I am not a terrorist.
After reading about blogger Raed Jarrar’s experience at JFK (he was forced to take off a shirt with Arabic writing on it or miss his flight), I finally stopped being depressed about the war on terror and began being proactively pissed off. I made this shirt, which says “I am not a terrorist” in Arabic. I plan to wear it every time I go to the airport from now on.
August 25th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
brilliant. There are so many reasons to wear this shirt. thanks tim. I’m in for one, plus an email to 80 other folks.
August 25th, 2006 at 8:19 pm
As someone who has absolutely no knowledge of Arabic, I ask, are there supposed to be two different graphics for the white and black shirts?
August 25th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
No — I just fixed the black ones, Thanks for noticing.
August 26th, 2006 at 5:26 pm
Excellent. What a great idea. Well, except for money going to the ACLU of course.
August 26th, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Yes… defending the bill of rights sucks.
August 27th, 2006 at 2:42 pm
If anybody is curious, it’s pronounced something like: “ana lestoo irhaabee” (for males). For Females: “ana lestoo irhaabeeya”.
It could be argued that the “ana” part is optional (because “lestoo” by itself is sufficient for “I am not”) but it’s better to have it written for clarification and emphasis.
August 28th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
[…] That is just what Tim Murtaugh did. From Tim’s blog o2b.net: After reading about blogger Raed Jarrar’s experience at JFK (he was forced to take off a shirt with Arabic writing on it or miss his flight), I finally stopped being depressed about the war on terror and began being proactively pissed off. I made this shirt, which says “I am not a terrorist” in Arabic. I plan to wear it every time I go to the airport from now on. […]
August 28th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
[…] In response to Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar’s experience at JFK where he was stopped from boarding his plane because he was wearing a shirt with Arabic writing, Tim Murtaugh has created a shirt that says “I am not a terrorist” in Arabic. "I am not a terrorist" […]
August 29th, 2006 at 6:38 am
Me and my friend came up with this idea yesterday, and looked on the internet to see if it already was there, and behold! Ordered 2 shirts right away. Thanks for making the effort.
Part of our plan was also to make shoes which had the small print: “Non explosive sole” on it. And spray the “I am not a terrorist” onto a sheep and have it run wild.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:21 pm
Great idea! When will they be available in Europe?
August 29th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
hi Tim — I wondered if I could use your idea for a giveaway t-shirt in the virtual reaity world called Second Life. They are currently running an arts show called Burning Life (it runs in parallel with the Burning Man festival in Nevada).
Some friends of mine have an exhibit with terrorism as the theme, and they would like to give away the t-shirts free. We would also put up a sign detailing your comments and pointing to your site where they could buy ‘real life’ shirts. Ditto all shirts would have your URL on the back as well.
What do you think? I can email you some pictures of their exhibit and a virtual shirt if you are interested and give me your permission.
August 29th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
PS: to have a look for yourself go to http://secondlife.com/
September 1st, 2006 at 2:05 am
You should really have these available for Canada, I’d buy one. (It isn’t as if Americans need an excuse to stop me anyway - y’all did it when I was heading to Japan!)
September 1st, 2006 at 2:36 pm
We need these for New Zealand as well
September 2nd, 2006 at 11:11 am
We need one too in Iraq !
hahahahaa :)
you really should start an international business of this! … before “they” catch it and stop you from making them!
maybe you can have a more ironic version … i’d really love to buy one with writing on the back saying “OR am i?”
hahahaha!
great work Tim!
September 3rd, 2006 at 12:26 pm
You are such an idiot.
September 4th, 2006 at 4:08 am
Visions of V for Vendetta. 200 people show up for a flight wearing this thing. T’is the beginning of something?
September 5th, 2006 at 10:46 am
[…] I like this T-shirt. I wouldn’t wear it, but I think it’s a bold idea. […]
September 5th, 2006 at 11:09 am
Don’t you have something more constructive to do?
September 6th, 2006 at 7:19 am
I have ordered one and they have posted it. To Australia. Great idea I have cross posted to you on my blog.
September 7th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Simply brilliant. I am no hero, but if I can’t wear this, I can’t wear anything.
September 11th, 2006 at 6:05 am
My shirt arrived, very nice!
September 22nd, 2006 at 7:52 am
Thanks !
September 23rd, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Concerning the post of DJH (August 27th): It is true that “ana” could be omitted, but the second word can mean “I am not” as well as “you are not”. (The two meanings are pronounced differently, but written the same.) So omitting “ana” could be used to play with ambiguity, but I guess it’s better not to be too ambiguous these days.
October 21st, 2006 at 2:09 am
Brilliant idea!
December 5th, 2006 at 7:53 pm
Can you send it to Iran? LOL
December 22nd, 2006 at 9:25 pm
absolutely fantastic idea, i will order one when ive got some money (after xmas). I’m trying to learn arabic currently, and though my knowledge of the language is severly lacking, not a terrorist’s post corresponds with my understanding of it.
February 3rd, 2007 at 7:52 am
Awesome, man