Friday, June 6, 2014

Bumper Sticker Ignorance

Bumper stickers.  They are everywhere.  I saw one the other day that said "Worst President Ever"

yep, this is the one.  No slave owning, war mongering, cheating president was ever worse.


It got me thinking: Do you really, as a person, want to put your opinions out there like that?  Then again, it's the ultimate "F* you, I win" "Last word" scenario.
 I realized this as I found myself asking the person very seriously "Why would you put that on your car?  Have you personally known all of the Presidents which have ever been?  Do you personally know Obama?  How do you know none have been worse?"  Of course, they didn't hear me.  They just threw their opinion in my face and kept driving.  This got me thinking: opinions are posted on bumpers everywhere.  Political judgement, in my opinion, doesn't belong on a bumper sticker.  It belongs to the Peers of said policitian or political party.  Generally, we as the common folk do not know the first thing about what goes into a politicians decisions.  We don't know the classified information they have that limit their freedom to choose as their constituents would.  There is a lot we don't know.

I am the last person you want to have a political conversation with, because I do not know enough about today's politics to have an educated discussion.  The majority of our nation's citizens are the same way.  The purpose of the system is to bring representation of the people to the decision making of the nation.  I would argue that it's not so much the system  that's broken, but the people.  The people are not fully educated in the processes of our nation.  How many people do you know who could tell you what our nation's GDP is?  Who their local representative is?  Hell, I don't even know the name of my mayor!  Shame on me, for that.  I know.  But the point is, I know I'm not alone!  In the last election, my daughter told me if she were old enough, she'd vote for Obama.  When I asked her why, she didn't know.  I asked another person during the campaign for Obama's first election why they felt he would be a bad president, and their response was that the country is not ready for a black president.  Ignorance has many faces.  My point is: we are (most of us) ignorant.  We're putting bumper stickers on our cars because we have our own opinion, which we'd like to put on our car... Why?  Because we'd like everyone to know what we think, but we don't want to talk about why we think it.


I think we, as a nation, should stop all development within a mile of any body of water, with exceptions for the filtration and transportation of that water, and limited development to allow for processing of food from said bodies of water.  90% of my state's wetlands have been completely eradicated, and there's not a stream in this state I'd drink from without a hard-core filter and a means to boil it.  But you don't see me putting this on a bumper sticker.  It's my opinion.  I'll make it count when and where I can, but I sure won't put it in your face while you're driving.  I have my eco-friendly bible, but I don't thump it at people.
     Speaking of which, that's another thing: God on bumpers.  Because God wanted us to develop mobile means of polluting our environment (for those who believe in God).  That little fish symbol is on a bit of machinery which, by His guidelines from the time of Eden for Mankind to care for the world, is a complete disregard of your moral obligations.  Yet here you are, driving your Land Rover which gets like 10 mi to the gallon... with your Jesus sticker just glaring at anyone who would otherwise rake you over the coals for either your choice of transportation or your religious preference.

I will not say what my political or religious preferences are.  I will proudly bear my Northern Illinois University magnet on my own car, joining the masses of those who proudly bear whatever the heck they want on their cars, not caring who sees it or how they feel. I won't, however, say that NIU is the best university ever.  I won't say that. 


Even though they are. 



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