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Copyright
© 2001 - 2008 CONTEMPL8 T-SHIRTS |
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Why
I made the t-shirt Ah... not too obscure of a meaning to this shirt. You've read or seen Robin Hood? The poor were ruthlessly taxed and in a hopeless economic situation in the story. The hero, Robin Hood, robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Well jerks like George W. Bush are doing exactly the opposite. He talks about tax relief for everyone, especially small businesses and families. In reality, he gives huge tax breaks to huge corporations and bludeons working Americans with colossal tax burdens from bloody and unnecessary wars that we'll be paying for for decades to come. He gives billion dollar bail outs to the airline industry that was in trouble way before the September 11th attacks. He lets macho meat-heads take $100,000 off their taxes to buy massively polluting hummers. On and on, and on. Michael Moore included actual footage of Bush in his movie Fahrenheit 911 that really demonstrates exactly what Bush is about. While addressing an audience of millionaires and billionaires at a campaign fundraiser Bush says,
This shirt juxtaposes current US tax policy with the old tale of Robin Hood in an attempt to snap people out of their narrow-minded, self-interested thinking about who ought to pay how much for taxes. Though the story of Robin Hood is fiction, it builds strong feelings of passion and cravings for justice in the audience. The character Robin Hood is a defender of the poor, yet he is a hero to most everyone who watches or reads the tale Robin Hood. No one cheers on King Richard and his wealthy cronies! Maybe this shirt can help people break out of their double-think and realize the contradiction of cheering for Robin Hood and the poor while reading or watching this classic story and then cheering for the rich and the rulers in real life. Maybe not (I'm not naive), but at least it will give their conscience a little poke. This may seem a bit like the whole WWJD (what would Jesus do?) thing, but there's a difference. The story of Robin Hood has fewer contradictory passages than the Bible does, and it would be very hard for people to twist this hero's intentions and actions as much as the Christian Right twists those of Jesus Christ's (though I'm sure they'd still try twisting them). Note: Let's be clear. No one likes paying taxes, but since taxes are here to stay they ought to be fair. The rich should pay more than the poor and working class because they can afford to do so. It's called progressive taxation. Rich people can still meet their basic needs (food, shelter, etc.) and a lot more after they pay taxes under a progressive system of income tax. Whereas the poor and working class may not be able to meet their basic needs without going into debt (ie. economic servitude) when there is a regressive system of taxation.
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