February 12, 2004
FEAR DECLARED
A frightened Australian is popular in New York:
Advertising executive Jonathan Pease, 29, likes to "create a bit of noise", so scrawling "I'm afraid of Americans" in pig's blood on the back of a New York bus a few years ago wasn't out of character. "I like to make people think another way," he said this week after the slogan, now in bright orange on a pink T-shirt (by the Sydney-based Tight Knickers label he part-owns with two friends), caused a stir at New York Fashion Week.
He’d create a lot more noise if his t-shirt featured the slogan: "I'm afraid of Muslims". Or if he wrote that in pig's blood on the back of a Tehran bus. Oh, there'd be noise! Guaranteed!
The New York Times reported that the shirt, known as the "Dear George", was seen all over town, at after-show parties and on models as they dashed from catwalk to catwalk. "Each show cycle seems to produce at least one garment that telegraphs fashion's ambient political mood," the newspaper said. "This season's is a tight pink T-shirt with a legend scrawled in vivid orange letters, 'I'm Afraid of Americans'."
Fashion’s ambient political mood is usually: "I'm afraid of being out of fashion." Which explains the popularity of Pease's shirt.
Mr Pease said the original prank in pig's blood, which he and his partners thought was catchy enough for a T-shirt, was meant as a jab at American consumerism: "But then, like, a month later, there was September 11 and it started to mean a lot more to more people."
Was Pease afraid that murdered Americans might fall on him from the World Trade Centre? This idiot doesn’t make any sense. If Pease had been on any of the four jets that were, like, hijacked on September 11 by extremist, like, Muslims, or if he was inside the, like, World Trade Centre on that day, would he have been more afraid of those extremists or of, like, the Americans who died trying to rescue people just like him?
"They come up, all the time: 'Where can I get that shirt?' We never intended it to be anti-American - it's more ironic - and there are a lot of Americans, a lot of celebrities too, who wear it: Mike Moore, Ben Lee, the Baldwin brothers ..."
Those guys are all so scared of Americans that they've fled the country. Well, they would. If they had the money.
Posted by Tim Blair at February 12, 2004 02:32 AMOk, fine. Attention all Americans:
Feel free to rabbit-punch anybody wearing one of these faggoty shirts. Gotta hold up our side of the concept, y'know.
Posted by: mojo at February 12, 2004 at 02:57 AMPeople fear Americans. Good. Mission accomplished.
Posted by: JohnO at February 12, 2004 at 02:57 AMLast things first: We raised piles of money so the Baldwins, Streisand and that lot could make good on their threat to leave the US if Bush won. They're still here and I don't know what they did with the money.
Maybe they're buying slacker Aussie designer T-shirts.
As for Pease, just what DID he mean if those shirts weren't supposed to be anti-American, just a commentary on consumerism? I heard Austrailia has some pretty hefty social programs like healthcare, so if healthcare etc are consumable, what does that make him?
I saw and smelled 9/11. I knew someone in the WTC, as did all my neighbors. Why can't the likes of Pease have the sense to not do what he's doing in the very city where it happened? I understand there's no way to explain the stupidity of the people who wear those shirts, but Jeez, is there any way to implant in Pease et all with just a modicum decency?
I guess not.
Posted by: Gary at February 12, 2004 at 02:59 AMYa'll better be effin afraid of Americans!
There's no tellin' what kind o' crazy spices a Cajun'll put in the mess o' gumbo he's feedin' ya.
Those Minnesota Lutherans will wield a hard, squinty stare at you with the alacrity that Yoda demonstrated with his light saber in Attack of the Clones.
Jeez, and don't get me started on the buggy-whip wielding Amish in Pennsylvania and Missouri. You ain't seen a scared horsey until you seen one whipped by a bearded, angry son-of-a-Stoltzfus.
And let's not forget everybody's favorite American to hate: the Southern plantation owner. Damn sons-o'-bitches sittin' on the veranda all day drinkin' mint juleps while a couple of trusty Uncle Toms run the negras through the cotton fields. And makin' 'em pick out the seeds with their teeth 'cause they're too malicious to buy a gin. Daaaamn, I's be scared uh dem, too, I would.
Personally, I have too much dignity to admit whether I'm afraid of a Key West Parrothead but I suspect dignity is somewhat in short supply amongst this crowd...
Posted by: Tongue Boy at February 12, 2004 at 03:09 AMGary writes:
I understand there's no way to explain the stupidity of the people who wear those shirts, but Jeez, is there any way to implant in Pease et all with just a modicum decency?
I guess not.
Oh there is, Gary, there certainly is. However, it just might land you in the pokey.
Posted by: Tongue Boy at February 12, 2004 at 03:12 AMMy fear is that we Americans will see all of this and retreat further into isolationism.
Due to our history and our size, we are more adapt to do that than other western coutnries. And the next time a 1940 type crisis threatens western civilization, we will say out of it, rather than do what we did in 1940 (which granted was not what we SHOULD have done (i.e., enter the war) but was an immense transfer of money, food and equipment at the same time we were trying to rearm).
Posted by: bsc at February 12, 2004 at 03:40 AM'I'm Afraid of Americans'
hmm, if the shirt had osama's face on it, i might buy one
I love each time these things come up - it reminds us of how stupid the anti-american left are and helps ensure GWB's re-election later this year.
Posted by: JEM at February 12, 2004 at 04:17 AMNo one has even mentioned the terrifying fall-out (literally) of Michael Moore in a "tight pink t-shirt." Thanks for that mental image, I don't think I'll sleep or eat for a month. I'm afraid of Americans too -- at least I'm afraid of obnoxious, obese, America-hating Americans in tight pink T-shirts. Eeeeeeeeuw.
Posted by: chris at February 12, 2004 at 04:18 AMOhhh, we can run w/this, Osama, Saddam, Kahmeini, Assad, Chiraq, have all their pics on it.
Posted by: Sandy P. at February 12, 2004 at 04:36 AMWhere can I get my "I'm afraid of over-subsidized and sheltered artists" T-shirts?
Posted by: KevinV at February 12, 2004 at 04:41 AM>Ohhh, we can run w/this, Osama, Saddam, Kahmeini, Assad, Chiraq, have all their pics on it.
Actually, I like this idea.
Posted by: bsc at February 12, 2004 at 04:54 AM
Hmmmm....I'm afraid of Americans too.
"... Mike Moore, Ben Lee, the Baldwin brothers ..." for starters. Al Gore, Molly Ivins, the usual east and west coast socialist utopians. They scare the sh** out of me.
BC
Houston,Texas
Home of the so-called "renegade,unsophisticated, non-cultured unilateralist cowboy" and proud of it.
Bush = Deserter
Moore = Desserts
Bush - Lied
Moore - Potatoes Fried
Somebody took the visual of the Nimitz-class Moore in a t-shirt. (With apologies to Nimitz-class aircraft carriers)
Pleasant dreams with that visual.
BC
I'm afraid of guys who write with pig's blood.
Posted by: dicky john at February 12, 2004 at 05:20 AMHeck, this guy isn't even ORIGINAL. David Bowie had a pretty good song called "I'm Afraid of Americans" back in 1997:
I’m afraid of americans
I’m afraid of the world
I’m afraid I can’t help it
I’m afraid I can’t
Johnny’s in america
God is an american
I’m afraid of americans
I’m afraid of the world
...so this guy is nothing new, or even NEWS. Bah Feh.
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 12, 2004 at 05:29 AMIt doesn't sound like an expression of fear to me.
Posted by: Ron Hardin at February 12, 2004 at 05:50 AMHey, remember when Saddam was asked why he didn't resist capture, and he pointed to the soldiers and said, "Look at them. Would you fight them?"
I think a shirt with this slogan and Saddam's mug on it would be a big seller. Khaddafy, too ("I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid").
Posted by: Angie Schultz at February 12, 2004 at 06:04 AMOrange lettering on a pink shirt? Yechhh. Is this guy color-blind?
Posted by: Annalucia at February 12, 2004 at 06:17 AMSometimes propoganda backfires and this is propaganda right? I think Americans could wear such a T-shirt with pride. Maybe that's why it's selling.
Posted by: The Gnu Hunter at February 12, 2004 at 06:39 AMAfraid of Americans, eh? I guess all I can really say in response (using my best Droopy Dog imitation) is:
"Boo."
:-)
(Though sadly, my best Droopy Dog imitation just isn't that great.)
Posted by: Patrick Chester at February 12, 2004 at 06:54 AMIn a BBC program "what the world thinks of America", one poll question was "'America scares me' Agree or disagree?" Many of the America-hating countries agreed, but not Jordan - a Jordanian commentator said that they hate America etc. etc. but weren't scared of it.
Posted by: Andjam at February 12, 2004 at 07:54 AMI wish *more* people feared Americans. Crazy, Blood-Thirsty, Empire Building, Gun-Lovin', Gun-Carryin', Trigger Happy, Nazi-like, 'Innocent'-killin ... American 'sums-of-bitches'!!
Anyone with half a brain cell should be afraid of crazies like us. Anyone with half a brain cell should be afraid and never, ever, dare to attack us, or our allies, again!!
I can't figure out *why* people don't really fear us. Obviously this Australian guy isn't really afraid. If he were, he wouldn't be parading around with that T shirt in the US. He knows nobody will bother him and our resident nutz like Moore would just reward him with mucho bucks.
People say they fear the US, but those who do are the wrong type. I'm not worried that a bunch of drunken UK yobs will drive planes loaded with passengers into our towers. So who cares if the British, French, Germans, etc. fear us? They don't want to attack us!!
How come the people who would attack us aren't more afraid? Why don't *they* think we're crazy as bed-bugs, sitting on tons of killing hardware, and LEAVE US ALONE!!
We have an image problem in some countries and among some peoples. Obviously they aren't afraid of us enough. Perhaps we can hire this guy, and those like him to help out?
Convince the entire world we're ape-shit crazies that should be feared like their worst nightmare!
PS to the Australian guy making the shirts:
If you want to become more wealthy than you are now, take the suggestions some have made here ...
put a picture of some well-known, or not so well-known Islamonazi on that shirt. Guaranteed to sell tons of them!!
I'm kinda young to remember it, but didn't David Bowie come up with the "I'm afraid of Americans"... wasn't it a song or something?
Posted by: pete at February 12, 2004 at 08:32 AMOf course, the main reason he's afraid of Americans is that they (collectively) are, day-by-day, proving his world view to be the batshit it truly is. Now, for a leftoid, *that's* scary. Really, really scary.
Posted by: JorgXMcKie at February 12, 2004 at 08:39 AMAdvertising executive Mr Pease said 'the original prank in pig's blood, which he and his partners thought was catchy enough for a T-shirt, was meant as a jab at American consumerism.'
That's like a butcher talking up vegetarianism.
Posted by: ilibcc at February 12, 2004 at 09:18 AMMichael Moore in a "tight pink T-shirt"? Yep, I'm afraid.
And trying hard not to vomit.
Posted by: Josh Crockett at February 12, 2004 at 10:06 AMEric Zoolander fits right in there with Deaniacs Dhimmis and Franophiles. But wait, isn't this a Machiavelli's "it's better to be feared than loved"? Really really profound!
Posted by: Charlies Gordon at February 12, 2004 at 10:23 AMHe's so horrified of American consumerism he's over there flogging them cheesy t-shirts.
What a hypocritical piece of shit; I hope some bulimic model chunders all over him and he chokes on her vomit.
sadly, then he'd get fundung as performance art, habib
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at February 12, 2004 at 11:30 AMya know, i meant to type "funding", but i have to say i like "fundung"
Posted by: Mr. Bingley at February 12, 2004 at 11:31 AMHere are some further suggestions for Pearse for his T-shirts:
Faggots get out of my Way!
Shoot a Faggot today!
(T-shirts to be liberally splattered with blood).
Posted by: Max at February 12, 2004 at 12:33 PMChris Josephson: there's actually a great plan over at imao.us to scare the hell out of the rest of the world. Nuke the Moon.
Posted by: samkit at February 12, 2004 at 01:12 PMBowie's "Afraid of Americans" is a pretty good song. I have no idea what the political implications of the song are, though.
Posted by: Dylan at February 12, 2004 at 01:24 PMThe sad thing is that they really are not afraid...and they should be. It is high time the world realized what we Americans could actually DO if sufficiently provoked.
Posted by: Katherine at February 12, 2004 at 02:25 PMKatherine, that's part of the problem. It's been so very long since the US has cut loose that a lot of people seem to have forgotten what the US is capable of.
IMO, we're one more 9/11 away from refreshing everyone's memory, and that Bush seems absolutely determined to keep that from happening speaks well for him.
Posted by: rosignol at February 12, 2004 at 04:59 PMSamkit said:
"Chris Josephson: there's actually a great plan over at imao.us to scare the hell out of the rest of the world. Nuke the Moon."
------
That is certainly a start. But we should do more to ehnhance the 'crazy' factor. Like:
- Announce to the world we're nuking the moon before moon-people reinforcements arrive.
- Announce we are attacking the moon to help support our galactic-UN partners. Seems the moon-
people ticked off the others pretty good.
That type of thing. We've got a built in bunch of believers in the US, just waiting for the 'mothership' or hale-bopp, etc.. May as well let them be useful.
I'd prefer us to be viewed as way over the top crazy people who have a bunch of very destructive weapons to hand. I wouldn't bother people like that. I'd back away slowly and leave them alone.
The religious fanatics wouldn't care, they'd still want to convert or kill us. However, those who bankroll them may care.
Posted by: Chris Josephson at February 12, 2004 at 06:29 PMBowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans" (GOOD, Dave: means you're smart) also includes the repeated line, 'God is an American'. Like we needed to be told.
To take from Megatokyo: PHEER MY L33T AM3R1CAN SK1LLZ!!!