Prince Harry Raghead

“F*** me, you look like a rag-head,” Prince Harry comments, I believe jokingly, about his army buddy while in an airport in Cyprus on duty for the British government. Though jokingly or not derogatory terms such as “rag-head” raises emotions in this pluralized world. Prince Harry, grandson of the Queen Mother of England and son of iconic mother, Diana, who single-handedly saved people all over the world from landmines and who was known to have a relationship with an Egyptian/“rag-head,” Dody al-Fayed. Where did the morals and love his mother taught him to have, go?

During the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2006, Ann Coulter, conservative political and social commentator, used the term rag-head to describe Muslims when she said, "I think our motto should be post-9-11, rag-head talks tough, rag-head faces consequences.” Why would she use this derogatory term, since many American Muslims agree with some of her conservative social rhetoric? She must have alienated many people who would have otherwise agreed with her stance on different issues, by using such a derogatory term.

Rag-head was first seen in published writing in CASEY & T. CASEY Gay-cat vi. 70. “It's the Ragheads all right{em}a whole army of Hindoo [sic] laborers.” Rag-head was described as a Hindu; any Asiatic. It was later seen in 1970 when used to describe African American men were called rag heads because they wore scarves around their hair to protect expensive hairdos. In 1975, the term reappeared in Canadian Magazine March 8. It stated East Indians are called “rah-heads” if they continue to wear the traditional turban of the Sikh religion. The modern usage of the term was seen first in 2003 in Anthony Swofford’s, Jarhead. “I'm proud of our president standing up to the evil. Them ragheads is gonna go down.” Besides the point that the scarves that various religious groups wear are often well crafted and often elaborate drapes of fabric. They are rarely scraps of worthless material that would denote a “rag.”

Derogatory words have a cartoon-like effect for the people that use them. There are many words that are similar to rag-head in its effects on culture in the words ability to cause more oppression of a particular people being objectified by the term. Why, though, do certain people insist on using such language? According to Demetrius Semien, a professor of sociology, the use of such language has two primary affects. One is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you demean a group of people by using words that objectify them, the more they begin to act out the use of word and become a depressed group. The other effect is that when a group of people are issued a certain derogatory term they begin to see their options as being less and will act out and cause civil disorder and unrest due to the perceived lack of options they have. Why though do people choose to use such language? Maybe for the Ann Coulters of this world it is simply to be a provocateur. Maybe for Prince Harry it’s because he feels he is being funny with his friends who understand the “joke” behind the use of such language. For most who use it the possibility of demeaning your perceived enemy through your own amply available means, the voice, is the safest route to show your hatred, fear, and anxiety about a particular group of people.

Words such as rag-head hurt more than the person the word is being directed at, it indirectly affects many people. It intimately hurts the person who is using it. According to the research done by Dr. Masaru Emoto, the use of negative words have a profound affect on water causing the water to not form crystals when it is frozen, when compared to water exposed to positive words which caused beautiful and intricate crystals to form when the water is frozen. All who are exposed to derogatory terms can and are affected by such words. It is not patriotic to use racist and prejudiced terms to describe your “perceived” enemies. It does not prove any point nor does it bring any to the cause. Clearly, it is not just our Muslim “enemies” who are “rag-heads,” but so are Mennonite Christians, Amish, Orthodox Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, many Russians, Eastern Europeans, , Africans to protect their hair, or an old woman on a rainy or windy day.