I think I’ve been intermittent enough & boring enough for long enough now that I may be able with equanimity to use this blog as a soundproofed cell in which to scream without disturbing others.
Which should mean that I won’t upset anyone at all when I announce to the soundproofing that I believe that, if you are over 60 & appear in an interview on television, you ought not to choose a sloganned T-shirt as the thing you decide to wear.
Since no-one can hear me, I’ll go even further (although whispering this part, as can one ever totally trust soundproofing?) & admit that in my heart of hearts I believe T-shirts look best on children, & older people wearing them look … no, I’m not going that far actually.
T-shirts are smart, T-shirts are lovely & I would never suggest that they embody both the infantilisation of the western population & a disappointing rejection of craftsmanship & delight in individual elegance. Nor would I suggest that those rejections contribute significantly to the trashy dreariness of modern life.
I also wouldn’t mention that I suspect many T-shirts worn by people who should know better are actually made by slaves in China.
But I would suggest before buying anything, (not just T-shirts) that everyone should check the label. If you haven’t much enjoyed the last couple of years, bear in mind the fact that, when an odd new respiratory disease broke out in Wuhan, the Chinese government instantly shut down all flights from Wuhan to other destinations in China but allowed flights from Wuhan to the rest of the world to carry on at full pelt, (hell, there were people out there clamouring for new T-shirts).
We may never prove where the coronavirus variant that changed all our lives was created, but we can be sure that China swiftly recognised it as dangerous & made haste to protect its own population but didn’t choose to do the same for us. Reprehensible.
Now I come to think of it, perhaps I could be persuaded to wear one kind of T-shirt: one made by a local craftsman from fabric woven somewhere other than China & bearing the slogan: “Down with CCP China; down with Xi”.
(Imagine it: a T-shirt whose slogan included a semi-colon. That might almost make it grown-up.)
One can get a tee shirt saying almost anything. Many years ago at the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles I saw a woman whose tee shirt bore the opening lines of the Iliad, in Greek. This would have had a ";" if it extended to eight lines. But at this point I just remember the surprise of it, not the extent of the quotation.
ReplyDeleteAnd the one time I recall being on American TV, I was wearing a tee shirt. I was not planning to appear on television, rather was walking around my neighborhood during a power outage when a TV newsman accompanied by a camera operator accosted me.
You're so brilliant to recognise the quote. Here in Hungary I am often startled by some of the phrases people walk around with on their fronts - in almost all cases I suspect they haven't the faintest idea what the statements on their shirts actually mean.
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