Gwen and I don’t post every random (set of) offensive t-shirt(s) that we come across, but this particular set by T-Shirt Hell, sent in by Xslf, illustrates two sociologically interesting points.
The first is resistance. The company is closing down due to the constant flood of objections that the t-shirts inspire. So here here for social protest. You can read the owner’s goodbye letter (as offensive as his t-shirts) here.
The second point that I think his t-shirts illustrate is the common and contemporary phenomenon of equal opportunity offensiveness. In the letter, the owner writes, we “…didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought and did shirts that did not leave anyone out.” This last phrase refers to this idea of equal opportunity offensiveness: so long as the hate is spread around, it’s not really hateful. After a selection of his shirts (after the jump), I return to this idea:
(Trigger warning: Some of these t-shirts depict and trivialize violence.)
I would like to suggest that equal opportunity offensiveness is not okay. I suggest this not only because I do, indeed, find this all very offensive; I say it also because equal offensiveness is not equally harmful when some people are more disadvantaged in society than others. For example, for at least a decade, comedians have been doing “white people are like this” and “black people are like this” humor. On the face of it, this is “equal,” but in a society that is organized around whiteness, the effect is not the same. Jokes about how lame* uncool, stiff, or stingy white people are simply don’t have the same consequence as jokes about how blacks are lazy or prone to crime.
Still, equal opportunity offensiveness is widespread and widely accepted, perhaps especially among young liberals. South Park, The Chappelle Show, The Mind of Mencia, and Borat are four very popular examples.
I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts about whether you think I’m right in finding this problematic, as well as any ideas about why equal opportunity offensiveness seems to be so very popular at this point in U.S. history.
See also this example of rape humor from the Maxim magazine website.
* About the word lame: Sometimes things slip by us and just the other day Sociological Images got called out for using the word “lame” to mean uncool. Like the term “gay” to mean stupid, the word puts a negative connotation on a group of people (in this case, the disabled). So look what I do… I immediately forget and fall back into old habits. Thanks to both of you–MW and our own blogger, Elizabeth–for pointing this out (and, I hope, being patient with us).
