Dunkin Donuts owes us an explanation. Why in the world did you succumb to the threats of conservative blogger Michelle Malkin and Fox News and pull this ad?

Just because they say the scarf is a Keffiyeh doesn't make it so. It's a fashion accessory.

If the whole incident wasn't so frightening, it would be funny. This is not about being a fashionista.This is about fascism.

Dunkin Donuts, what were you thinking? Are you really that afraid of bloggers and social media that you think your business could be damaged because of a scarf?

You aren't even selling the scarf. You're selling an iced latte.The scarf was just an accessory.

I looked at the ad. I didn't see terrorism. I just saw a scarf with a lot of fringe. My guess is 99% of the people who looked at this ad saw a scarf with fringe- and that could be a reason to pull the ad -- the product placement gets a little lost with all that fringe competing with the Dunkin Donuts drink.

But the ad didn't get pulled because of that. It got pulled for being the 2008 version of a wardrobe malfunction.

Some confessions. No one has ever accused me of being fashion-forward.

Until yesterday I had never heard of the word Keffiyeh--I know I should have known this word but I didn't. It's a good word to know. Glad I've learned it. If you don't know what makes a scarf a Keffiyeh you can check it out here.

Until yesterday, I didn't know that Rachel Ray had a scarf thing.

Until yesterday I didn't know she sold them on her website.

Until yesterday I did not know those scarves came from Urban Outfitters

Until yesterday,I wasn't aware that Urban Outfitters was involved in a Keffiyeh controversy last year.

Oh, and until yesterday I didn't know that conservatives had a problem with people wearing scarves with fringe.

Or maybe its people wearing scarves with fringe that is purchased at Urban Outfitters.

Would anyone being seeing anything other than a scarf if the conservative pundits didn't have an existing bone to pick with the business practices of Urban Outfitters? I don't think so.

So to make any sense of Dunkin Donuts decision you have to understand what the conservative bloggers maintain is a mainstreaming of a symbol of terrorism -- the keffiyah. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs launched the first attack on Dunkin Donuts last week in a post call mainstreaming terrorism to sell donuts.

The kaffiyeh was made most popular by the late Yassir Arafat. He wore it draped around his head in the shape of historic Palestine throughout his years of participation in the resistance movement, then as president of the Palestinian National Authority.

The Palestinians have endured decades of brutal colonial occupation and exile. Their heroic struggle for freedom has inspired people around the world. Thousands of women and men, young and old, now wear the kaffiyeh proudly as a symbol of resistance and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle.

Ms. Malkin then linked to Mr. Johnson's post and added her own spin in The Keffiyeh Kerfuffle ( oh, another confession. Kerfuffle is not part of my every day language and I did double check with MW online as to its exact meaning. Usual Spelling: carfuffle.chiefly British: disturbance, fuss). It seems that Ms. Malkin has major issues with all the people who wear these scarves.

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, and Hollywood darlings Colin Farrell, Sienna Miller, and Kirsten Dunst, and rapper Kanye West have all been photographed in endless variations on the distinctive hate couture. So has Meghan McCain,daughter of the GOP presidential candidate, who really ought to knowbetter given that her dad positions himself as the candidate best equipped to “confront the transcendent challenge of our time: the threat of radical Islamic terrorism.”

Of course the only way all these people would be wearing the offensive scarf is if retailers sold them.That's where Urban Outfitters comes in. They sold a lot of them. Pamela Kirkland at the University of Pittsburgh wrote about the connection last Decemeber.

Fashion is no stranger to politics and vice versa, but has the keffiyeh lost all political significance with its recent boom in popularity? For a while the scarves were available all over the place. Urban Outfitters sold them for 20 bucks in their stores as “anti-war woven scarves.” After many complaints, the retailer was forced to pull them off the shelves, but curiously enough they seem to have reappeared in select stores. Some Canadian branches of the mega-chain sell shegmahs, which is what keffiyehs were called during WWII, in a variety of colors, but not black and white. The scarves can be found on eBay, in boutiques, and just about anywhere else that considers itself up to par with current fashion.

Some people call the trend politically divisive or say that the more fashionable that the keffiyeh becomes, the less the keffiyeh becomes a political statement. According to Burshtein, “Some Palestinians argued that turning the keffiyeh into a fashion accessory for hipster wannabes trivialized their cause.”

In 2007 Urban Outfitters sold the keffiyehs as "Peace scarves" until mass complaints forced their removal. However, as Meaningful Distraction writes,

Nowadays, the things are ubiquitous in NY as black leggings and skinny jeans. Hell, I even have one.

Does this mean I am a terrorist or pro-Palestine? I’m a Jew for Jesus sake! Here’s the deal-These groups are pissed because everyone wearing them and viewing these symbols as fashion, has watered down their significance and trivialized it to the point of no longer being a symbol.

The keffiyeh thing has got to end. I’ll raise my DD to that.

So Urban Outfitters is still on a hit list of conservatives who are none to happy with the retailer selling these scarfs. And probably even madder than Americans like these scarves and have diluted the terrorist connotations.

Now add the fact that Rachel Ray links to Urban Outfitters on her website and her stylist added an Urban Outfitter scarf to the photo shoot and what you get is guilt by association.

What is astonishing in this whole story is not how outlandish and ridiculous Ms. Malkin and Mr. Johnson's claims are regarding this particular scarf. Forget that a Keffiyeh is a particular type of scarf.That has a distinctive checkered design.

This scarf looks like its Paisley. It's silk. It has fringe.

From what I have been reading terrorists don't go for silk scarves.Think wool and/or cotton.

Maybe it was the fear of a YouTube Jeremiah Wright moment that influenced Dunkin Donuts' decsion.

Or maybe,the owners of Dunkin Donuts see what Malkin sees. Now that's a scary thought.

What is scarier is the empowerment that Fox News, Malkin and Johnson must feel right now.

What is even scarier is who and what will be their next target.

Elana blogs about business culture at FunnyBusiness