Noel Hidalgo was walking around Tiananmen Square in China on Saturday when he came across a free-Tibet protest. He decided to Twittertheprotest, and also broadcast it live over Qik.
It turned out that the live broadcast ended up being his ticket home.
Chinese authorities deported Hidalgo as a result of the live video streaming, sending him back to the United States. So while it has been reported that many Chinese have been very eager to please visitors during the Olympic Games, it turns out that anything involving Tibet is crossing the line.
Dunkin’ Donuts pulled an advertisement featuring Rachel Ray this week when the scarf she was wearing caused a massive stir.
Critics complained that the black and white frayed scarf looked like a kaffiyeh, a traditional Arab headdress – which some say symbolizes Muslim extremism and terrorism, according to the Boston Globe.
Little Green Footballs was the first to claim that Dunkin’ Donuts was promoting terrorism:
I didn’t believe this story when people first started emailing about it; but sure enough, it’s true. Dunkin Donuts, the venerable old fried dough seller, is the latest American firm to casually promote the symbol of Palestinian terrorism and the intifada, the kaffiyeh, via Rachael Ray: Dunkin’ Breakfast Choices.
It was with some dismay that I learned last week that Dunkin’ Donuts spokeswoman Rachael Ray, the ubiquitous TV hostess, posed for one of the company’s ads in what appeared to be a black-and-white keffiyeh.
The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. 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.
Dunkin’ Donuts has decided to pull an Internet ad featuring the compulsively perky Rachel Ray because a handful of blithering idiots said they objected to a scarf she was wearing; that the scarf resembles a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men that some associate with jihad. Where do I begin going into how utterly lame and stupid this is.
Do you think people are being too sensitive to Ray’s scarf?
Can you imagine living under a government that cares so little for your wellbeing that it deliberately fails to notify you of an impending natural disaster?
More than 100,000 people have died or gone missing at the hands of the cyclone that tore through Burma on May 2 – regulations and censorship boards created under the military dictatorship of Than Shwe ban free press, providing the Burmese people with no warning, and no forum to speak to the atrocities they have been facing.
The 30 Days for a Million Voices campaign has enlisted the help of celebrities to create poignant and thought-provoking video messages each day of the initiative, with the ultimate goal of raising money and awareness, bringing the truth about Burma to light.
A few of the startling facts I’ve learned from this campaign:
Political activist Aung San Suu Kyi – the world’s only imprisoned recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize -has been on house arrest for 12 years for fighting for human rights and democracy in Burma
3,200 villages in Burma have been destroyed under the illegal military regime
For public healthcare, Burma ranks 190th out of 191
For freedom of expression, Burma ranks 164th out of 168
W2 Group is working with Fanista to raise awareness and activism, through Racepoint Group’s media outreach and Digital Influence Group’s viral marketing campaign, which includes developing a Facebook application and social networking badges promoting burmaitcantwait.org. DIG will also be contributing $10 to the U.S. Campaign for Burma for every non-spam comment or trackback made to this post.
Make your voice heard in support of a country of people that have no voices. Find out how you can take action today.
