Quote: If you want something very, very badly, let it go free (1972 edition question)

[Garson O'Toole]

Laurence Horn:
> The black sheep of the family:
> http://www.zazzle.com/set_it_free_shirt-235601941430118526

Yes, the saying is a target for parody. For the benefit of the ADS
search engine here is the text on the shirt available at zazzle.com
that LH pointed to:

If you hate something, set it free.
If it comes back to you, shoot it.

The most common parody version was presented by Fred in YBQ and on the
Freakonomics blog, undated. Here is an instance of that controversial
take off dated 1983 from Usenet:

Newsgroups: net.singles
From: c... at csin.UUCP (Chip Hitchcock)
Date: Mon, 7-Nov-83 13:47:22 EST
Local: Mon, Nov 7 1983 2:47 pm
Subject: recent discussions

"If you love something, let it go.
If it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it."

(This is a button which circulates around SF conventions primarily as a joke;
unfortunately, some people are into such head games that they take it
seriously.)

http://groups.google.com/g/ac67fed8/t/43c1676b031226ee/d/a7698c21a478e236


In May 1984 the editors of Mother Jones wrote in response to a
critical letter that they would ban the parody text (in an
advertisement) from appearance in the magazine. But the advertisement
ran in the June and July issues. So there may have been
miscommunication or a delay.

http://books.google.com/books?id=yOYDAAAAMBAJ&q=%22kill+it%22#v=snippet&

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