Thursday, October 29, 2009

Bumper Sticker Hypocrite

I dislike bumper stickers. Of any type. Be they "Obama-Biden" or "McCain-Palin." "NRA" or "Amnesty International." I dislike the Christian fish symbol as much as the parody thereof (you know: the one with feet and the name "Darwin" inside). In my experience, the people who put bumper stickers on their cars, while passionate about whatever cause they're celebrating, tend to have an inversely proportional depth of knowledge about the underlying issue. I've also found that "bumper sticker people" are frequently a little insecure themselves, and more often than not are also a little self-absorbed, at least outwardly. With that caveat in mind, the following happened to me this afternoon.

As I was driving home I noticed a car down the street on my left making an illegal right hand turn at the intersection without stopping. Then it accelerated rapidly up behind me and passed me on the right doing maybe 40 mph. That got my attention because there was only one lane and because this was in a school zone (the local elementary school) with a speed limit of 25 mph. In the rear window of that car passing me, a BMW station wagon being driven by a blonde woman in her early 40s, was a bumper sticker similar to the one above which read "Obama Mama." That struck me because just ahead of "Obama Mama" was the school crosswalk. She accelerated through that crosswalk without hesitation, too, maybe pushing 50 mph, and quickly zoomed out of sight. What are the chances, I thought as she disappeared, that if I followed her home and engaged her in conversation on the sidewalk that I would like her? What would I find less appealing: her shallow yet zealous "progressive" politics, or her wallowing in her status as a mother while thoughtlessly endangering the children of others? (What, was she late to her pilates class?) And would President Obama like her any more than me? I doubt it.

No comments:

Post a Comment