"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Surrey, BC. November 29, 2003 It started with a t-shirt featuring the Canadian flag and the phrase "I am not American" translated into multiple languages, a web site with a provocative name - iamnotamerican.com - and a few borrowed dollars to get it all going. It resulted in the shirt's designer receiving abuse and threats, and one U.S-based website owner trying to shut him down. Now, Surrey (B.C.) resident Trevor Wilson is expecting more of the same after releasing new designs and additional merchandise featuring the same controversial message. Thanks to 'advances in modern technology' it is now possible for anyone with an original design to offer a range of products without the need to purchase and maintain a large inventory. Trevor has taken full advantage of this by offering a selection of merchandise such as stickers, mousepads, coffee cups and clothing with one of his seventeen multi-lingual or single language designs. "I can make all five of my original designs available, whereas before I could only sell the one design." Trevor said Saturday. "I have also made each of twelve languages available by themselves on their own products. The shirt featuring Arabic only, for example, looks great! Custom designs are also possible now, with any combination of available languages." Having refined the design since the original 'Canadian Flag' shirt went on sale in February, the language line-up has changed slightly, with the addition of Spanish and Dutch and the deletion of Afrikaans. Also available in addition to the two new languages are Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Slovak, Chinese, Russian and of course, English. Newly added designs include all twelve languages without a background, or with backdrops such as the circular 'Peace' symbol. In a move that is bound to upset some 'Stateside', other designs feature the American flag beneath the international symbol of prohibition, either by itself or with the the multilingual "I am not American" translations. Prompted by a personal experience over ten years ago, Trevor had been toying with the idea ever since. In August of 2001 he decided to finally put his plans in motion, but tragic events the next month resulted in a decision to delay release for at least one more year. In 2003, the site was closed for two days out of respect for the many victims of September 11. Over and above the basic concept of the design (after all, how dare someone want to say they were not American?), Wilson's sense of humour has upset some. At one stage an image was featured of U.S. President George W. Bush 'wearing' one of the shirts. This resulted in a resident of Bush's home state - Texas - starting a campaign of harassment in order to close the web site. About that, Trevor said "the odd thing is that this person ran a 'free speech' web site. It seems they didn't truly believe in the concept of free speech." Trevor also points out an interesting example of irony. The only company offering the 'small-run' service he is utilising to make all his designs and merchandise available is located in the U.S.A. "I find it amusing that an American company is producing something that says 'I am not American'," he said. "Unfortunately though, no Canadian company offers this service, but the minute they can, I will be there giving them my business". The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
I like a lot of other Americans are probably too busy doing more important
things with our time than making T-Shirts like, "I am not Canadian" or "I am not French." although if someone made them, I'll bet a lot of us would be very happy to wear them. -- Dairenn Lombard Los Angeles, CA - http://www.base-ix.com/~dlombard/ Base-IX Communications, coming 2004 |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on
the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. As someone who does not, has not, or ever will support George W. Bush, I am still an American who has done nothing to deserve derision from this guy. It's like wearing a shirt that says "Canadians are assholes." While many are, most Canadians are very nice, friendly people. I guess I feel like it's making yourself feel better by tearing down someone else. Just my opinion! |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 17:50:20 +0000, Javaman wrote:
The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. As someone who does not, has not, or ever will support George W. Bush, I am still an American who has done nothing to deserve derision from this guy. It's like wearing a shirt that says "Canadians are assholes." While many are, most Canadians are very nice, friendly people. Really? Do the teeshirt make similar claims about American? It's not that I necessarily find these teeshirts to be a god idea. But as far as all they say is "I am not American," why would that be offensive? If you claim the right of being proud to be American, don't I have the right of being proud *not to be* American? Just equally silly. Not more, not less, isn't it? (Anyway, the guy might consider also selling teeshirts saying something like "Although I am American, I am not proud of the idencent way my own government is behaving.") |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 01:03:23 GMT, devil wrote:
On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 17:50:20 +0000, Javaman wrote: The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. As someone who does not, has not, or ever will support George W. Bush, I am still an American who has done nothing to deserve derision from this guy. It's like wearing a shirt that says "Canadians are assholes." While many are, most Canadians are very nice, friendly people. Really? Do the teeshirt make similar claims about American? It's not that I necessarily find these teeshirts to be a god idea. But as far as all they say is "I am not American," why would that be offensive? If you claim the right of being proud to be American, don't I have the right of being proud *not to be* American? Just equally silly. Not more, not less, isn't it? If the seller truly wanted only to identify himself, why not use a more positive message such as "I am a Canadian"? I think it's disingenuous to say that he means no offense when he sells t-shirts that have an American flag with the international circle/slash symbol for "no" across it. Karen ....A clean house is the sign of a broken computer. |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
"Javaman" wrote in message news:w5qyb.264997$ao4.919255@attbi_s51...
The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. Just curious...what part of Canada are you from? Thanks in advance |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:12:02 -0600, Karen wrote:
On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 01:03:23 GMT, devil wrote: On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 17:50:20 +0000, Javaman wrote: The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. As someone who does not, has not, or ever will support George W. Bush, I am still an American who has done nothing to deserve derision from this guy. It's like wearing a shirt that says "Canadians are assholes." While many are, most Canadians are very nice, friendly people. Really? Do the teeshirt make similar claims about American? It's not that I necessarily find these teeshirts to be a god idea. But as far as all they say is "I am not American," why would that be offensive? If you claim the right of being proud to be American, don't I have the right of being proud *not to be* American? Just equally silly. Not more, not less, isn't it? If the seller truly wanted only to identify himself, why not use a more positive message such as "I am a Canadian"? I think it's disingenuous to say that he means no offense when he sells t-shirts that have an American flag with the international circle/slash symbol for "no" across it. A tad itchy? Who cares about what people may or may not have in mind. Is the statement offensive when taken at its face value, or not? Let me repeat: if one insists in being proud of being a Martian, then I think it's fairly reasonable to grant me the right of being proud of *not* being a Martian. Now, I submit both are somewhat silly. But as they say, that's another story. In the context of the way the current US government behaves in Iraq, it's truly *not being American* that matters, if you think of it. Not that I come from this or that minor tribe. |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Javaman wrote:
The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. As someone who does not, has not, or ever will support George W. Bush, I am still an American who has done nothing to deserve derision from this guy. It's like wearing a shirt that says "Canadians are assholes." While many are, most Canadians are very nice, friendly people. I guess I feel like it's making yourself feel better by tearing down someone else. Just my opinion! I'd like to see Europeans with T-shirts that say, "Thanks, George! We'll take it from here." MTV |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
On Mon, 01 Dec 2003 15:15:59 GMT, devil wrote:
On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:12:02 -0600, Karen wrote: If the seller truly wanted only to identify himself, why not use a more positive message such as "I am a Canadian"? I think it's disingenuous to say that he means no offense when he sells t-shirts that have an American flag with the international circle/slash symbol for "no" across it. A tad itchy? Who cares about what people may or may not have in mind. Is the statement offensive when taken at its face value, or not? Itchy? Nah, it's okay with me if people want to be offensive. After all, there are a couple of countries that I look upon with something less than affection. And sometimes I'm not too happy with my own country, either. I just get annoyed when people get all coy about it like the t-shirt guy. Let me repeat: if one insists in being proud of being a Martian, then I think it's fairly reasonable to grant me the right of being proud of *not* being a Martian. Now, I submit both are somewhat silly. But as they say, that's another story. In the context of the way the current US government behaves in Iraq, it's truly *not being American* that matters, if you think of it. Not that I come from this or that minor tribe. Well, context is everything. He's not saying I'm not an American as a national identification. He's saying " I don't belong to that (insert insulting adjective) country, so don't associate me with them." Okay, fair enough, but don't write on and on about how it's not meant to be anti-American. Of course it is. That's why he's disingenuous. |
"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise
Javaman wrote:
The full range of "I am not American" merchandise is available on the internet at http://www.iamnotamerican.com . I find these shirts offensive, even though I understand the reason behind them. As someone who does not, has not, or ever will support George W. Bush, I am still an American who has done nothing to deserve derision from this guy. It's like wearing a shirt that says "Canadians are assholes." While many are, most Canadians are very nice, friendly people. I guess I feel like it's making yourself feel better by tearing down someone else. Just my opinion! I can sort of understand a person wanting to wear one of these shirts if they are in the Middle East or something, but I saw some git walking around here in Australia in one of these shirts. If a Canadian person doesn't have the patience to correct someone who thinks they're American, they are clearly a ****** and not worth talking to anyway. |
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