T-Shirt Hell Closing on Feb. 10

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 9:44 am

http://www.tshirthell.com/hell.shtml

T-Shirt Hell is closing on Feb. 10 forever. If you have ever enjoyed any of their T-Shirts, I encourage you to purchase some more before they close.

You can also read why they're closing, and a rant from someone about annoying, self-righteous, 20-something assholes. I'm not sure how much of that is true.

This particular shirt company holds a special place in my heart, and that's why I am recommending it to you, even though I would never wear half of the shirts because they are fucked up, and am now too old to wear shirts with stupid funny messages on them.

If you want to play a slightly fun game, you can try and find my picture in the "Whores" section, which has been there since March 2002.

mordraine · Post by **mordraine** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 10:33 am

It's ironic that the owner and the "pissed-off employee" thinks that others complaining about their shirts are self-righteous. There's more than a generous amount of self-righteousness in their own rants.

There are an awful lot of offensive shirts there. Flat out offensive. The owner either (a) needs to figure out what satire and social commentary really is or (b) get a thicker skin. Offensive and racial slogans are still offensive and racial, regardless of whether you cover it in the "satire and social commentary" blanket. If he thinks people are gonna say "Oh, it's satire? Well then, pardon me. That's OK," he's a fool.

One the other hand, a couple of tees actually had me laugh out loud:

Dragonkin · Post by **Dragonkin** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 12:57 pm

Yeah, TSH has alot of shirts that are in poor taste, and anyone who goes to the site KNOWS that . . . so aren't they being a little hypocritical in firing of a letter/e-mail chastising the company? No one "accidentally" goes there. Not to mention there are lots of sites, shows, and movies which are no less (and in some cases, far more) offensive. I've always been of the mind, if you don't like it; if it offends you; avoid it! Unfortunately, there are a plethora of people who feel they must "fight the good fight."

So, welcome to America; home of the sanctimonious, self-righteous, and stupid. Wave yer flag.

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 1:04 pm

~~[quote="mordraine"]~~It's ironic that the owner and the "pissed-off employee" thinks that others complaining about their shirts are self-righteous. There's more than a generous amount of self-righteousness in their own rants.

There are an awful lot of offensive shirts there. Flat out offensive. The owner either (a) needs to figure out what satire and social commentary really is or (b) get a thicker skin. Offensive and racial slogans are still offensive and racial, regardless of whether you cover it in the "satire and social commentary" blanket. If he thinks people are gonna say "Oh, it's satire? Well then, pardon me. That's OK," he's a fool.

One the other hand, a couple of tees actually had me laugh out loud:

~~[img]~~http://www.tshirthell.com/shirts/products/a812/a812_thumb.jpg[/img]

~~[img]~~http://www.tshirthell.com/shirts/products/a699/a699_thumb.jpg[/img][/quote]

Based entirely on your response, because I don't know you, I think you are the demographic they are complaining about. I don't find any of their shirts "offensive", but many of them I don't find very funny.

If you check the Whores section, you can see a picture of an african-american fellow wearing a shirt that says "Slavery Gets Shit Done". Some might call that shirt "offensive", maybe other black people. But not this guy. So who's right and who's wrong?

The answer is neither. "Offensive" is completely subjective. I don't think they're expecting people to say the shirts are "OK", or that the rants are about that, but that T-Shirt Hell thinks that retarded people with nothing better to do than send a stupid email to a company making t-shirts (that they're never going to buy) should probably spend their time elsewhere. They know their shirts aren't funny to everyone. It's not a surprise to them.

Going around hassling (and harassing) businesses because you don't like what they're selling is stupid. You choose with your dollar, and by not buying their shirts you make your point. Sending the company an email doesn't make anyone else stop buying their shirts, it just makes you stupid and whiny. That's what they're complaining about, and the fact that way too many people are being stupid like this every day.

mordraine · Post by **mordraine** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 1:56 pm

~~[quote="ekomega"]~~Based entirely on your response, because I don't know you, I think you are the demographic they are complaining about.[/quote]

Don't know, don't care. My point isn't what is offensive. It's maintaining a view that just because you say it's satire, doesn't mean other people won't find it offensive. And getting all offended because people find you offensive is stupid (and ironic).

~~[quote]~~ I don't find any of their shirts "offensive", but many of them I don't find very funny.[/quote]

That's fine, and I won't argue with your opinion. Plenty of other people WILL though.

~~[quote]~~If you check the Whores section, you can see a picture of an african-american fellow wearing a shirt that says "Slavery Gets Shit Done". Some might call that shirt "offensive", maybe other black people. But not this guy. So who's right and who's wrong?[/quote]

Again, I'm not arguing on what is actually offensive. If that black guy thinks it's fine to wear that shirt, more power to him. If I were to wear a shirt like that into a black oriented establishment, I'd probably get the shit beat out of me.

~~[quote]~~Going around hassling (and harassing) businesses because you don't like what they're selling is stupid.[/quote]

You may think so, and I don't necessarily disagree. However, there are a lot of people that really do not take kindly to stuff that offend them. Oh well. That's the world we live in. Does that make their opinion more wrong than yours?

Your argument can be turned around totally the other way too. It's a free world and people are free to sell whatever teeshirts they want and people are also free to complain about said teeshirts.

My entire point is, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you're going to claim satire and put out offensive stuff, then you better be ready to take the shit that people are going to sling your way. Because they WILL sling shit.

~~[quote]~~That's what they're complaining about, and the fact that way too many people are being stupid like this every day.[/quote]

I think they're stupid for thinking that people are going to accept their stuff without complaining. It's just not realistic.

mordraine · Post by **mordraine** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 2:43 pm

~~[quote="Dragonkin"]~~So, welcome to America; home of the sanctimonious, self-righteous, and stupid. Wave yer flag.[/quote]

This applies to the owner of the website as well as the people who complain, IMO.

jimmy corrigan · Post by **jimmy corrigan** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 3:43 pm

offensive or not, those t-shirts suck. none of them made me laugh. they stole two minutes of my life that i won't get back. i'm glad they're going out of business.

Dragonkin · Post by **Dragonkin** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 4:54 pm

~~[quote="jimmy corrigan"]~~offensive or not, those t-shirts suck. none of them made me laugh. they stole two minutes of my life that i won't get back. i'm glad they're going out of business.[/quote]

[sarcasm]What? You didn't find them funny?! COMMUNIST!!![/sarcasm]

Consequently, I agree with you mord. Stupidity abounds on TSH. I just get a chuckle out of it. Call me twisted. *shrug*

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:08 pm

~~[quote="mordraine"]~~Don't know, don't care. My point isn't what is offensive. It's maintaining a view that just because you say it's satire, doesn't mean other people won't find it offensive. And getting all offended because people find you offensive is stupid (and ironic).

That's fine, and I won't argue with your opinion. Plenty of other people WILL though.

Again, I'm not arguing on what is actually offensive. If that black guy thinks it's fine to wear that shirt, more power to him. If I were to wear a shirt like that into a black oriented establishment, I'd probably get the shit beat out of me.

You may think so, and I don't necessarily disagree. However, there are a lot of people that really do not take kindly to stuff that offend them. Oh well. That's the world we live in. Does that make their opinion more wrong than yours?

Your argument can be turned around totally the other way too. It's a free world and people are free to sell whatever teeshirts they want and people are also free to complain about said teeshirts.

My entire point is, you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you're going to claim satire and put out offensive stuff, then you better be ready to take the shit that people are going to sling your way. Because they WILL sling shit.

I think they're stupid for thinking that people are going to accept their stuff without complaining. It's just not realistic.[/quote]

Ok, well, I agree with you then. I thought you were saying something else (obviously).

When the "owner" mentioned the safety of their employees, that sounded like a good reason to close shop. When they said they were tired of doing it, I can understand that, too. But you're right, being whiny about people complaining is the same as people complaining about t-shirts. I thought the original "owner" response was better, simply because they sounded depressed about it, not angry and retarded.

The "employee rant" really did make them sound even more like the same self-righteous assholes they are complaining about. If you put a shirt that says "Arrest black babies before they become criminals" you have to expect that 80% of people aren't going to think it's funny, and 50% will probably hate you.

And even the social commentary aspect, which they touted heavily in the two recent corporate comments, is pretty hard to see on some of their shirts (especially that black babies one). It's so ironic that it's not ironic at all, and actually just fucked up. They really are blowing my mind with their bringing up issues and making the world a better place with fucked up shirt slogans.

Still, their company holds a special important place with me, so I support them anyway. It may not be reasonable, but I am sorry to see them go. I just wish they didn't go out like this.

I really like that "There are two people fucking on the back of this shirt -- just kidding believe in Jesus!" shirt. I bet born-agains love it, too. But my favorite is my Whores picture shirt, and always will be.

Count Zero · Post by **Count Zero** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:09 pm

Wow, that guy is a douche bag, and I expect he is lying about why it is closing. A douche bag like this revels in hate mail.

There were a couple of shirts I found funny, but most of them were tacky, sexist and/or homophobic. There is "funny offensive" and there is "tacky offensive." Their shirts tend towards the later. Many of them are just irresponsible. Personally, I don't want to buy products from someone like this.

Clearly most people don't like their shirts, they are closing after all. So it seems that people chose not purchase their products. Looks like that is the free market slapping down a douche bag. You don't close down a business that is making you bank. His business is closing because he is too arrogant to realize he needs to change his product line. I expect the reason why he isn't selling the business is because no one wanted to buy it. Good riddance.

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 1:33 pm

~~[quote="Count Zero"]~~Wow, that guy is a douche bag, and I expect he is lying about why it is closing. A douche bag like this revels in hate mail.

There were a couple of shirts I found funny, but most of them were tacky, sexist and/or homophobic. There is "funny offensive" and there is "tacky offensive." Their shirts tend towards the later. Many of them are just irresponsible. Personally, I don't want to buy products from someone like this.

Clearly most people don't like their shirts, they are closing after all. So it seems that people chose not purchase their products. Looks like that is the free market slapping down a douche bag. You don't close down a business that is making you bank. His business is closing because he is too arrogant to realize he needs to change his product line. I expect the reason why he isn't selling the business is because no one wanted to buy it. Good riddance.[/quote]

I also suspect this may be the case, but I'm not sure. They started a different, non-offensive, but completely retarded, shirt line at torsopants.com, and I think it's really out-selling T-shirt hell.

I always wondered what kind of person would wear the "black babies" shirt, and I've never seen one in person. Maybe the answer is "no person".

Skyman · Post by **Skyman** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 7:40 pm

Screams no one is buying my crap!

Reminds me of the flk guy in college dorms who brags about all the chicks he gets but looks completely like a shit in polyesther suit with no ladies anywhere to be found. So if he says he is selling 3,000 units a week and closing his company even though people want to buy him out for millions but he doesn't want to sell because he wants keep his standards high. That screams...Oh shit I can't believe I blew my load on this crap for the past 8 years and no one in the world is stupid enough to take this off my hands...mommy!

I don't particulary dig the shirts and they don't really tickle me like elmo. Doing Sarah Silverman humor doesn't suit them well and putting the social commentary frosting over crap wont make it more meaningful than the entitled hostility it conveys IMHO

I would rather blow money on a shirt from http://www.Jinx.com

Dragonkin · Post by **Dragonkin** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 9:06 pm

~~[quote="Skyman"]~~I would rather blow money on a shirt from ~~[url]~~http://www.Jinx.com[/url][/quote]

Mmmmm . . . . Jinxie goodness . . . *drool*

Skyman · Post by **Skyman** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:11 pm

yeah should have just posted the http://www.jinx.com link and forget the rant

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:12 am

See, I don't think the Jinx shirts are funny. At all. And I would never wear one outside (although the same goes for T-Shirt Hell nowadays).

I don't feel the need to proclaim my "nerdity" as some kind of honor badge -- there's much more to me than that. And their shirts are all that, and nothing else.

Take "The cake is a lie" shirt. Yeah, really funny (sarcasm). If I wear that outside, some other loser who played Portal and lives on the internets would totally LOL at it and then I'd feel justified when the other 99.9% of people in the day looked at me like I was a retard for wearing a shirt that made no sense to everyone.

Way to go, you think you're smarter than everyone else (may not be true), so you wear a shirt that no one else understands, and then delude yourself as to why that is (because you're cooler or some shit). At least T-Shirt Hell is applicable (and "offensive") to a mass audience, who goes outside (and showers) everyday.

To each his own, I guess.

Skyman · Post by **Skyman** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 12:39 pm

~~[quote="ekomega"]~~

Way to go, you think you're smarter than everyone else (may not be true), so you wear a shirt that no one else understands, and then delude yourself as to why that is (because you're cooler or some shit). At least T-Shirt Hell is applicable (and "offensive") to a mass audience, who goes outside (and showers) everyday.

To each his own, I guess.[/quote]

I think poking fun at ones self isn't arrogance as to having fun at anothers groups of peoples expense may be more entitled to such a distiguish claim

I like to think a good part of the mass audience are fairly nerdy but each to their own.

Dragonkin · Post by **Dragonkin** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 4:25 pm

I have to agree with sky on this. Why does it have to be "I proclaim my l33tn355 by wearing a shirt only a few can understand" instead of, "Hey. I grew up and survived the hazings, and now I have a sense of humor about it?" I wear game/geek styled t-shirts all the time. Not to lord over anyone, but because I find them amusing. Hell, even Wal-Mart's been carrying retro-nerd stylings for a few years now. So what if only a few people get the joke? I do, and that's all I care about.

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:49 pm

~~[quote="Dragonkin"]~~I have to agree with sky on this. Why does it have to be "I proclaim my l33tn355 by wearing a shirt only a few can understand" instead of, "Hey. I grew up and survived the hazings, and now I have a sense of humor about it?" I wear game/geek styled t-shirts all the time. Not to lord over anyone, but because I find them amusing. Hell, even Wal-Mart's been carrying retro-nerd stylings for a few years now. So what if only a few people get the joke? I do, and that's all I care about.[/quote]

Because they're the same thing. Either way, you're emphasizing something that you're proud of (which is fine to be proud of) in a way that isolates you and segregates you from other people, whether you take a positive spin or the negative one I mentioned. Generally, I frown upon this for adults.

It's like being with a large group of people and telling everyone a funny inside joke that only a handful of people in the group get. In this case the handful of people is very small, consisting of nerds, compared to the large group, which is everyone.

The real issue for me is that "nerds" feel they have a right to do this excessively, due to "hazing", etc., and a lot of the products like this are marketed towards them. It keeps re-emphasizing this nerd stereotype, when it's about damned time it went away already. We should be proud to be nerds, but not in a way that makes everyone else continue to look down on us.

Dragonkin · Post by **Dragonkin** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:03 pm

Maybe I'm missing it, but with the inundation of "nerd culture" seems to indicate that, now, it's COOL to be a nerd.

n3rd 4 life, yo.

devlin1 · Post by **devlin1** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:09 pm

I'm against this!

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:20 pm

~~[quote="devlin1"]~~I'm against this![/quote]

Which part of what now?

Also, I think it's only cool to pretend to be a nerd, but not actually to be one. Like an emo kid wears glasses, because for some fucked reason glasses are cool now (20 years too late). Or some kid is good at math, but also at football. I wasn't aware that it was cool to hide in your basement and play DnD and never talk to girls. Has the world turned upside down?!?

ekomega · Post by **ekomega** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:28 pm

I know I was the major proponent of this website, but I went there today to see if they had any last words, and now they're closing on Feb. 16, and it's pissing me off. They also changed all the information, text, etc., that said Feb. 10 to now indicate Feb. 16. WTF?

This is bullshit. I guess they should just die already. If you have to retcon your final closing day, then you don't deserve to be around anymore.

Edit: They finally sent an email out saying they have gotten so many requests for shirts and "love" from people that they are staying open one more week (I did send them some love). Normally I wouldn't buy that BS, but they resurrected my favorite shirt and even put my picture up to sell it, so I have to say I'm a sucker for that. I'm going to buy one for old times sake. One last week!