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POLITICAL CORRECTNESS,
HOLLYWOOD
,
and the
DEATH of the DEGO TEE
by Amy Bugbee
Okay, you don't know me, and may not care to, but I still feel
compelled to share this discovery with all of you. One of the things I do
besides write articles for fine publications like this one, is make and
sell t-shirts – I make the designs, I mean, the screen prints.
Of course, T-shirts don't just grow on trees, so it is my job to
order them. The company I buy my tees from is a huge nationwide, quality
wholesale company. I have no problems with this company, nothing but
praise for them, really.
The
problem I have is with society, yes society, imagine that? We are such a
ridiculously politically correct nation in some aspects it's absurd, and
yet in other ways we are archaic. I mean, who really says
African-American, or Native American, or Latino American? Besides being a
mouthful, these are garbage terms designed solely to further separate the
people of this melting pot called
America
from one another. Me personally, I have lived with, worked with, and
befriended many a black, hispanic, and every other color of the rainbow,
and the only people who ever use the terms African-American and so on, are
morons from places like Cape Cod and Maine where there are no Blacks or
Mexicans, and they don't know any Blacks or Mexicans, and if they did come
across any, they would be scared to death. You know who you are folks, but
that's okay. You've been tricked, and programmed by society. It happens.
What
gets me, is while we're walking on eggshells with some kinds of people
other people are fair game and fodder for jokes and the like. Sure, sure,
what I am saying is nothing new, yes we all know one of those groups are
the Springer style, White Trash we all find so amusing, that has been well
documented.
Another
group that was okay to make fun of, until just recently, was fat people.
Remember a few short years ago, when there was nary a fat in all of
Hollywood
, and actors would gain weight for roles and we'd applaud them - ugh!?!
Suddenly though, this last year fat men became all the rage,
partially due to mob boss Tony Soprano, and every network stepped all over
each other to get enough fat guys on sitcoms, so the "everyman"
could feel comfy in his LAZY BOY sucking on some beers and eating
microwave burritos. You've seen them 'The King of Queens' or 'Still
Standing' just to name a few whose names I know.
Again,
you're asking, "Hey Amy, what the hell does any of this have to do
with t-shirts, are you daft?" Well quite possibly I am, but I am
getting to that.
Just
the other day I was skimming the pages of my wholesale t-shirt catalog for
prices on halter-tops and tank tops, thinking that they might be a nice
addition for my summer sales, when I made a shocking discovery. Remember
the "DEGO TEE"? Remember them stretched across the chests of
Rocky and Tony on Taxi? Well
my politically correct friends, it is gone! Really, it's gone! They no
longer exist, and I am going to guess it has to do with the fact that we
have become now very Italian Sensitive. I am sure we will soon be calling
them Italian-Americans in polite circles (okay, I know we already are).
The word DEGO has been struck from the American vocabulary faster than ol'
Tony Soprano could find a new mistress.
But,
more shocking than this, MUCH MORE SHOCKING, is what it has been replaced
with. The atrocious "DEGO TEE" has been replaced with the
soothing and acceptable term "WIFE BEATER". Yep, there it was,
right on the pages of my wholesale t-shirt catalog, a major supplier of
cotton to the entire
USA
-- the very ethnically and racially sensitive
USA
-- but apparently, the Pro-Spousal Abuse
USA
!
Oh
I am not joking, it was a mere page away from the toddler tees! "The
Beater", (I was gonna order some "DEGO TEES", or Men's Tank
Tops, as I assumed they might be called, but I opted out on ordering any
"BEATERS"). And, it's not just them using this term, I mean
wholesale t-shirt catalogs are barely revolutionary, I've seen it on
clothing store websites, and heard the reference on cutting edge TV and
radio shows, seen and heard by young and old.
"Ho,
Ho, Ho, and he was wearing a Beater with jeans.”
"Yeah,
I like the way these wife beaters show off my muscles."
How
is it the word DEGO is unacceptable, the word NEGRO is a cardinal sin
(Have you not yet heard your local newscaster refer to "The N
Word"?), and FAT is even becoming a profanity when referring to 300
lbs. MEN, but a WIFE BEATER TEE is funny, clever, and perfectly acceptable
as a point of reference?
The
company told me, that that's what everyone calls them now because guys who
wear them are known to beat their wives.
Hmm... Is the shirt making them do that? If so, perhaps we should
stop production all together? And, since this is okay, can we now call
toddler tees, ASS RAPE SHIRTS? Toddlers do get raped!
Sad but true, it's a fact we are reminded of regularly in the news.
Can we call men's Speedo swimsuits DICK SUCKERS? I mean, homosexuals do
like them (No offense Gay Mafia of
Hollywood
). Can we call Maternity wear "SLUT KILLER"? Oh wait, that one
might be okay, after all it doesn't target Blacks, Italians or Gays, just
women. Us wicked, wicked women!
We deserve to have our faces bashed in, we deserve to have the life
choked out of us, we deserve to be beaten by people with more than double
our strength! What's wrong
with beating the fuck out of your wife?
She is your property after all -- Just ask OJ!
I guess, what should I expect from a world where drawing a SWASTIKA
on a wall will get you 20 years in the slammer, but KILLING your
girlfriend might get you 3-5?
Well,
I for one, would really like to thank AMERICA for relegating me – as a
women, not to the back of the bus, not to the underground tunnels along
the Rio Grande, and not to the airplane seatbelt extender line, but to the
bottom of the sea, the shallow grave in the woods, the trunk of the beater
car, and the waiting room at the emergency room.
Thank
you, thank you, you sickening motherfuckers -- and I do mean MOTHER
FUCKERS!
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