Bumper Fisker
Forget FrankenNet, MPR, NPR, or the Daily Kos. The left's main means of communication is the common bumper sticker.
Driving through my neighborhood in central Saint Paul, I see a lot of them; my daily travels thread me between six different post-secondary institutions (Hamline, Macalester, Concordia, St. Thomas, St. Kates and the U of M St. Paul campus), so I see a lot of bumper stickers.
On the one hand, bumper stickers are better-written than 99.5% of liberal blogs. On the other - well, sometimes they're just plain dumb.
I saw a couple yesterday that rubbed me the wrong way.
#1:
God Wants Spiritual Fruits
Not Religious Nuts
I want to put a sticker on the front of my car: "The split between Spirituality and Religion is an artificial one forced by people who want their faith in God to conform strictly to their own prejudices", but I'd need a wider bumper.
I mean, there should be no difference. In Hebrew, they are the same word (or so I've been told).
And this whole "I'm spiritual but I'm not religious" thing that people are yakking about these days? That's sort of like saying "I am a law student, but I don't belong to a study group". Religion is just a social framework within which people comprehend, study and live with their faiths. Some are strict, some are lax, all are voluntary.
Then there was this little number:
How can you trust me with a baby
if you can't trust me with choice?
I don't write much about abortion. It's not a hot topic for me. It is for others; I defer to them, for the most part. I oppose abortion, especially abortion used as a convenience (as opposed to a medical necessity, in many cases), and I think the act of creating life transcends the "Rights" and "Choices" of any couple, personally, but whatever.
Still, this may be the most corrosively stupid bumper sticker I've seen in a while.
Maam - society entrusts people with babies unless their choices endanger the child. Choosing to kill the child (when it is a choice, rather than a life-or-death medical decision) is hardly a great reflection on your parenting.
I don't think that's the question you want to ask.
Posted by Mitch at
August 19, 2005 06:47 AM
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Actually Mitch..""The split between Spirituality and Religion is an artificial one forced by people who want their faith in God to conform strictly to their own prejudices", should read:
"The split between Spirituality and Religion is an artificial one forced by people who want their faith in God to conform strictly to their own preferences"
Posted by: swiftee at August 19, 2005 12:01 PMThat also works.
My point, really, is this: saying "I like spirituality, but I don't like religion" is like saying "I like learning, but I don't like books", or "I like blogs, but not the Internet". They are not in mutual opposition - one is in fact a vehicle to take you to the other.
Posted by: mitch at August 19, 2005 12:34 PMBest lefty bumper sticker juxtaposition EVER:
Sticker No. 1: No, you can't have my rights, I'm still using them.
Sticker No. 2: Repeal Conceal Carry.
Uh, Iguess there's at least some rights you're not using, madam. The irony, apparently, is lost on the left.
Posted by: Patrick at August 19, 2005 02:36 PMAre you suggesting, mitch, that you must belong and be beholden to a particular church's beliefs and strictures to feel spiritual? Does this not eliminate the possibility that a person could believe in god, jesus, but not moses?
To me someone who is very religious tends to follow the strictures of a given creed very closely. ( If that creed values the subjection of people over the value of individual lives, that's still a religious tenet. )
Spiritualism, as I have looked at it, would be non-existential beliefs or behaviours that are either outside of a recognized church or intentionally agnostic/iconoclastic.
Do you really need to be 'in a study group' to believe in a higher power?
Posted by: aodhan at August 19, 2005 02:47 PMWhen I was in college at the U (I only survived my stint there by being very uneducated, politically. If I knew then what I know now, my head would have exploded with all the moonbattery around), I saw your typical "more attitude than brains" liberal/progressive car. An 80s VW golf with almost every square inch of rear facing metal covered up by some sort of sticker. On the outter most parts of the bumper, one side read "PROTECT ABORTION RIGHTS" and the other side read "SAVE THE BABY SEALS".
I couldn't do anything but shake my head at someone who values animal life more than human life.
Posted by: FJBill at August 19, 2005 03:52 PMI've seen that abortion one before as well. I even captured a picture of it.
http://www.residualforces.com/index.php/2005/06/06/stupid-bumper-sticker-of-the-day/
Posted by: triple_a at August 19, 2005 04:53 PMAh, yes. That was the downside of my vacation...neighbor. Walking or driving around Midway, I couldn't believe how many flaky bumper stickers I saw on different cars. Nor could I believe how many flaky bumper stickers I saw on ONE car.
Not to mention the "Chris Coleman for Mayor" lawn signs that had homemade "W has got to go" messages poorly taped to the top. There are some sick people up there.
Thankfully my host (the man who taught me what "DFL" meant) doesn't seem to be the bumper sticker or lawn sign type. I would have been too embarrassed to be seen going in and out of his house to sleep there.
Posted by: Dave in Pgh. at August 19, 2005 09:29 PM