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Finding wisdom in a piece of vinyl By Michael C. Guilmette Jr. Originally published on July 16, 2009, in the Connersville News-Examiner. My commute to the News-Examiner newsroom gives me ample opportunity to observe the other vehicles on the road each day.
When I am on the road, I will usually take the opportunity to take notice of the bumper stickers adorning the bumpers — and trunks, and back windows, and side quarterpanels, etc. — of the vehicles I encounter out in the asphalt jungle. What I see most often are sports team logos, and while I don’t take in a lot of sports personally, it is good to see many people still believe in direct, fierce competition despite the years of sensitivity training. I will also see proud parents making sure we know their child is No. 1 at their particular school — and good for them — and others promoting their pet cause of the week. The causers many times go hand in hand with the politically-oriented bumper stickers that wryly express the point of view of the vehicle’s owner. One in particular I find comical is the “Coexist” sticker spelled out using various religious symbols and a peace sign thrown in for good measure. I’ve always thought that sticker reaches the wrong audience because in this country, we do coexist for the most part. Get that sticker on a Mercedes Benz in someplace like Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and then I will be impressed. Then there’s the beguiling example of the sticker with the American flag that reads “These colors don’t run ... the world.” Ouch. That kind of self-deprecation makes me wonder what their home life is like. Speaking of colors, I have to chuckle at the irony of those nifty rainbow stickers signifying diversity, since a rainbow is a visual phenomenon that is created by segregating light. Is that a faux pas or an indication of a deeper meaning? Who knows. That, I suspect, is far more wisdom that can be gleaned from a 3 by 10 inch piece of vinyl moving down the road at 70 mph. I sometimes wonder if a bumper sticker actually constitutes free speech. A main component of that fundamental right is the ability to fully debate a point of view. A bumper sticker does not allow for the opportunity to debate the person who placed the sticker, since it’s kind of difficult to debate at highway speeds. What’s more, following a vehicle until the driver reaches his destination could be construed as stalking in many states. Also given the crowded nature of our roadways sprinkled with a generous serving of road rage, provocative bumper stickers could be the spark that sets the powder keg alight. Having said that, however, if I were to choose between the rights of the people and the ability of the state to keep order at the expense of the people, I will err on the side of free speech each time. Besides, restrictions on bumper stickers would have prevented me from seeing the gem I saw last week. It was a week ago I found myself behind a mid-sized sedan out for a leisurely Thursday afternoon drive. While biding my time in that spot, I noticed plastered next to an oversized Notre Dame logo was an Obama ‘08 sticker. No surprise there, since I still see a small handful of campaign stickers from both sides of the 2008 campaign — minus the Ron Paul stickers, though, but we all know the reason for that. When the car in front of me stopped at a red light, I was able to get closer and see the sticker included a Web site address. Again, no surprise there, since any cause has a multitude of Web sites, legitimate or otherwise, devoted to the issue at hand. What struck me as kind of funny was the address itself — ObamaZen.com. Funny, but at the same time, a little unsettling. During the campaign and following the election, many people opposing our president mocked him by calling him “The Messiah,” “The Chosen One” or “The Anointed One,” and Obama’s supporters just laughed it off. But that sticker tied the president directly to religious symbolism — a Far Eastern religion and not a Judeo-Christian religion as is more common in the U.S., but a religion nonetheless. Zen is part of a branch of Buddhism, and in simplest terms, relates to attaining a path to enlightenment. Considering the amount of devotion and unwavering hope we’ve seen in the eyes of Obama’s diehard supporters, they may be looking upon the president as their own personal path to enlightenment. And his detractors may have been correct in their assertion that Obama is a religious figure, they were simply incorrect in the philosophy. Seeking a little enlightenment of my own, I dug into the Web site a bit closer and found out that ObamaZen.com redirects to a Web site that sells left-leaning T-shirts, yard signs, pins, buttons, board games and — you guessed it — bumper stickers. The site is owned by a group called Victory Enterprises, Inc., which bills itself as “The Midwest’s largest political consulting and polling firm,” selling media production and directing marketing services to politically-oriented clients. Among those clients are six Republican state committees, Steve Forbe’s and Tommy Thompson’s presidential campaigns, Illinois Republican Women, the Iowa Federation of Republican Women and several state- and municipal-level legislative candidates. So, what looked like something promoting the ascendancy of Obama from our top civil servant to a godlike figure was nothing more than a slick marketing campaign by a truly bi-partisan group that will sell its services to whoever will pay. In retrospect, maybe these bumper stickers go a little deeper than I thought. • Guilmette is managing editor of the News-Examiner. He may be contacted at mguilmette@newsexaminer.com. |
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Copyright © 2009, Michael C. Guilmette Jr. |
With vehicles ranging from toy-car sub-subcompacts to 18-wheelers driven by over-the-road truckers to even the occasional large piece of farm equipment, I find the inhabitants of our roadways to be as diverse as this great nation in which we live.
