Thursday, September 25, 2008

Honk if You Have a Love/Hate Relationship With Bumper Stickers

I've been seeing these yellow and blue "=" sign bumper stickers for months and months, but never remember to research what they mean. My mind can rest easy now. They're distributed by Human Rights Campaign to promote equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender folks.

I'm not a bumper sticker person. Are you? I'm not against them in any way--I get that they reflect one's personality, values, etc. and frequently they keep me quite entertained on the road. I just would never put one on my own car. Wanna know why? Well, I'll tell you:
  1. I'm a private person and don't necessarily want to advertise how I feel about things to everyone and anyone.
  2. I hate conflict. Really, really hate it. And by putting my opinions out there I'm automatically opening myself up to hear people's differing views. Even people I like and don't want to disagree with.
  3. There are crazy lunatics out there who wouldn't think twice about doing something stupid to me and/or my car simply because they don't agree with a sticker.
  4. As soon as they start to look faded and worn, I think they look tacky. (What can I say? I'm a product of the American consumerist culture.)
  5. They're a pain to get off, right? I mean, I can't know for certain because I've never had one. But I imagine it's a laborious task.

I do, however, keep an unofficial running list in my mind of which bumper stickers are proudly displayed on a virtual car in my mind. This one is now on it. Alongside these:


(By the way, these stickers are all available on Cafe Press.)

Does anyone else do this? Or do you emblazon your actual car with stickers? If so, which ones do you have, or would you have if you were brave enough? Or cared enough?

7 comments:

Kellyry said...

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same -- always find it entertaining to read stickers on other people's cars (there was a small pick-up at APU every Tuesday night when I had class that was COMPLETELY covered in bumper stickers. The most shocking thing was the, er, unique mix of stickers the owner had accumulated, many of which were about as opposite as APU's values as possible) but will probably never actually put one on my own car.

Molly W. said...

Yeah..I'm not a huge fan of putting things on my own car either but often find others stickers amusing. :) I saw one the other day that made me laugh but now I can't remember it. grr.

Jan said...

Have you read "Lord, save us from your followers" by Dan Merchant?

It has a very good chapter called "Bumper-sticker culture" which begins like this: "I think America has become a bumper-sticker culture - we're way too comfortable with one-way communication"... anyway, it would take too much time and space to type more - but I highly recommend that book. Food for thought, I promise...

Jan said...

BTW: There are a few good bumper-stickers in "Lord save us from your followers". I had a good laugh at these: "God wants spiritual fruits. Not religious nuts." and "Who Would Jesus Bomb?".

Molly W. said...

That's it!! That's the one I was referring to in my comment above, that I saw the other day and couldn't remember -"God wants spiritual fruits, not religious nuts!" SO funny!!

b said...

Those are AWESOME stickers.
Besides our 'DK' sticker, we don't currently have any. But I feel like putting the 'Jesus was...'one.

Another one I love, spotted in downtown Portland:

'I like Obama, but is America ready for a President with brains?'

b said...

P.S. Mike will finally be happy to know what the equal sign means. It's been driving him crazy, not knowing.