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That’s right, I actually had to censor the only printed graphic on this t-shirt, and yes, the offending image (nsfw) is absolutely graphic enough to warrant said censorship. The only hint I’ll give you is that the t-shirt is meant to be tucked in your pants for maximum effect. Brought to you by the kind gentlemen from Road Kill T-Shirts.

If you haven’t yet noticed, I sometimes write about shirts that I wouldn’t recomend anyone wear, yet are interesting in some way.  Sometimes I just like to see what qualifies as a ‘good t-shirt idea’ in somebody else’s head.  A lot of times those t-shirt are pointless, or grossly offensive, and here’s an example of each.

“Texas is Blast” is up for sale at Loiterink, which used to be the well respected LuckyThreadz before changing their name last year.  I’m not sure what justifies making such a macabre reference to President Kennedy’s assasination, although the illustration is beautiful.  Even worse, the shirt is available in kids sizes.  What’s up with that, Loiterink?

The second t-shirt is from Cafepress, the home of the do-it-yourself publishing community.  I’m not quite sure why the shirt’s slogan needs to be said, and there quite a few interesting and meaningful designs on the topic.

If you’re intersted in reading about more off-beat shirts, please subscribe to my mailing list.  You will only receive any email when I make a new post.

I was trolling Digg and Cafepress to see if I could find any interesting campaign related t-shirt, and instead found something to file under T-Shirt That Shouldn’t Exist.  What I found surpsing was some of the user comments in response to the bar owner’s assertion that, “. . . the hairline, the ears, he looks just like Curious George.â€?  Have a look:

I support Obama and I think this shirt is hilarious. I would love to wear one and see peoples reactions. This is just the kind of thing we need to open up discussion on racism.

Really?  I’d never wear a shirt like that, whether I support Obama or not, because the shirt is in bad taste.  The next comment, however, cuts to the truth with a heavy dose of sarcasm:

Yeah, that’s racist as hell. Nobody ever made fun of Bush by saying he looks like a monkey.

Phew, that almost went over my head.

So is there anything inherently racist or offensive about comparing a person to a member of a different species?  After all, the current president has been lampooned in much the same way.  What makes this t-shirt racist is the racist lore from which it draws it’s imagery.

[StraightFromTheA via Digg]

What can you conclude about a site with with at least five different shirts displaying President Reagan’s image? That’s gotta be some seriously conservative t-shirt site! No, I’m not talking about Deez Teez, it’s Those Shirts that got liberals all worked up. We’re talking about saving paving whales, nuking mecca, even neutering pets! Still not interested? How about blonde and brunette Texan models wearing Che t-shirts, baring mid-riffs and toting AK-47s?

Recently, one of my readers left a comment asking if anyone’s ever heard of dnrstyle.com, and whether they are to be trusted.  After a quick look at the site I’m left wondering the same thing - what with the amateurish design and abundant colloquialisms.  One the other hand, I can’t help but admire the enthusiasm of the site’s creators.  Seems like a bunch of lads from the ‘hood’ got together and made it happen - a few t-shirt designs, a printing press, a website and a shopping cart, and free shipping doesn’t hurt either.  I still wouldn’t trust them with my credit card…

Nothing from Walmart, anyway. I was browsing the T-Shirt Shopping List when I came across an ad for ChristianShirts.net. The site contains a huge 10 page selection of t-shirts, mainly slogan tees making a case against abortion, but also against gay rights and evolution.

Some t-shirt sites make their living selling offensive t-shirts. The Worse Than Hell section of T-Shirt Hell, for example, makes light of some of humanity’s greatest tragedies. Personally, I’m not someone who is easily offended, in fact I sometimes laugh at things that probably shouldn’t be funny. However, the more offensive a joke is, the more clever or funnier it needs to be to balance out the crassness. Especially if you’re going to put it in on a shirt. Here are some examples of tees that fail at this balance, starting with an awful reference to Steve Irwin:

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