Unbelievable. Sure, the idea seems to be to ridicule Phillies slugger, er, pitcher Brett Myers, who's No. 39. But don't people usually wear a label to express their pride? You wear a McNabb jersey because you like the guy ... the name of your town or a city you visited because you approve. So isn't wearing "Wife Beater" going to suggest, "Yeah, I pop the old lady. Ain't I cool?" Well, no, you're not and neither are these. Besides, is this a subject calling for wit? And yet phillyburbs.com is selling all sorts of so-labeled apparel, including thongs, camisoles, boxer shorts and trucker hats. Gotta agree with the guy who posted this comment: "Absolutely pathetic. I hope the scumbag that came up with this idea at least has the decency to donate any earnings to an agency that supports battered women." OK, maybe scumbag's a bit strong. How about "misguided prankster"?Who actually created this stuff isn't clear, since the phone number is manned by cafepress.com, a site that customizes and sells clothing for anybody with a "bright" idea. We'll try to track down and let you know the identity of this "misguided prankster."
What do you think?
I don't have a problem with it. Wearing it at a Phillies game will hardly be showing support for the guy, but will be there as a reminder of what he did. Get a grip! Besides, i don't think it's such a sensitive subject that it can't lend to humor.
ReplyDeleteBetter if it were clear, though. Say it had Myers picture. Or had him saying "I'm a wife beater" in a cartoon ballon." Or pictured him getting socked himself ...
ReplyDeletePerhaps, but I still think it's meant to be a humorous attempt at humiliating him. I'm good with that.
ReplyDeleteShould be a true 'wife beater' T to be authentic (sleeveless). I'm OK with it.
ReplyDeletescumbag is not too strong. to profit off this is disgusting.
ReplyDeleteObviously the commentor anonymous has never been a beaten wife or known one either. I understand where the people who created this are coming from, and why they might think it is funny, but this is the kind of thing in our society that takes away from the validity of domestic abuse cases and makes women or men in those situations nervous to come forward because people don't take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you Nicklebee..
ReplyDeleteNot at all, Nicklebee I just think that there's nothing so serious in this world that cannot be tempered with humor. I guess I just watch too many MASH reruns. I cannot not and will not understand someone so insecure with their own manhood that they feel the need to strike anyone, much less a spouse. I think the t-shirts are humorous and has the added benefit of humiliating the beater, in this case Brett Meyers.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think scumbag's pretty appropriate.
ReplyDeleteA guy who beats his wife in public is not going to be humiliated by this T-shirt. He's probably going to think it's supportive.
I'd prefer a shirt that says "Myers has a tiny penis", actually. That might be humiliating. But then he'd probably only beat her up some more.
The website is no longer selling the shirts. See this message on their homepage:
ReplyDeleteMESSAGE TO OUR READERS:
For a short time on Wednesday, June 28, a blog post on phillyburbs.com offered merchandise for sale that made reference to the story involving the arrest of Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Brett Myers.
Though our intent was to find humor in a difficult situation, some in the community had negative reactions to our content. We made a decision to remove the blog post and all content related to it.
None of the items described were actually sold, and we do not intend to offer them for sale in the future.
Our actions were not intended to offend anyone in our community, and we apologize to anyone who may have been offended.
Bob Kellagher
Director of Interactive Media
PhillyBurbs.com
I understand the reason for the shirts, and I'm sure a lot of the hard-core season ticket-holders who like to make a statement would wear them to the game, in a similar fashion to those who used to wear Bobby Abreu jersies with "ESKIN" patched over Abreu's name.
ReplyDeleteI think they should modify the shirts: color the sleeves red and change it from "wife-beater" to "Pathetic". That would send the same meaning.