Thursday, April 27, 2006

I Live, Therefore I Rant.....

As I was driving to work today, I saw a bumper sticker that said, “Defend America, Defeat Bush”. This is a most common bumper sticker I see in the area I live in. As I get closer to the area I work in, I see more stickers that say, “Bush/Cheney” and “W’04”. No biggie, right? Well, I had a problem with the bumper sticker that said, “Defend America, Defeat Bush”…..

Not for the reasons you think, I’m sure. No, I’m not a republican nor a democrat. I’m non-party affiliated, and more often than not, believe that “the man (= the government) is out to get me, man!” and “Die Yuppie Scum” (to sum up my crypster age at least). My problem was that the bumper sticker was taped to the inside window of the vehicle.


Beginning as far back as high school, I believed this was a sign of a poser. Some kid trying to rebel against their parents by listening to Fugazi, had the balls enough to actually TAPE the band sticker to the car their parents bought them. This action told me:
A. They are not real Fugazi fans
B. They are not to be trusted
C. What is to stop them from taking the sticker down and replacing it with a Color Me Badd sticker since it’s so easy (unlike a bumper sticker) at the toss of a hat?
D. Do they REALLY feel strong about Fugazi – enough to decorate the car their parents bought them? And what kind of kid gets a new car bought for them in the first place? Obviously not some punk kid that I ran around with circa 1993!

Yes, yes. In all relative terms, I’m pretty young to be bitching. But I was bitching about it back then, when my car was chalk full of band stickers I searched high and lo for! I would save up my money every summer to come out to Denver from KC to go to Wax Trax, just to get cool stickers and T-shirts you couldn’t even remotely find in the Midwest! HEY!!! I STILL have those goth boots I bought with pointy toes, and skull buckles at Fashion Nation! I just CAN’T give them up after not wearing them for 10 + years! Okay, Okay, I’m getting off the subject…..


The subject is the same after 14 years:
If you have to say something to the point of buying a bumper sticker and proudly displaying your views of the world on your car, for god’s sake, attach it to the fucking car with the glue it came with! Don’t think you are sending the same message with your scotch tape and “I can take it off my brand new yuppie car much easier when it’s not cool anymore” attitude. I don’t care if you’re conservative OR liberal! Just stick to your guns! You seem just as flaky and ambiguous in your beliefs as most of our politicians! Are you THAT lazy that when your sticker becomes faded and dated you can’t just go out to your car with a razor blade and soapy water? If you’re THAT put out by your views, then maybe you shouldn’t be displaying them at all. It might be more worth your time to just drink some wine at your friend’s cocktail party and spout your views after you’ve become a bit tipsy. That way if you change your mind about it later, you can always blame it on “that one night at Joe’s house”.

12 comments:

High Power Rocketry said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Blackpetunia said...

The other side to this, and may infuriate you in a different way is this:
Perhaps this person lives in an area where his view of Bush is not popular, or works at a place like that and -
Perhaps he keeps putting stickers of this nature on his car and they are getting stolen or deface and he doesn't want people ripping them off so he's keeping it safely inside?
It could happen....

This and That said...

no, I agree with you Cassie....scotch tape bumper stickers are pussy. It's non committal. Haven't heard of anybody defacing a car for a bumpersticker around here...I have gotten looks and the customary shaking of the head, oh yeah, except there was that military guy who went crazy out at DIA last year to anyones car with a Pro Bush sticker.

Blackpetunia said...

See, there you go, I think people do sometimes rip it off.
But, not to completely defend a stranger, I think if this person really felt that way they would have a loud speaker attached to the roof of their car denouncing the current regime, not just some piddly little sticker - inside or outside of their car. Maybe some poster boards glued on to the doors too.

This and That said...

the military guy at DIA smashed the windows of all Pro Bush cars, but left the stickers..he was considerate that way. I imagined with your last comment Amber parking my car in the middle of Larimer street in Denver and getting out a ghetto blaster...ala 'Fame'...what do you think Cassie...you think the suburban pseudo biker dudes with their matching yamahas and gear would appreciate it and join in. Think they'd get on cars and dance to some Green Day 'American Idiot'?

Anonymous said...

Cassie, our friend, Ed, had his "Jesus was my copilot, but we crashed in the mountains and I had to eat him" bumper sticker ripped off of his car IN HIS OWN DRIVEWAY. I think it was his crazy religio-nutcase (yes, that is a clinical term) sister-in-law after he threw a spoon of mashed potatoes at her one Thanksgiving, but I digress. So maybe Amber's right. Or maybe the only thing that anyone stands for anymore is consumption, acquisition of material things, and loss of community--a glaring symptom of which is not wanting to get glue on the bumper of your new Audi A6. By the way, does anyone know where I can get American flag wrapping paper?

Denny said...

you know, really, if its that big of a deal just dont put the goddamn thing on the car if its the cause of such chaos and your not willing to put up with what the world thinks about whatever it is that you display so proudly it for all to see, also Cassie your right tapingit on the window is like telling everyone your a vegetarian but you eat chicken and fish !

Anonymous said...

State workers do the same thing in Jeff City with their "Blunt Trauma" bumper stickers (referring to our governor's track record). I think they are afraid to leave it on their cars parked in a state lot, because they are afraid Capitol police might haul them off one day. I agree that, if you can't back it up, don't display it in the first place!

Another one I hate is those stickers that are a paragraph long and you almost get into a wreck trying to read one on the car in front of you. What's the point of that?

~Jade

Aaron said...

I ONLY put stickers on my windows. I would NEVER put a sticker on a painted part of my car - even the POS car I have now. You can get the sticker off of the glass easily, but the paint is another story. I think those people who still display campaign materials on their car are either sore losers, or just lazy. I had 3 Bush stickers and one Matt Blunt sticker on my car during the '04 campaign, but I removed them once the campaign was over.

I have been known for having several stickers on my windows - mostly political. I once had an old car that had a Primus sticker on it, but that's the only band sticker I ever put on any car. (circa 1994) It was on the window, but it sure as heck wasn't taped there.

jason said...

you had a Primus sticker?......lucky! I never really had the desire to have a bumper sticker. I think of my car as utilitarian...it gets me from point A to B with fair gas mileage. The only reason I bought this car was because it has a decent stock stereo...which is all I really care about in a car..that and gas mileage.

Anonymous said...

They are called Bumper stickers for a reason, not window stickers. Grow some balls, put the Bush/Cheney sticker back up, he has proven to be such a dynamic, intelligent leader. Now can you lend me some gas money, it just reached $3.00 a gallon. Bush Rocks!!

Denny said...

i wounldnt put anything on my car anyway, i dont give cops any reason to mess with me !