Jim Heintz on the ironical appeal of souvenir t-shirts

“To academics and freelance philosophers who theorize about the difficulty of achieving authenticity in the postmodern world, the souvenir T-shirt is seen as the ultimate defilement. To wear one means you had the money to see the sights of the world, but not enough wit to do anything other than stare vacantly at them and then wander off in search of a cheeseburger. To them, I say, ”No way.” In fact, a superficially simple T-shirt is a complex weave of symbols and implications. Travelers hanker for a genuine, unique ethnic experience, but that’s increasingly elusive in a globalized world where you can get good Chinese food in Iceland and Icelandic food in Tbilisi, Georgia. A T-shirt, however, is inarguably authentic: Fat chance that an ”I [Heart] Slovenia” T-shirt would have been purchased anywhere but that country. True, you could also purchase an equally authentic Slovenian peasant outfit, but you’re unlikely to wear that to the supermarket back home.”
–Jim Heintz, “And all I got was this deconstructionist text”, AP, April 23, 2003