A happy ending

I'm putting this one in the phenomena category.

I've been watching with my civic-minded colleagues at MTV News online as our little Urban Outfitter's expose has unfurled into T-shirt Gate.

Now that everybody's had their fun I wanted to give the last word to my favorite cap on the subject - from the Weekly Standard:

Complaining Is for Earnest People

It is a truism of American politics that an election cycle is not an election cycle without its fair share of harebrained pseudo-scandals. But the latest might prompt observers to reclassify the Silly Season as the Stupid Season. At issue: the sale of a cheeky T-shirt that reads "Voting Is for Old People."

Stocked by Urban Outfitters and the creation of John Keddie, who helms vintagevantage.com (where the shirt is also for sale), the apathy-championing T-shirt has managed to unite chin-tuggers of all stripes. The lads at punkvoter.com squealed as if a nerve had been hit during a particularly painful septum-piercing. Al Jourgensen of the group Ministry wrote in a letter to Urban Outfitters, "I am shocked and appalled at your recklessness. Your T-shirt is knowingly irresponsible." And those rock'n'roll cads at Harvard's Institute of Politics were equally outraged. "The shirt's message could not be further from the truth," wrote the Institute's director, Dan Glickman. "We would be eager to work with you to suggest alternative products that send the right message to America's young people, and better reflect the considerable social conscience and political participation of today's youth. You might consider 'Voting Rocks!'"

You might--if you're a dork. The Washington Post reported that the Institute went on to quote John F. Kennedy, saying, "The future promise of any nation can best be measured by the present prospects of its youth." To which we respond with the wise words of Evelyn Waugh, who pronounced, "What is youth except a man or woman before it is fit to be seen."

Color us cynical, but isn't it in the republic's best interest for those who are easily swayed by T-shirt slogans not to make their voices heard on Election Day? On vintagevantage.com, Keddie writes, "It appears that taking yourself too seriously is for old and young people alike. We're calling on the Camp Cool faithful to stand by our side during this difficult, uncertain time. Ha!" THE SCRAPBOOK, a Camp Cool regular, stands with Keddie, and hopes that this shameless endorsement is good enough to win us one of his overpriced T-shirts, size XL.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as likely as anyone to want to poke a hipster in the nose when I see him checking himself out in a pane glass window. But urban life would be far too depressing if I couldn't look forward to laughing at their co-operative and coordinated efforts at expressing uniqueness.