A stupid tee shirt

Yesterday, a customer came into the shop wearing a tee shirt that said, "Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my gun."

The fact that I was trying not to bust out laughing at this idiot made me appear cheerful, which gave the impression of top notch customer relations.

First of all, the guy was obviously not even born yet when the Chappaquiddick incident occurred. Second, Ted Kennedy has been dead for ten years, and is hardly a factor in the current political scene. But the nice thing about kicking a corpse is that you know it can't hit back.

Then there's the matter of equating the lethal potential of a car -- a transportation device usually only lethal by accident -- with a gun, whose sole purpose is to cause injury or death. What do you mean your gun has never killed anyone? Have you had no opportunity to be a good armed citizen, or are you just a lousy shot? Did you serve in the military in any of our recent wars in Afghanistan or Iraq? If so, and you haven't killed any enemies, the taxpayers wasted our money on you, didn't we?

The purpose of such slogans on tee shirts is purely inflammatory. Inflammatory statements can still convey larger truths. But this one was just stupid. At least it wasn't a tattoo. A tee shirt wears out or can be thrown in the rag bin.