Philip Seib and Dana Janbek, if you're interested and don't want to be trolling around on terrorist websites yourself.
About Me
- BJ
- I had plans for a super-awesome summer internship involving Middle East policy. Those plans went kaput, but I've decided to do what I'd be doing anyway, for personal edification and satisfaction. And fame, obviously.
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