Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Personal Views on a Car Bumper

The car bumper sticker craze is about dead. I don't see many anymore. It's too bad, because they were in-driving entertainment and could tell a little about the society. Yes. bumper stickers reflect aspects of what the society is thinking.
Alas! Those bumper stickers are hard to find now, yet one type persists to a larger degree. No, it's not the funny ones or the political bumper stickers. It's the personal statement bumper stickers that I still see quite a bit of. Well unlike the funny or clever ones, I don't like the personal statement stickers because they often are nothing more than an indirect attack on the reader. They are humorless, superficial and sometime unfairly insulting. So here are six of the ones I see that bug me, with my (cynical) remark about each. Tell me if you agree with the sticker statement, my comment, both or neither.
* "Choose Life"- It's the anti abortion sticker that implies al abortions are equally murderous. I don't like abortion, but I like even less the idea that the driver promotes his or her personal view on abortion on his or her car bumper sticker. Kind of trivializes the serious, don't you think? Further, I find those opposed to abortion in all cases to be the same ones that love to fight wars in which the enemy is happily slaughtered,. or who enjoy seeing criminals executed. I keep my distance when driving next to or behind the Choose Life drivers. They usually hog the road and will ram your vehicle if too close to them. They sort of "Choose Themselves" over other people...even the ones they saved from abortion.
* "Baby on Board"- This one drives me crazy (ok, crazier than I m normally am). Why must the driver tell me there is a child in his or her car. Does that means I should driver safer than if there were adult humans there? And that bumper sticker also implies I am a moron who is incapable of driving normally unless reminded that a child is in their car. Usually the driver should also stay away from the Baby on Board driver, because there is likely to be 4 or 5 kids running around the car wildly, unseat belted and bumping into the driver of that car.
* "Support The Troops"- I want to declare war on our troops when I read that one. This bumper sticker was first posted after the Bush invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq. Now it can be seen with little yellow flower magnets that say the same thing and are placed on the back of the car, above the bumper. The implication of the bumper sticker is that anyone who criticizes the Bush war is somehow "against the troops". Right wing Bush people love these stickers because they imply that a lack of support for Bush and his war translates to a lack of support for the U.S. military. When I see a car with the bumper sticker I wonder what support the driver actually gives to the military above the small cost of the magnet and bumper sticker. Waving a flag is not patriotism, nor is attaching a bumper sticker claiming to be patriotic. When I se these bumper sticker son cars I understand who voted for Bush and others like him.
* "My Child is an Honor Student At (and then the name of the kid's school)"- Can you believe a parent promoting their anonymous kid's achievement on the bumper sticker of the family car? Who cares? The kid is embarrassed to see it and the other drivers don't know who the child is anyway. In truth it's the parent who puts it there that benefits. Having it makes them feel more worthy ("Look at me. I am a super parent"), so it is a way of living their lives through their children, Pathetic, huh? Anyway, there is an answer to these drivers. No, it's not to give them the finger, but rather a clever answer to that bumper sticker that is making the rounds. It says, "My Kid Can Beat Up Your Honor Student Kid".
* "Jesus Loves You"- I hate preaching religion in public, particularly trivializing it with philosophical religious statements on bumper stickers. When I notice this one I think the driver is probably a nut, or at least obsessed with promoting his or her own religious view. Who else would talk religion on a car bumper sticker. Seems sacrilegious to me. And I wonder w how the Muslims, Jews and other non Christians and non believers feel about reading that.
*"Save The Earth"- The global warming mantra make me boil. I try to pull along side these drivers to ask how humans can save the Earth. They usually mumble gibberish the media promotes (to sell newspapers or magazines) about global warming. But not a one has ever really had a plan to save the earth. Can we save the earth before we save ourselves? I doubt we can either kill or save either one. It's interesting too that these fools always drive the gas guzzling, pollution spewing cars that they claim are making our earth burn.
What do you think? Maybe I should write my own bumper sticker for the E mail I send to you????? How about "Stupidity Written Here"? Have a good day and remember to "Save the Earth" because "Jesus Loves You", but only if you "Support the Troops", who kill because they "Choose Life" for you so your "Baby on Board" can one day be smart, and you will be able to say "My Child is an Honor Student".

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