Caustic Kitsch: The Damaging Effects of Rude Signs

We have all heard the sayings “The pen is mightier than the sword” and “Sticks and Stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. These old sayings deal with the power or lack of power of words. One says that words have a profound power, where as the other says that words are not so powerful and can not hurt you. The fact is that words do hurt people. Words are very powerful things that can be used to build up or tear down. Groupings of words that convey thoughts are extremely powerful tools that can express everything from love to hate. At times groups of words are used to form what I call “Cuteisms”. It is a new word that I believe I created and it is not in the dictionary. Webster’s you do have my permission to include it in your next edition. Cuteism are all of those types of things that people put into word form in an attempt to be cute. Those little gems of sarcastic or thoughtless humor that are usually intended to put someone or something down. Many Cuteisms have found there way unto various products, such as T-shirts, bumper stickers, little plaques, and signs. These are those sayings that people may find themselves laughing at, out of an awkward nervousness or because they are such a vicious person, they actually think the saying is funny. These Cuteisms are actually very damaging to the human psyche. They spread very vicious thoughts and attitudes among those who view them.

There is one, that is floating around the globe on t-shirts and desk plaques, that is particularly offensive, in that it creates feelings in people that other people do not matter. It says “I’m not rude. You’re insignificant”. People who like a saying like this, enough to buy a product with it on, must have very low self-esteem. So low that they feel the need to have this saying plastered on a product, for them to display to the world. I wonder if they actually believe, that by having this saying displayed. that it gives them the right to be rude to others. Is their mental picture of themselves so bleak, that they feel better because a sign validates their being rude, in an attempt to make themselves feel superior. Some may say that those people already think they are better than everyone else. I do not for one minute believe that people who have such an attitude actually have feelings of superiority. Products with this sign also serve to alienate you from others, thus making your self-esteem even weaker.