What does your T-shirt Say about you?
The Demotivational T-shirt – I am decently certain that the runner wearing the shirt did not mean it to be demotivational. In fact, it was probably meant to be the opposite. However, “There is no finish line” is just the type of statement to get people to stop running. “Wait. There is no finish line? What the hell am I running for? There has to an end to this agony.” Put me on a hamster wheel and spin me until I am dead - I don't want to live a metaphor a
The phrase itself is Nietzschean. “There is no finish line” might as well mean there is no reason to continue. (The positive way to phrase this would be that the only reason to continue lies inside of yourself and not due to extrinsic rewards.) It is hard to imagine why an activity would continue indefinitely. Nothing is that much fun; people need variety, and in the end there must be a finish line if only so that we ca start again. The Sexist T-shirt – when your preteen boy wears a shirt that says “Cool Story Babe – Now go make me a sandwich,” it is time to have a talk. Are we still living in the 1950s? Not only is this derogatory toward women and not something you want your boy to learn, but it also reinforces the stereotypes of insensitive men who don’t really listen and only care about having their needs met. Is your son going to wear an “F.B.I. – Female Body Inspector” T-shirt tomorrow? Is it really necessary to harass women with a T-shirt? Let’s all bring back Andrew “Dice” Clay and hope the world will be better with his shtick. T-shirts are like bumper stickers for your body. They advertise companies, have witty sayings and show people what you think of the world. The difference is that a T-shirt is unmistakably related to you the person. A bumper sticker can be blamed on a previous owner, and while it is on your car all of the time, it is not attached to you all of the time. As long as no one sees the person get in or out of the car, it isn’t relatable to that person. That means that choosing what T-shirts a person wears should be a conscious effort. Getting a free T-shirt from someone is great, but wearing that T-shirt should be careful consideration. |