Quote:
Originally Posted by DruSam
Thanks for sharing Isla, sorry to hear about what happened to your friend. I think I understand your reasoning that words can go a very long way if said under the right circumstances. and in the case of the WF tshirt obviously it hit a chord with some people, and to be honest it was meant to. But the choice to take a joke into something further could be in the hand of anyone. If I wanted to I could take offense to whatever, but I choose not to because it's much less stressful to sit back and look at all the silly or hurtful things said . I believe as long as no one is infringing upon my rights, I could care less what someone "says".
You sound like a really good person, I'm actually really sorry this whole ordeal struck a chord with you. Thanks for the lengthy response.
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I understand that it was inteded as a joke, not intending to be an insult to gays. But when you have seen jokes turn into something else you realize that the jokes actually had something to do with it. You have no control over how people take or use something that is said. But if the t-shirt leads people to insult gays, that t-shirt has just had a hand in intolerance. If that t-shirt is worn by a person who hates gay people he will feel that his thoughts and feelings are condoned by the people who made the t-shirt. And gay people who look at that t-shirt will feel that not only the wearer but the company who made the t-shirt condones intolerance. It is breeding intolerance and hate already. You don't have control what people do with a homophobic joke, but amazingly you have control of never having to worry about someone using your t-shirt to promote hate in the first place. I think everyone agrees that the marketing ploy of bashing competition is in fact funny. I have seen to die for funny adverts out there bashing the hell out of competition. But you made the mistake of adding a phrase in there that promotes hate and intolerance. I wouldn't want the thought that someone out there could be bashing and laughing about gays from a t-shirt I made as a marketing ploy. I would rather them be laughing at and bashing the competition.