Stop snitchin’ not just a t-shirt fad?

As you may know, I’ve largely stayed out of commenting on the “Stop Snitchin’” t-shirt fad. (Though I did suggest a replacement fad.) You know why? Because the furor was largely over by the time I started blogging here in late August.

But, though, it still creeps up every once in a while. There was a recent piece in Slate about the stop snitchin’ tees, which covered the points that maybe these t-shirts might be sending a message instead:

Critics of the T-shirts tend to dismiss the “stop snitching” sentiment as pro-criminal and antisocial; a subcultural expression of misplaced loyalty. But the T-shirts should be heeded as evidence of a failed public policy. Snitching is an entrenched law-enforcement practice that has become pervasive due to its crucial role in the war on drugs. … But the policy has turned out to be a double-edged sword. Nearly every drug offense involves a snitch, and snitching is increasingly displacing more traditional police work, such as undercover operations and independent investigation. [...]

And while the government’s snitching policy has gone mostly unchallenged, it is both damaging to the justice system and socially expensive. Snitches are famously unreliable: A 2004 study by the Northwestern University Law School’s Center on Wrongful Convictions reveals that 46 percent of wrongful death penalty convictions are due to snitch misinformation—making snitches the leading cause of wrongful conviction in capital cases.

While I sincerely doubt the stop snitchin’ shirts were commenting on the study that showed 46 percent of wrongful death penalty convictions are due to lying snitches, the essay brings up some good points. But I don’t want to ask any questions about the validity of the author’s argument.

What I want to ask is: What other secret meanings to t-shirts hold? I mean, that one that just says COLLEGE, what does that mean? And those early 1990s bootleg Taz shirts? What did they mean? What did the bootleg Taz shirts with Phillies caps on them truly mean? The possibilities are endless.

Bait and Snitch [Slate]
Sept. 12: The last word on the ‘John Street hat’