Recently, one of the local television stations reported on JC Penney t-shirt that read, “I’m too pretty to do my homework, so my brother does it for me.” (Comma inserted…lol). The shirt raised such a protest, the store pulled it from shelves. Now the debate on the TV station’s Facebook page centers around whether this is okay. I applaud the folks who bring up reasons of free speech and free choice as their rationale for shirts like this being acceptable.
If you wish to purchase and wear a shirt that insults your intelligence and denigrates your worth as anything more than someone’s hood ornament, that’s well within your right and your bad taste. Go for it. America is based on your right to have people laugh at you.
Personally, I don’t want my kid to be a bumper sticker. I don’t want his chest to look like the back end of someone’s beat-up car.
What I continue to wonder about is why so many people feel it necessary to advertise their idiocy on their clothing? A saying that’s been attributed to everyone from Confucius to Mark Twain goes something like this: It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
Now, I suppose, we can alter it once more: “It is better to wear a plain shirt and be thought a fool than to scroll it like a banner across your chest and remove all doubt.”
And yes, to the student who came to school wearing the “You Suck” t-shirt, I’d still make you go home. I’d slap some sense in your mama too, given half an opportunity. It’s like wearing a t-shirt that says: “I’d like you to hit me in the face, please.”
I don't get the sayings across the chest or behind. I also don't get why I need to see your underwear when those baggie pants don't have a belt and are around your knees.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean you can't be an individual, no. But please don't insult me or yourself while you wear your clothes.
I'm a fan of fun on your clothes. I still have several of the top 10 reasons to be an engineer shirts from college. They are funny and meant to be laughed at.
There is nothing to be laughed at by a shirt that tells a woman it's okay to manipulate people and enforce the stereotype women aren't as smart as men.
Now, I think Penny's could sell what they want. People should exercise their right to refuse to buy it. If it doesn't sell, they'll get the message. Just because it's on the shelf doesn't mean you have to buy it. You want companies to make less sexy clothes, then don't buy the crap on their shelves.