Muslim terrorist doll on birthday card angers Council on American-Islamic Relations: ‘blatant bigotry’
The card, released by a company called Noble Works, contains phrases such as ‘She’ll blow your brains out!’
By David Knowles / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A New Jersey greeting card maker’s motto may be “Dare to laugh,” but don’t tell that to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Noble Works, the company that released a birthday card that features a digitally altered version of an hijab-wearing Muslim doll along with several incendiary phrases, finds itself under fire from the council.
“I see blatant bigotry,” Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told WGN.
The card’s cover, which says “Pull string for message, if you dare!” uses a photo of “Aamina, the Muslim Doll,” a children’s toy that teaches Arabic phrases and greetings when a string is pulled.
Further text meant to portray the doll as a suicide bomber reads, “She’ll blow your brains out!” and “She’ll love you to death!” Inside, the card contains the punchline “Hope your birthday is a blowout!”
Rehab says that reducing the children’s toy to a terrorist promotes harmful stereotypes of Muslims.
“It basically correlates Muslims and terrorism,” Rehab told WGN. “There’s nothing about that doll, other than that she’s a Muslim, that caused the makers of the card to think it was funny to put blurbs on the box of the doll to say, ‘Let me blow you up!’”
As Noble Works states on its website, all of its cards are printed on demand. In Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, the card of the Muslim doll was noticed at a stationery store called He Who Eats Mud, where it reportedly sold out.
“I can only imagine folks and friends who receive or read our cards, can help but wonder as to whether laughing is the appropriate thing to do,” Noble Works’ owner, Ron Kanfi, said on the company’s website. “But as our motto goes: “F--- ‘em if they can’t take a joke!”
Rehab counters that he can take a joke but that this one just wasn’t funny.
“I would urge him to make fun of us, but do it intelligently. Humor ought to have even a minimal amount of intelligence,” Rehab said. “But when it lacks all intelligence, and is the same kind of message you get out of a white supremacist group, it’s not so funny.”
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