Victimized? A Fashion Controversy

As if it wasn't bad enough that the keffiyeh has been warranting so much debate thanks to its inappropriate adoption by those who think Urban Outfitters invented the thing, Palestine is again making news in the fashion world due to the production of a this tee shirt (as featured on the Fashionista website) displaying the image of a Palestinian youth holding a gun with the word "Victimized" written below him. While Fashionista appears to dislike the shirt, as well as totally misunderstand its purpose (there's no explanation of "why it was intended to be funny or ironic" because it WASN'T, geniuses), Freshjive-- the company that created it-- has offered an eloquent, intelligent, and perfectly acceptable defense of the shirt and rationale for its production.

While I am very critical of Urban Outfitters (namely because their clothes are way overpriced and often way ugly, plus the keffiyeh issue of course), I am not surprised they sold the shirt, given their apparent habit of wrongly using Palestinian images and culture for capitalist purposes. I am also not surprised they pulled the shirt, as they obviously weren't selling it for political reasons (and clearly have no backbone). So of course, that fact is a source of annoyance. But the reason I have Freshjive's back on this issue is because this is not a matter of simple misappropriation. The company knew exactly what they were doing by making the shirt; it wasn't (only) a money thing. Rather, the shirt was created as a political statement, a part of the company's "The World's Got Problems" line in which true political issues facing the world today are brought into the open. As Rick, the owner of Freshjive, states in his defense, "is it not simply true that some Palestinian kids have become child soldiers due to the ongoing battle between Palestine and Israel?... Is it not simply true that some Palestinians and especially Palestinian children are victims of this terrible conflict?" Can't deny that.

Even more so, I have their back because of the criticism they have received for the shirt-- not just aesthetic (that people think it is ugly or in poor taste because it features an unfortunate truth) but political. People have actually complained that the shirt is, among other things, a "brutal, bloody, Jew-hating tee shirt." I am pretty sure, just by looking at the shirt, that there is no mention of Jews (or people of any religion or ethnicity other than Palestinian) on it, and that it claims no political opinion thereof; it simply states that Palestinian children have often been victimized as a result of the conflict in Palestine, as stated above. There's nothing else to it, and if you have to make that kind of leap to support your case, you don't have much of one-- and if you are so quick to label things as hateful or bigoted when they really aren't, you should probably examine why you need to be that defensive to begin with.

Personally, I like what the shirt is saying and the creator's reason for making it. I think anyone who wears it-- unlike the ubiquitous keffiyeh-usurpers-- knows what it means and knows why they are wearing it, which I support. While I do have to think that it might serve to objectify Palestinians even more so than they already are, I also appreciate the fact that a company is taking these risks to speak their opinions and speak the truth about what goes on in the world-- the things that people don't like to think about or admit.