I was doing some research on theremins and found this weird archive of photos from some amazing moment in history. Wow

The following are series of emails that a man named Bob, who was on our email list, and I exchanged today after we sent out the WTC WTF email blast:

Bob:

Fuck you and take m off your email list.

Jamie:

Hi Robert,

The shirt asks a question for which we’re still at a loss for an answer. It’s not meant to be callous, insensitive, or read with a “who cares” attitude. It’s meant to be read as “this horrible thing happened, crazy wars where started, thousands of people died, and we have nothing to show for it but a big fucking mess.”

This shirt is not about profiting for us. In all likely hood we probably sell many. T-shirts are cultural artifacts now and Print Liberation strives to make earnest artifacts that question things like history, mortality, and reality as a whole.

Bob:

Hey Jamie,

Let me preface this by saying I am not one of those “dont say anything, <3 America” fanatics that you will probably get some reaction from for this shirt.  I hope you’ll read this and at least consider why this shirt pisses me off, and its not because I think America is gold.

Here is my problem:

Artistic intention doesn’t mean anything to me in this case- what is important is what I see and how I feel, not what you meant me to see or how you meant me to feel.  If I saw or felt otherwise, then that is your misjudgment of how the work might be perceived, not my misjudgment of your intention.  As viewer, I can’t know that.  There is no artist statement attached to this shirt.  How is anyone to know?

So forgoing your intention now that we agree I can’t possibly interpret that from a shirt and that it’s totally irresponsible and immature of you to not take that into account:

First of all, “WTF”
It is a play on the similarity to WTC, which is why it was chosen. This is in itself is a sort of little joke that the author is making.  Great. How cute and clever of you.

Secondly, WTF is a crass statement.

Thirdly “World Trade Center What The Fuck?”  How does that read to you?

You turned sadness into a T-Shirt.  You put it side by side with the rest of the shirts you pumped out.  You put it into the rest of the vernacular.  That’s no better than those shirts that read “never forget” or “these colors don’t run.”  This shit can’t be addressed in a T-shirt, or a bumper sticker, or a button, or a magnet- and I feel sorry for you for thinking so.

Here is one for you: “I changed the world with this t-shirt”

And finally- You think that a t-shirt questions things like history, morality, and reality as a whole?  Fuck you.

Jamie:

Hey Bob,

I get the “fuck you” part but on the rest I’m still a little foggy…

The relationship of WTF to WTC is not a joke, it’s an anomaly. It’s like when you fold a $20 bill in a certain way and there’s an image one could perceive as the towers burning (see attached image). I understand how you could perceive this as a horrible parody of a beyond horrible moment in history but that’s not what it is. Intent is definitely not relevant when you’ve already made up your mind that you hate something. Why do you think people buy things like t-shirts, bumper stickers, magnets and button’s that memorialize things? Maybe because those are the most affordable pieces of history available. Or maybe because they’re “too dumb” to see that shit like 9-11 can’t be addressed on a t-shirt.

Letters printed on a t-shirt made you ignorantly say “fuck you” to someone you’ve never even communicated with before. Do you always tell people “fuck you” when you don’t understand what they’re doing? I apologize for being irresponsible and not being able to understand that the important thing is how you perceive the shirt and how you feel about it. I also apologize for not being able to peer into your mind and see that you would have such a cretinous response to something as menial as a t-shirt.

Bob:

Apology accepted.

Jamie:

fuck you

My friend Ian and I will be playing records from Jamaica all night long.

Since healthcare reform seems to be such a huge problem we’ll probably all die before it happens. In the meantime we can get tattoos like this one GG Allin had on his left arm dedicated to all the people calling Obama a nazi. This song should be the anthem for healthcare reform.

GG Allin “When I Die”