A commercial mockery of religion

I just came up with the best idea for a new, trendy T-shirt. Take your average solid-colored… I just came up with the best idea for a new, trendy T-shirt. Take your average solid-colored T-shirt and then add a comical cartoon Jesus “bling blingin'” with a gaudy diamond cross, throwing his sign up in the air, and brandishing the phrase, “H to the Izzo, V to the Izza!” No doubt, some major clothing line is going to pick up my design, but I’m willing to sell it to you now at a discounted rate. Anyone interested?

I hope the resounding answer was “No.” What I just described was straight up offensive to Christians. As Americans, I believe we try to support certain ideals. One of which is that all religious beliefs deserve respect regardless of one’s own religious beliefs. No person who is respectful of Christianity and culture would ever consider wearing, purchasing or even creating something that is so blatantly offensive and trivializing.

The majority of you probably agree with me regarding this ideal. Yet, this idea of marketing religion in merchandise, that we just found to be so offensive, when concerning Asian religion and culture is just considered “fashion.”

This summer, Abercrombie ‘ Fitch began promoting its new line of Asian-themed T-shirts. One of the shirts in its line had two stereotypically drawn Chinese men sporting rice-paddy hats over the slogan, “Wong Brothers Laundry Service: Two Wongs Can Make it White.” Another shirt had Buddha and a few of his buddies decked out in what looked like Hawaiian leis next to the phrase, “Buddha Bash: Get your Buddha on the Floor.” My favorite design, titled “Minimum Wage,” displayed an Asian man pulling a sandwich in a rickshaw as the shirt read, “Rick Shaw’s Hoagies and Grinders.” As lighthearted as Abercrombie ‘ Fitch would have liked their new T-shirt line to be perceived, these shirts seem like mass-marketed bad Asian jokes.

Abercrombie ‘ Fitch pulled the shirts a week after they came out because of a high influx of complaints from disgruntled Asian-Americans. The incident was not heavily publicized and that was the end of the story. Yet if they had been black or Jewish stereotypes and jokes on those T-shirts, would Abercrombie ‘ Fitch have gotten off so easily? Maybe if greater attention had been drawn to the matter, the boundaries of culture and respect would not still be crossed and violated.

Walking through Ross Park Mall last week, I had to remind myself that I was there to shop and not take a religious pilgrimage through Asia. At various stores, I saw Hindu gods on $4 charm bracelets, the Islamic prayer beads – the Islamic equivalent to the rosary – being mass marketed as necklaces, and the sacred Buddha on purses, hats and pop T-shirts.

Even the 2002 Urban Odyssey collection at Bloomingdale’s features clothing with images of Hindu deities. The collection from the Moschino Jeans label includes T-shirts, jeans, pants, knits and dresses with images of Shiva, Ganesh and the Ohm symbol – a sacred representation of peace in Hinduism.

It is not the first time Hindu gods have been commercialized and used to sell fashion. Last year, the gay magazine Genre had Alexis Arquette as Krishna on the cover. The year before, Mike Myers appeared as a Hindu god on the cover of Vanity Fair. Most of you were probably unaware of this occurrence, but would that be the same story if Myers had dressed up like Jesus Christ?

Waiting in line to pay for my purchase, I overheard two high school girls discussing the power bead bracelets delicately inscribed with Chinese characters that were on sale near the register. One girl commented to the other how it was “so three years ago” and how they should just throw them away. I tried to shake off my annoyance, as this item of centuries-old religious and spiritual worth to Buddhists had just been made insignificant and reduced to an old fad.

These manufacturers are exploiting religions and cultures in the name of profit, making the thin line between capitalism and American ideals even more blurry.

Partaking an interest in another culture is an enriching and enlightening experience. Yet, what the American mainstream needs to understand is that culture is a thing that must be experienced, not bought.

If you’re still interested in that T-shirt, or would just like to share your comments, feel free to contact Natasha Khan at nkhan@pittnews.com.