(no subject)
I have a rant. I'm not sure how long it's going to be, and I can't really guarantee a lack of obscenity, or that I won't annoy anyone. So, in the interests of not flooding people's friends page and keeping things PG, you have to actually click on the thing.
I had an eight o'clock class last semester. This was annoying for many reasons, not least of which being that I had to drive to school in morning rush hour traffic, with all the requisite stupidity. The most reliably annoying form of stupidity would be the bumper stickers I got to admire.
Political bumper stickers piss me off. Really, you can't form a cohesive argument in that size font. The only reasonable objective is to establish (and boast of) your obedience to the herd. This isn't really about the 'Vote for Candidate X for Position Y' stickers, either. They're retarded, but at least they're reasonable. I mean the ones that try to be clever. The ones that are invariably met with smug nods and approval from those who already agree with you. The ones that reduce complex issues and debates to the same level as choosing a football team. I'm going to sound more biased about this than I actually am, simply because it's harder to find a left leaning sheep in Alabama.
For example, I saw a sticker proclaiming America to be the land of "Red, Right and True!" While duly annoyed at the gleeful partisanship that passes for political debate(or thought), my first response was to wish that I had the opportunity to accuse the owner of being a Red. Probably for the best I was driving at the time; I doubt he'd see the humor.
Of course, I don't mean to sound like I'm not irritated at generic fanboy stickers. I trust you can see the distinction between 'You should vote for this person!'(pointless, but harmless) and 'I am a fan of this person.' I'm thinking here of those stupid 'W' stickers you see all over the place, and the girl in my dance class last fall who described herself as "a huge Bush fan." Not supporter, fan. Elected officials do not deserve fans-they're citizens, just like you and I, who have a job, given to them by you and I. That's the whole point of the 'rule of law' bit.
I think the real irritant in all of this is the thread of slavish loyalty-the willingness to unconditionally subordinate your own beliefs and desires to those of the group, and generally acting like your party is your church and your leader is your Messiah. (Well, that, and picking your party like you pick your baseball team, and then firmly believing whatever you're told to firmly believe, but that's not really relevant.) I think it's getting worse. I've thought that for awhile, and I stumbled across a bit of vindication(and, incidentally, finally got around to writing down a few of my ramblings.)
http://www.bushfish.org/index.html
I want to believe it's a hoax, really I do. But frankly, I'm not surprised. I just hope that there aren't enough people who really do equate Mr. Bush and God to completely fuck the system over. *sigh* There are places in the world that view their rulers as instruments of divine will; I just don't think I'd like to live in any of them.
I had an eight o'clock class last semester. This was annoying for many reasons, not least of which being that I had to drive to school in morning rush hour traffic, with all the requisite stupidity. The most reliably annoying form of stupidity would be the bumper stickers I got to admire.
Political bumper stickers piss me off. Really, you can't form a cohesive argument in that size font. The only reasonable objective is to establish (and boast of) your obedience to the herd. This isn't really about the 'Vote for Candidate X for Position Y' stickers, either. They're retarded, but at least they're reasonable. I mean the ones that try to be clever. The ones that are invariably met with smug nods and approval from those who already agree with you. The ones that reduce complex issues and debates to the same level as choosing a football team. I'm going to sound more biased about this than I actually am, simply because it's harder to find a left leaning sheep in Alabama.
For example, I saw a sticker proclaiming America to be the land of "Red, Right and True!" While duly annoyed at the gleeful partisanship that passes for political debate(or thought), my first response was to wish that I had the opportunity to accuse the owner of being a Red. Probably for the best I was driving at the time; I doubt he'd see the humor.
Of course, I don't mean to sound like I'm not irritated at generic fanboy stickers. I trust you can see the distinction between 'You should vote for this person!'(pointless, but harmless) and 'I am a fan of this person.' I'm thinking here of those stupid 'W' stickers you see all over the place, and the girl in my dance class last fall who described herself as "a huge Bush fan." Not supporter, fan. Elected officials do not deserve fans-they're citizens, just like you and I, who have a job, given to them by you and I. That's the whole point of the 'rule of law' bit.
I think the real irritant in all of this is the thread of slavish loyalty-the willingness to unconditionally subordinate your own beliefs and desires to those of the group, and generally acting like your party is your church and your leader is your Messiah. (Well, that, and picking your party like you pick your baseball team, and then firmly believing whatever you're told to firmly believe, but that's not really relevant.) I think it's getting worse. I've thought that for awhile, and I stumbled across a bit of vindication(and, incidentally, finally got around to writing down a few of my ramblings.)
http://www.bushfish.org/index.html
I want to believe it's a hoax, really I do. But frankly, I'm not surprised. I just hope that there aren't enough people who really do equate Mr. Bush and God to completely fuck the system over. *sigh* There are places in the world that view their rulers as instruments of divine will; I just don't think I'd like to live in any of them.