When I go on motorcycle trips, I am inclined to do a lot of driving and not too much stopping. One way to help beat the boredom on longer interstate (freeway) drives is by noticing bumper stickers, of which there are plenty in the USA. This is a "free speech" country, and the right to apply bumper stickers is probably covered by by the constitution. Sticker fashions do change with time. Back in '92 "Shit happens" was very popular. But then some real shit happened, and suddenly a lot of Osama Bin-Laden related bumper stickers followed, and the original "Shit happens" stickers all disappeared mysteriously. But that only went on for a couple of years before the Bin Laden stickers disappeared in favour of Saddam Hussein themed stickers. And for a while after it was a lot of "Bush country" (in Texas at least), and variations on "Support the Troops"A few years ago while in Arizona I decided to put on my own sticker on the trunk of the BMW. "Warning: Rider carries less than $20 worth of ammo." I decided that would deter robbers, but I wasn't actually carrying any ammo, or a gun. It didn't seem to cause a problem at border crossings either.
I haven't been there for a couple of years, and with Obama in power, I assume many of the old Bush/Cheney stickers have now been removed. I was wondering what thought provoking stickers are on sale now, so here is a sample from the internet.
Right Wing Extremists: Jefferson, Adams, Madison and Me
Is this another person who forgot that Washington was the first president? And weren't there two Adams? The first Adams ran against Jefferson, so it couldn't be him. The second Adams defended the slaves on the Amistad, so he can't be right wing either. But at least the choice of Madison as a right wing extremist makes sense, because he invaded Canada.
Keep Working, Millions on welfare depend on you
Including the guy driving this truck, but which is he?
Speak English or go back to the sorry ass country you left.
This sticker would be more effective if it was any language other than English. In Canada, we think of things like that.
Except for ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, & Communism, war has never solved anything
Which war against Communism?
Bring Back Capitalism
The subtext is George W. Bush = Capitalism, Obama = Communism. One of the more subtle stickers.
Honk if you Voted for Obama, so I can give you the FINGER
Need help reading the Obama bumper stickers, eh?
Republicans Back by Popular Demand
Did I miss something?
Why Should I have to Press 1 for English
Because you're calling India.
Shut Up Hippy
This has got to be the world's slowest snappy comeback.
Can you think on your own or do you need the media to think for you?
This sticker could actually be conservative or liberal, you may need to judge by the licence plate and vehicle. Toyota Prius from California: any guesses?
Liberals have bumper stickers too, but not often seen unless you are on the West coast. I have no comments on these. I guess because they make sense to me.
Actually, guns do kill people
Get Real, Like Jesus would ever own a gun and vote Republican
Republicans are people too, mean greedy selfish people
GW Bush How dumb is too dumb?
Impeach Cheney first
War is terror
War is not pro life
Intolerance will not be tolerated
The picture is me and the BMW in El Rosario, Baja, Mexico in March 2004
'Freedom of speech' ... something to be valued. Nowhere is it written that such speech must be intelligent!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, those 'Conservative' bumper stickers remind me that the central tenet of faith for the 'low brow' conservatives in the good old U.S. of A. is primarily hatred of those dreaded 'liberals'.
Now that the Communist menace has been well and truly thrashed by red-blooded Americans, the new enemy is 'liberals' - especially those panty-waisted eastern-educated, high brow, superior so-called experts who pretend to have all the answers but know nothing about the 'real' America.
It almost seems, to an impartial observer like myself, that this species of 'conservative' takes overweaning pride in how ill-informed they are. This is the core audience, the 'true believers,' of the propaganda pumpers like O'Reilly, Coulter and their ilk.
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights ... Rah, rah, rah! Well, not really ... and new generations of ignorant conservative voters are in the making ...
'A 1998 national survey of teenagers conducted by the National Constitution Center found that 59 percent of those interviewed could identify the Three Stooges while only 45 percent could provide the name of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, and even fewer (41 percent) knew the three branches of the U.S. Government! Less than 2 percent could correctly identify James Madison as the "father" of the U.S. Constitution, including the Bill of Rights.'
Small wonder those bumper stickers sell so well!
So the answer for the first ten amendments to the constitution, that 45% got right is "Bill of Rights"? Because if the correct answer was to name all ten individually, I think the percentage would be much lower.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the situation in Canada would be as bad, or worse!
ReplyDeleteScarcely any Canadians would be able to list (in any order) their fundamental rights under the Charter - or even to estimate how many there are!
I, for one would neither be able to estimate the number or name them. And I just read through them 2 minutes ago.
ReplyDelete