All despots know that suppressing free will is the key to maintaining power. Controlling the flow of knowledge controls the appropriation of power, and determining “good” and “ungood” knowledge defines the parameters of tyranny. A successful autocrat needs a wholly corrupt society devoid of freethinkers in order to realize his “utopia”. The last remaining radicals are condemned as “thought criminals”. Whether it’s Rome or Washington, the rules are always the same.
A thought becomes a thought-crime only when it becomes an existential threat to those in power. Thought criminals speak the truth in a cacophony of deception and risk everything as they help everyone. They nurture that which has roots and plant the seeds of revolution in order to hasten the awakening of society. They are a minority in an incognizant herd of domesticated prey, and are the antithesis, as well as the antidote, for authoritarian government.
Our collection of “Thought Criminal” T-Shirts celebrates those men and women. Our t-shirts feature some of history’s greatest figures with memorable quotes from the pages of their history. We salute them, glorify their legacies, and emulate their values. All it takes is a single thought–one gentle breeze of outspoken truth–to collapse the house of cards that is empire.
