Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Another Bumper Sticker, Another Hypocrite

As I pulled out of my driveway this morning at 7:30 AM, I noticed an SUV coming up close behind me. It was being driven by a 50-ish white guy with closely cut grey hair. I soon came to a stop sign at the next block, and I got this sense that he was miffed when I came to a full stop before proceeding, rather than rolling slowly past it. I nonetheless continued on my way, but we soon came to another stop sign just one residential block later. Before my car had even rocked to a full stop this second time, he slammed on his car horn, hard and for several agitated seconds. So I just stayed there, stopped dead, and stared at him in my rear view mirror with a look of mock naive confusion. He quickly averted his gaze, let up off his horn, and passed me hard on the left, gunning his engine in a huff. As he passed, I noticed that he had two bumper stickers prominently pasted on his trunk (well above the bumper). One read simply, "Show Me The Birth Certificate" in block letters. The other was just like the one pictured above.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about my ambivalence for bumper stickers, and the people who display them. Last time it was about a woman driving recklessly in a school zone whose car had an "Obama Mama" bumper sticker on it.
What type of person feels the compulsion to question publicly some minor anomalies in the President's Hawaiian birth certificate, while simultaneously insisting (by leaning on his car horn) that coming to a full stop at stop signs is not necessary or appropriate, despite being legally required?
Who knows. But I am sure that, completing the caricature, he was angrily calling me an "idiot" under his breath as he burned past me, which I find really ironic.

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