Celebrating 250 Years of Freedom

The Story Behind the Merch…

Our lives have been blessed by so many countless freedoms that it is almost hard to imagine a life without them. The Constitution was the first legal love-letter that outlined our God-given rights, and how We The People can stop power-seekers from trampling over them.

Over the 250 years of America, powerseekers have attempted, and sometimes succeeded at diminishing our rights. But that is because We The People have grown complacent and allowed that to happen.

But hope is not lost.

At this quarter-millennial anniversary, we should be reminded why our country came into existence, and how the backbone of freedom does not come from the government, but rather it comes from We the People who hold it accountable.

That’s the main reason that we felt inspired to create Privacy Academy in the first place. We saw that privacy was under attack, and we didn’t want to lose that right. Because without it, all other rights fall.

To celebrate this event we wanted to commemorate two legendary works of art that highlight the pinnacles of freedom and privacy.

First, the classic novel 1984.

George Orwell was a fantastic, and prolific writer. Not only was he able to accurately predict a surveillance society, but he was able to craft a world so powerful that the term 1984 is universally understood synonym for surveillance.

For our design, we wanted to highlight the juxtaposition between 1984 and the original dream of America that our Founding Fathers had.

Although it might sound like semantics, we consider ourselves FOR liberty, not AGAINST tyranny. The difference is that we are not reactive, instead we hold onto our ideals, and keep our God-given rights.

We have placed this design on a uni-sex, high-quality t-shirt.

Second, Benjamin Franklin’s Join or Die snake, re-imagined.

Benjamin Franklin said “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”

His words are more timely than ever. People flock to big tech software and tech for convenience, completely unaware that they are trading privacy and freedom for it.

Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous founding fathers, and also the creator of the famous “Join, or Die.” artwork of a rattlesnake severed into pieces, representing a division and unity in the original colonies. This later become a very influential piece of artwork during the American revolution.

Our goal with this piece was to modernize it, but not bastardize it. We kept the snake the same, but simply changed “Die” to “Spy,” simply stating that if you are not actively exiting the surveillance state, you are building it.

We have placed this design on a uni-sex, high-quality hat.

We have partnered with a local screenprinting and embroidery shop to make sure that we are creating high-quality clothes, not just something you’ll leave hanging in your closet.

This is our first (and maybe only) time creating merch. We wanted to create something very powerful to commemorate the 250th anniversary of America.

We hope that you will wear these pieces of clothing, have conversations, and rally with others behind the message of privacy and freedom.

Thank you!