Talking T-shirts

So lasarina‘s post over in , and one of the comments therein, got me to thinking about these types of t-shirts, and people’s reactions to them. I am often taken aback at those reactions. You see, I wear almost exclusively t-shirts with commentary of some sort. Sometimes they are geeky (I love ThinkGeek.Com) and many are political (InstantAttitudes.Com, NorthernSun.Com, etc.)

With the geeky ones, I sometimes get people staring openly at my chest with quizzical looks, and strangers asking me “What does that mean?” I can deal with those reactions. I speak non-geek, and will happily translate if asked to do so. I admit to being surprised every time it happens though. You see, if you don’t know me IRL, I have a bit of “scary” in my look. I have been told by many people I am not at all “approachable”. I actually cultivate it a bit. My eyebrows are a bit too thick and wild. My beard is full and biker like. I prefer to wear sunglasses. So on, ad nauseaum. And yet these total strangers, who clearly don’t get geek at all, walk right up to me and engage me in conversation.

The political ones usually either get me shunned, or I am your instant friend, depending on whether you and I align in our views. I get this too. The left leaning feel so “out of place” in Texas (unless you are in Austin) that any ray of hope is immediately glommed onto as if it were the last drop of water in the middle of the Sahara. The shunning by the far right, given my appearance, is also understandable and desirable. I don’t really want to get into public arguments with total strangers, so them shunning me is fine by me.

What I don’t get is the people who feel they must challenge my shirt, no matter how intimidating my appearance may be. (And to confirm the nature of my appearance, read this post.) I have been directly, and pointedly, challenged on several occasions, by people who you would not think would be the type. For example, on one occasion when in Whole Foods (a liberal bastion if there ever was one), I was wearing a shirt that read, on the front: “If you are not with us, you are against us. G.W. Bush” and on the back, in large letters, one word: “Enemy”. This was just after the invasion of Iraq.

This one woman stopped me, and started talking about my t-shirt. She wanted to know what I meant by it. She called her friend over to see it. I thought she liked it at first. I turned around to show her the back. Then she started talking to her friend about how terrible I was for wearing it. She actually asked me if I was a terrorist. Was I declaring a desire to destroy the US? I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t believe someone could so completely miss the point. This was one confrontation that was not going to turn out well, and I politely excused myself from the conversation, and moved away. It was clear she would never get the irony.

Later that same trip, as we moved to the checkout to make our purchases, another, similar, encounter occurred. Only this time, it wasn’t me. lasarina was wearing this t-shirt – “Religion is for people afraid of going to hell, spirituality is for people who have already been there”. It was the checkout girl. She was astounded at the words on the shirt. Obviously, no one alive had ever been to hell. Only Jesus had ever gone there and come back to tell of it. How dare she wear such a blasphemous thing. I took one look at this child (she was maybe 20), and, very quietly, said to her: “So what would you call a place where as a child, you were physically abused, to the point of an untreated skull fracture, on a daily basis?” She stammered for a moment, got very quiet, and began doing her job.

What’s my point? Well, I guess it’s to explain why I wear these shirts. A few of you on my friends-list have made statements denigrating bumper stickers, t-shirts, posts on LJ, etc as quiet means of “protest”. You seem to think that this serves no purpose. That these things only preach to the choir. Often this is true. Certainly I would not say it should be an only method of activism. But hiding your light under a bushel won’t help either. The proverbial closet, which ever it may be, is safe. Because it is safe, no one’s preconceptions are challenged. However, there are a few strangers out there whose world view was challenged. Did they change, or was it only momentary discomfort? I will never know. But it’s one of the ways I do my part. It’s not the only way.