evolution - stop following me! t-shirt

[Sarabi]

http://www.zazzle.com/evolution_stop...19645702728538

Is there a deeper meaning to this T-shirt that I'm not getting, or is it just a simple joke? Is it making fun of people who don't believe in evolution?

[Buddha Belly]

I do not think there is any deep meaning at all.

[Sarabi]

You know... humans are turning evolution into something technological, mechanical... like we should try to make sure everyone lives as long as possible, even if it means hooking them up to a machine for years. But only for humans. When we look at other species, we just don't care even if they're perfectly healthy. We don't want them to follow us there... We romanticize their plight as "the cycle of life."

[harpy]

Funny It's just a takeoff of this type of "ascent of man" graphic, I think, where the creatures are not really intended to be following one another (since the first is at the back) but look as if they might be:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932663.html

Whether it's really an "ascent" is open to debate, but we're probably reading too much into the t-shirt

[1gentlemaorispirit]

You know... humans are turning evolution into something technological, mechanical... like we should try to make sure everyone lives as long as possible, even if it means hooking them up to a machine for years. But only for humans. When we look at other species, we just don't care even if they're perfectly healthy. We don't want them to follow us there... We romanticize their plight as "the cycle of life."

I agree with you!

We are considered the top of the food chain, but I feel it's more like the top of stupidity sometimes!

[Mahk]

We aren't the top of the food chain. Great white sharks, lions, tigers, and polar bears (oh my) eat us!

Harpy nailed it. Note the word "evolution" doesn't appear on the actual T-shirt; it is just part of the description of the item but not part of the actual joke itself.

[Sarabi]

Has anyone else noticed how sexist that depiction of evolution is? I know that it's just a copy of the original sexist depiction of evolution, but seriously... not all humans are male.

Anyway, you know, animals do follow humans evolutionarily - technically speaking - and we have followed animals evolutionarily by learning how to eat them and use their skins...

People think that evolution means being the tip of a pyramid, but when it comes to animals it inherently means exploiting others in nature. I don't think that animals could exist if not for eating plants. Or could they? Interesting question. Evolutionarily, we feel the need to protect in order to sustain life, but I think we need to protect all life and especially all those who suffer.

[harpy]

Are they meant to be male? I can't really tell from those images.

[Sarabi]

Well, the third one on the t-shirt could be female if she were wearing a push-up bra, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case.

I am now thinking of The Fifth Element in which she doesn't want to same humans because we just destroy each other, but she does in the end. Humans want someone to save us, but we actually are going to have to BE the 5th element because that argument about not helping those who destroy each other is one humans already make.

Sorry, this is not a very good topic... I am just talking about random thoughts this t-shirt led me to.

[Mahk]

Has anyone else noticed how sexist that depiction of evolution is?

There's a non-sexist reasonable explanation, though. In order to obscure the naughty bits of an adult homo sapien's genitalia with the foreground thigh and breasts with the extended foreground upper arm, the human would have to be depicted with an unusual gait, not normal walking where the opposite arm is extended forward to the extended leg. This means depicting a naked male human is easier in profile since the chest doesn't need to be obscured as the foreground extended thigh hides the genitalia.


Random data from wikipedia:

Gender differences
There are many gender differences in human gait, females walk with lesser step width and more pelvis movement.[1] Gait analysis generally takes gender into consideration.[2] Females walking with hip sway, and males walking with swagger in shoulder generally have more physical attractiveness.[3] A study by Stuart Brody of University of the West of Scotland says women gait reflects their orgasmic ability.[4]

[mariana]

There's a non-sexist reasonable explanation, though. In order to obscure the naughty bits of an adult homo sapien's genitalia with the foreground thigh and breasts with the extended foreground upper arm, the human would have to be depicted with an unusual gait, not normal walking where the opposite arm is extended forward to the extended leg. This means depicting a naked male human is easier in profile since the chest doesn't need to be obscured as the foreground extended thigh hides the genitalia.

But then we (at least I) could just get into a huge discussion of why female breasts "need" to be obscured, and whether that is sexist and/or societal bias....... but I won't take this thread further off-topic.

[Mahk]

Or why any genetalia needs to be obscurred....

[mariana]

Or why any genetalia needs to be obscurred....

Well, I'm with you there!