# High school students' 9/11 sweatshirts: offensive? harmless? newsworthy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 6, 2010, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918 "2010-01-06T16:51:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/141 "2010-01-11T10:21:51Z")
I think it is pretty obvious the students are trying to warn us of a terrorist plot by the rulers of their school. Note that in the diagram the school mascot is about to destroy the towers. Isn’t it possible that the diagram was discovered by the students, and printing it on shirts was the only way they could get the information out while under the constant observation of the terrorists? Of course the president of the “Edsel Ford Parent Teacher Student Association” (a codename for a terrorist cell if I ever heard one) is going to say it didn’t mean anything. Meanwhile, these students have mysteriously vanished. All I know is, when giant birds start attacking, don’t say nobody warned you. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/142 "2010-01-11T14:55:36Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Yes either that or they are so blissfully ignorant they should be held back a year for their own good. Blissful ignorance is more or less the default state for high school seniors. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/143 "2010-01-11T16:35:14Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Are some dopers saying that the kids were lying? I’m not sure which “some dopers” you’re referring to. I fully believe that they’re talking about themselves, the class of 2011. I also believe that they’re talking about themselves _by referring to 9/11_. It is possible for an image to have multiple layers of meaning, after all. I’m absolutely willing to accept that it was meant completely innocently, but ‘innocent’ doesn’t automatically mean ‘not referring to 9/11’. ---
**Author:** ![Rumor\_Watkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@Rumor\_Watkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rumor_Watkins)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/144 "2010-01-11T17:25:28Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > I think it is pretty obvious the students are trying to warn us of a terrorist plot by the rulers of their school. Note that in the diagram the school mascot is about to destroy the towers. Isn’t it possible that the diagram was discovered by the students, and printing it on shirts was the only way they could get the information out while under the constant observation of the terrorists? > > Of course the president of the “Edsel Ford Parent Teacher Student Association” (a codename for a terrorist cell if I ever heard one) is going to say it didn’t mean anything. > > Meanwhile, these students have mysteriously vanished. All I know is, when giant birds start attacking, don’t say nobody warned you. ZOMG! you’re right! quickly, now, turn the school around immediately and have it escorted somewhere else by a few fighter planes! glad you caught this one. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/145 "2010-01-11T17:57:34Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > The word “us” in “You can’t bring us down” plainly refers to the eleven, i.e. the “towers.” It is not remotely reasonable or sensible to infer identification with the hijackers. The identification is explicitly stated as being with the eleven. Then the design is incompetent all around since the Twin Towers they’re identifying with **were** brought down. I don’t believe the kids who did this identify with the 9/11 hijackers, but this shirt \*\*can \*\*be interpreted that way. I don’t believe they put this much thought (if they put any thought at all) into this design. But they must’ve known it would be offensive. That’s what they were really going for. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/146 "2010-01-11T17:57:57Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Is there that same connotation in Australia with fried chicken and black people? I can completely accept that they’re looking at it through a US-centric lens, which has its own baggage and that the intended audience wouldn’t see it as such. Not at all. There were at least a dozen Australian posters who participated in that thread, and none of them had any clue what the black people/fried chicken thing was about, except the OP, who I’m guessing only knew about it because he heard about the brouhaha. There are hardly any black people in Australia (\>.5%), for one thing, unless you count Aborigines. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/147 "2010-01-11T18:05:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Not at all. There were at least a dozen Australian posters who participated in that thread, and none of them had any clue what the black people/fried chicken thing was about, except the OP, who I’m guessing only knew about it because he heard about the brouhaha. I started the thread, and I can’t remember not knowing about the fried chicken thing. I’m not Australian, though. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918/148 "2010-01-11T18:22:48Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I started the thread, and I can’t remember not knowing about the fried chicken thing. I’m not Australian, though. Oops. Crap. This post makes me look insane…I started a thread about it on another message board and confused it with this one. Disregard… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-school-students-9-11-sweatshirts-offensive-harmless-newsworthy/523918.md?page=7)