The World's Most Politically Incorrect Beach Towel

by Warren Apel, author of David Hasselhoff is the AntiChrist and Elvis Lives, Princess Dies

So I was in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt one weekend, snorkeling in the Red Sea and relaxing on the beach. We stopped in the local McDonalds and had dinner. They were giving away a free (or inexpensive) beach towel with purchase, so I picked one up. There was subtle pattern on it that we didn't notice at first. I think it was my friend JohnEric who first unrolled his and noticed it. Now, I can't tell you exactly what happened, but here's my theory. Either a McDonald's manager had a friend who was selling cheap beach towels and they bought a couple dozen and had the Golden M embroidered on it. Or maybe, the McDonald's manager designed his own beach towel in MS Word, and did a clip-art search for "camel" or something. Either way, what they ended up with was completely unbelievable.

A beach towel with the Golden Arches, and a camel-mounted figure wielding what looks like an AK-47.

Now, this was just after September 11th, so it's not like it was back in the day when terrorism was sort of cute -- like in the movie True Lies. And sure, maybe that's not an AK, maybe it's a leather camel whip. Maybe it's a Bedouin, and not a Taliban. But this just cracks me up. There's no way that the corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois would have approved this design.

"Turban-wearing camel mounted Taliban warrior swinging around an AK-47? I'm loving it!"

Not likely.