A Travel and vacations forum. TravelBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » TravelBanter forum » Travelling Style » Air travel
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

"I Am Not American" Web Site Adds Designs, Languages, Merchandise



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old November 29th, 2003, 08:23 PM
http://www.iamnotamerican.com
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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 .

  #2  
Old November 30th, 2003, 01:54 PM
Dairenn Lombard
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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

  #3  
Old November 30th, 2003, 06:50 PM
Javaman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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!


  #4  
Old December 1st, 2003, 02:03 AM
devil
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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.")





  #5  
Old December 1st, 2003, 03:12 AM
Karen
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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.
  #6  
Old December 1st, 2003, 04:27 AM
Nathan R
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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
  #7  
Old December 1st, 2003, 04:15 PM
devil
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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.

  #8  
Old December 1st, 2003, 06:19 PM
MTV
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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

  #9  
Old December 2nd, 2003, 09:46 AM
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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.

  #10  
Old December 2nd, 2003, 12:34 PM
Mobutu
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default "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.


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
American Airlines latest Sweepstakes None Air travel 0 November 21st, 2003 10:31 PM
ALERT! American Airlines Employees Plan Holiday Sick Out! None Air travel 0 October 14th, 2003 01:50 AM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:39 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 TravelBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.