January 16, 2011

BANKO$ Cereal: Eat the Rich



Thank you to Christine Joy Torres for posting this over on my facebook page!

So after the shooting in Tucson, AZ, I became really anxious about the fact that I had made these shirts:



I really struggled with this internally for a while. The thought that this kid out in Tucson might own one of my stupid shirts scared the bejesus out of me, and kept me up at night.

I just want to be clear I DO NOT ADVOCATE KILLING ANYBODY. And I actually have an irrational fear of cannibalism, both of me, and also by me on accident. I blame the German folk story about an amoral sausage grinder that I read when I was a kid...

Anyways. After seeing the cereal box, I feel better about it now. I think it's pretty obvious that the Kill And Eat The Rich is total hyperbole, like how Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama talking about how nuking Iran "is on the table" is hyperbole. They aren't going to do it. They're just taking a threatening posture as a bargaining chip.

I also don't feel that we can or should blame Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck for the shooting than we can blame me. Or maybe I am equally to blame. Either way, I feel really weird about the whole thing.

Please Leave your thoughts below.

14 comments:

  1. I'm wearing my "kill and eat the rich" t-shirt right now and yet I am calm and unarmed

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  2. As Ben Parker said to Peter Parker, "...with great power, comes great responsibility." If you were in a position of authority where you held more sway and had more responsibility over people than the average Joe, you might think again and probably would. Not because it is wrong, but because you know some people are crazy and may take it literally. If you were the President or a Congressman or even a Preacher for instance, wearing the shirt might be irresponsible. But as it is, you are just making a political statement. Even if you were in a position of power, you are still only making a political statement. But in that case you should have to think more about how others will act on things you do or say before you do them, if you are responsible. If you were a Senator calling for revolution, you damn well better mean it, but if you are some nobody like me and say, "time to pick up the pitchforks,"...it's just not the same.

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  3. I think you've just nailed the core issue. You may be doing some honest soul searching about how something you say or print might be taken by a crazy person. I hear of no such self examination by Beck, Palin, O'reilly etc. For what it's worth, you seem to not be one of the people trying to turn it to your own advantage or make it in some way about you.

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  4. I don't think you have anything to worry about regarding your t-shirt.

    A friend of mine had a blog post about what you would do if you knew you were going to die by a certain date. I commented on his post, "I'm not really sure - but the words 'high powered sniper rifle' come to mind." This blog post was done the day before the AZ shooting and I happened to make my comment the DAY OF the shooting but before the event had happened.

    I hemmed and hawed about deleting my comment all day, and I finally deleted it, because of what happened in AZ. In retrospect, I thought my comment, although meant has humor, was in poor taste.

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  5. I agree, I don't think you can be held responsible for anyone's actions, but your own. Even if he was wearing your shirt when he shot these people in AZ, you should not be blamed. A crazy person will have any excuse to do something like that.

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  6. Maybe I'll order a shirt just to make you feel better!

    If rhetoric is unreasonably harsh on the right, I'd say it's unreasonably timid on the left.

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  7. If it's good enough for Lemmy, it's good enough for you:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5b/Eat_The_Rich_(song).jpg/605px-Eat_The_Rich_(song).jpg

    http://www.flogarecords.com/store/images/t_3555_01.jpg

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  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. yujia yao, You can critique me and everything I believe in, but spam about buying showerheads in bulk from your factory outlet will not be tolerated! Especially when it links to porn.

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  10. I love that shirt and am planning on buyibg one.

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  11. I don't think the rich would taste very good, but I do want them to pay their fair share in taxes.

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  12. No way this would have had any effect on Jared Loughner. He was crazy from the start.

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  13. Who made those cereal boxes? You should find out and let me know. I want to buy some. This would be an easy easy and awesome way to express discontent and I personally know at least 50 ppl who would put those around this town.

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  14. The box was made by the NYC artist, (or artists) TrustoCorp.

    http://www.trustocorp.com/

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