Daily Kos

Mother Wants Dead Son Off Anti-War Shirt: and other t-shirt-related incidents

by armadill

Mon Jul 24, 2006 at 11:50:15 PM PDT

Judy Vincent, mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, learned last year that Cpl. Scott M. Vincent's name is among about 1,700 on a t-shirt that reads 'Bush Lied' and 'They Died.'

She pushed for an Oklahoma a law making it a misdemeanor to use a soldier's name or likeness without consent. The law goes into effect this November. U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., introduced a similar bill in Congress two weeks ago...

The shirt vendor "has the right to voice his opinion, as we all do," Vincent says. "But I do believe the First Amendment stops when you use a person's name or likeness to make a profit. ..." -- Mom Wants Dead Son Off Anti-War Shirt

For a while it seemed that the battle was to make sure that t-shirts not supportive of the Bush administration and/or the war in Iraq were not on public display. But now that the hypocrisy of the fight to remove t-shirts from the backs of their wearers has been exposed, the battle to control what t-shirts say and which are produced begins.

My question is, if it is made illegal for t-shirt manufacturers to print facts such as the names of soldiers killed on t-shirts, why would it be legal for sculptors to be allowed to etch the names of those killed in battles on monuments? Don't sculptors get paid for their work?

And how about news broadcasters? They make money. Should they be prevented from announcing the names of the war dead? I mean, the caskets can no longer be shown. Perhaps announcing the names of those killed can also be deemed to be in bad taste.

Or, have we decided that it's in our interest to for the government in power to decide who is allowed to put what slogans on our t-shirts?

Below is a reverse chronology of recent (public) t-shirt removals and other t-shirt-related troubles. I've been collecting this list for quite some time; it's long, but I suspect I've missed a few incidents. Note how many of these t-shirt related events seem to occur in the months just before elections... (Or, in the months just before we invaded Iraq. And also note how the Secret Service agents making these arrests (aren't they government employees??? are increasingly claiming that because the ground the protesters are standing in is or has been -- temporarily -- declared private property, they must immediately remove their shirts or be arrested. Hey, wouldn't the FCC object to that???)

Tags: First amendment, freedom of expression, T-shirts, Cindy Sheehan, arrested (all tags) :: Previous Tag Versions

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