Comments on: Relatives in West Virginia

By: David

David — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 05:42:05 +0000

For the analogy of UVA being a snob school, how do you equate being called a snob with being called an inbreed? That is like the rich kid complaining he is discriminated against because he is rich, although for him opportunity abounds everywhere. A&F is located in Columbus, Ohio, which is a large crossroads for Appalachian people. They know exactly the can of worms they are opening, and they don’t love America as they claim—they love profits. The t-shirt is pure bigotry for a market they couldn’t care less about. They said they also loved California in their statement, but with the population of a small country, they wouldn’t dream of making a shirt of equal degradation for California. This is the work of a company which has no new ideas and knows only how to make mony via publicity.

By: matt m

matt m — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 15:24:50 +0000

Perhaps the reason I fail to see the humor in the Abercrombe & Fitch parody shirt on WV is that I can’t find anything humorous about domestic abuse. To many, incest connotes older relatives taking sexual liberties with those too young or too powerless to resist. I grew up in West Virginia, but if the shirt had read “New York: Beating Wives since 1788” or “Ohio: Thousands of Abused Children can’t be Wrong”, I would have been equally offended. Perhaps some people’s sense of social enlightenment or cultural superiority may allow them to laugh at such things, but I, for one, cannot.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 04:17:27 +0000

sorry, get used to it. west va just might as well have its slogan be “We’re All Relative”, because things like this just take time to die down, and having a whiny mayor demand apologies from everyone and their brother like he was pushed down on the playground and tattled to the teacher just reinforces his sensetivity to it and the fact that its obviously striking a nerve. UVA (where i attend) is known as being a rich white snob school. Somehow, i think you’d have trouble believing that if you went here, as among my good friends here the professions of parents are firefighter, medical lab technician, carpenter/7-11 worker, small restaurant chef, computer programmer, and one dentist (my parent is the computer programmer). But, if you thought uva was a snobby school and i told you that, would you care? no. people’s bias against uva isn’t based on truth, its based on it being fun to dislike something. And so, the People of The University don’t demand not to be called snobby, we just go around knowing we’re better than everyone else :P just kidding, but seriously, this isn’t like racism here. If the water company starts putting outhouses around the company and putting signs on bathrooms saying “no west virginians”, then maybe complain.

By: Anurag

Anurag — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 20:46:02 +0000

Kate – do you repeat everything thrice in West Virginia ?

By: Beverly Glass

Beverly Glass — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 18:38:29 +0000

I personally was not offended until I read some of the comments from others. Now I am offended. Why is it politically correct to demean people who live in other states? All of these comments were insulting and in essence saying that West Virginian’s are ignorant, morally deficient, and deserve all demoralizing comments one can think of…this I object—wear any T-Shirt you want, just stop ridiculing WV—after all it’s “Almost Heaven” Believe me!!

By: Phyllis

Phyllis — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 16:48:07 +0000

As a former West Virginian, I really must take issue with the T-shirt in question. For some who know nothing whatsoever about my homestate of WV, this shirt just inforces some of the ignorant comments that have been made in the past. For some who do not really know, they may think it’s all a fact. Someone has to stop this ignorancy! Who better than the Governor himself!

By: Tom S.

Tom S. — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 05:37:53 +0000

When my wife and I went to the courthouse in Kentucky to get our license (before we were married, natch), one of the questions we had to answer is whether we were first cousins. I was about to pop off with a wise-ass answer when I saw this sad, yet steely look in the clerk’s eyes that just screamed “There is nothing you can say that will be funny or original.” We meekly answered no, and finished our business. I have faced death…..

By: Nathan Smith

Nathan Smith — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 00:41:16 +0000

I live in West Virginia and I am proud of my state and my states history. I think that people are entitled to freedom of speach until it is racial. People of Appalachia are an ethnic group and I do not understand why we are the only ethnic group that it seems to be politically correct to be prejudice towards. For the person making the South Carolina shirts, it only took West Virginia one time to win our independence!

By: K Lambert

K Lambert — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 20:59:34 +0000

Actually, I am doing a South Carolina T-shirt that says “the second war for independance? South Carolina Never surrendered.” Another that says “In North Carolina, tobacco is a vegetable.” Want one for your state?

By: Jim Miller

Jim Miller — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 18:08:46 +0000

Similar incidents happen all the time in the United States, most of them coming from those on the left. Few get much criticism from academics or the press. One of the most dramatic was in Chicago, during the mayoralty of Harold Washington. An art student painted a parody of Washington, recycling a rumor that he was homosexual (as I recall). Members of the Chicago City Council, all Democrats, went to the Art Institute where the picture was being displayed and forcibly removed it. As far as I know, no one was ever charged in this incident and it drew relatively little criticism from the national press or academics.

By: Kate Davis

Kate Davis — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:28:27 +0000

I live in WV and think that this is funny! The gov. has more important things to do then mess with A&F. The shirt is selling like crazy. It is alredy on backorder!

By: Kate Davis

Kate Davis — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:27:44 +0000

I live in WV and think that this is funny! The gov. has more important things to do then mess with A&F. The shirt is selling like crazy. It is alredy on backorder!

By: Kate Davis

Kate Davis — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:27:29 +0000

I live in WV and think that this is funny! The gov. has more important things to do then mess with A&F. The shirt is selling like crazy. It is alredy on backorder!

By: Kate Davis

Kate Davis — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:27:23 +0000

I live in WV and think that this is funny! The gov. has more important things to do then mess with A&F. The shirt is selling like crazy. It is alredy on backorder!

By: John

John — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 08:15:18 +0000

Coralius, Abercrombie stock was up .90 today. Their profits have risen. Excellent call on their financial demise. Perhaps you should work at Goldman, in the “Sensitivity and Equity” department. They weathered the whole teen thong scandal. They’ll weather this one too. While I would not wear AF clothes, I think that getting upset over a t-shirt worn not as a serious insult but rather as cheeky humor is silly. As for the slogan itself, I admire its creator. Everyone here may deride it as stupid, and I do not personally find it amusing or clever, but I would imagine this shirt will sell quite well amongst AF’s customer base. Your friend, John