One of my students was having a cup of Starbucks coffee before class. He quite seriously came up to me and asked if I had heard the latest news. An Iranian leader was calling for a ban on Starbucks coffee. Why? Because the Starbucks cup has on it a picture of a woman wearing a crown. Supposedly that woman is Queen Esther and the crown she is wearing signifies Jewish domination. Since it was Shushan Purim I suspected that I was being fed a bit of Purim Torah. The student denied this. He said that the conversation in which this came up was quite serious and no shtick involved. I still remain skeptical.
I'm no fan of Starbucks--don't like the heavy, "burnt" flavor-- but on the occasions when I've had the coffee I'll admit I never noticed the drawing of the woman. Does someone seriously take the time to examine the disposable cup their coffee comes in? And do they seriously then try and divine the importance of that drawing? Apparently so. Another student came in in the middle of the conversation and confirmed that he, too, had heard about the proposed ban.
I would imagine that I'm not the only person that these students told the story to. I also imagine that whoever told the students the story told it to other people as well. And here I am repeating the story to you. Only I hope that I can point out that caution is needed when repeating this kind of story. Somehow no one knows where the story originated, but will swear with dying breath that it is true. Me? As the saying goes "I'm from Missouri; I've got to be shown." Note: I did check this out on Snopes.com and there was no reference to its being a hoax.
If you have also heard this story and would happen to know if it's true or not, please comment. And if you are hearing this story for the first time, then please, I beg of you, do NOT tell someone the story giving this blog credit as the originator. Rumors grow fast enough without our piling on more fertilizer. But now that my students have planted a bug in my brain, does anyone really know what the significance of the Queen on the Starbucks coffee cup is?
9 comments:
This was remarkably easy to find:
A bunch of sites are talking about this ban, but they all list MEMRI as the source.
MEMRI: The Middle East Media Research Institute for march 10, 2009 No. 2276.
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD227609
As for who the queen really is, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbucks#Logo states that it is a Greek goddess.
"Valerie O'Neil, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said that the logo is an image of a "twin-tailed siren" (the siren of Greek mythology).[25] The logo has been significantly streamlined over the years. In the first version, which gave the impression of an authentic 15th century European woodcut, the Starbucks siren was topless and had a fully visible double fish tail. The image also had a rough visual texture. In the second version, which was used from 1987-92, her breasts were covered by her flowing hair, but her navel was still visible, and the fish tail was cropped slightly. In the current version, used since 1992, her navel and breasts are not visible at all, and only vestiges remain of the fish tails. The original "woodcut" logo can still be seen on the Starbucks store in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and on both the House Blend and Decaf House Blend packaging.
At the beginning of September 2006 and then again in early 2008, Starbucks temporarily reintroduced its original brown logo on paper hot drink cups. Starbucks has stated that this was done to show the company's heritage from the Pacific Northwest and to celebrate 35 years of business. The vintage logo sparked some controversy due in part to the siren's bare breasts,[26] but the temporary switch garnered little attention from the media. Starbucks had drawn similar criticism when they reintroduced the vintage logo in 2006.[27]"
I saw it mentioned on a couple blogs. There was a video (didn't watch it) apparently with a Muslim talking about it being Queen Esther etc. etc.
What are we going to do with you? You fall for the CNN poll hoax, yet doubt the verified Starbucks Esther ban.
:)
MEMRI translates broadcasts that air on Arabic language TV, and provides English captions. They are considered very good at what they do -- providing a snapshot of provocative programming, and letting people draw their own conclusions.
One recent clip shows an Egyptian cleric complaining that the Starbucks logo is Queen Esther. He is indignant that her supposed likeness appears on Starbucks locations in Muslim cities. He believes that the Mordechai installed her as queen, as part of a plot against King Xerxes. An original take on the Purim story.
Interesting that a Sunni would care about the honor of a Shia country, or about a non Muslim king. But I digress.
I think we can safely file this next one to the conspiracy theories next all the other that seem to materialize in that corner of the globe like hallucinogenic mushrooms, ie. blood in the matza, Mossad / Sept. 11, AIDS in the Israeli candy, finance. You name it, we're behind it. No one told me, so I feel a little left out.
Thanks all for the info. everyone.
MII, I checked Snopes and found no mention no matter what search terms were put in. But I've learned, as you point out, that absence from Snopes does not make something either true or false. That's why I was perplexed by this story. It just sounded toooo strange to be true.
MiriamP,
Thanks for the detailed info. When I googled this I got only one site--a Muslim chat site--that only obliquely mentioned that there might be some connection between Starbucks, Queen Esther and Muslim indignation.
Ezzie and Ari,
Thanks for the info about the video and about MEMRI. This all somehow flew under my radar.
Just a point here. I looked at a Starbucks coffee cup while I was out shopping. The star on the Queen's crown is quite large AND it has only five points. The star of David clearly has 6 points. I'm fairly certain this knowledge is common knowledge, especially to those in the Middle East. The crown certainly fits a Greek goddess origin better than an Esther origin.
Here's another question for all of you--no reply needed. Are Egyptian clerics so underworked that they have time to be studying coffee cups and hatching conspiracy plots dating back thousands of years?
Ari: "Interesting that a Sunni would care about the honor of a Shia country"- I saw the video MiriamP linked to, and (although the guy was smirking the whole time) he said that the main problem is that here is this Pagan symbol, which is perhaps even a symbol of Jewish control, sitting in coffe shops in the most holy cities in the world for any Muslim--the very heart of Mecca and Medina.
ProfK: Re: Second question- Same answer, but the fact that he brought in some Muslim view of Megilat Ester is a bit surprizing, though understandable considering the Arab/Muslim/journalist/sensationalist mindset.
Okay, I am hardly a fan of the Chumra of the Day clique, but I have a question that was raised after I read the link MiriamP gave to the Wiki article on Starbucks. That article says "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted the first-ever approval to use recycled content in food packaging for Starbucks coffee cups." Does or could recycled packaging for food stuffs raise a kashrut question? If the recycled paper was pre-use there shouldn't be a problem I would imagine. But if the recycled paper products were post consumer use, does this present any kashrut concerns? I'm not looking for trouble but technology does seem to represent some interesting scenarios for the kosher consumer.
Too many comments for me to read already... but I remember learning in some graphics course that the middle of the logo is something mythologically symbolic... why this makes a good logo in an age when pitifully few people are into mythology is beyond me...
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