American Ignorance

So, you've all seen those yellow ribbons on the cars. I've thought about these a whole lot and I've come to the conclusion that in most cases, the people who have them on their cars don't realize what they actually mean. The text on the ribbons say "Support our Troops" so I think that most people believe that the stickers mean "Support the Iraq War" since obviously, that's where the troops are. This theory is bolstered by the fact that most of these cars have “W” stickers or big American Flag stickers along with the ribbons.

The best one I saw was a ribbon that looked like all the others except in the center where there is usually an oval cutout, it was cut out in the shape of a cross. How sweet.

It’s incredible. Does anyone realize that the yellow ribbon is a reference to the song "Tie a yellow ribbon" which essentially means "I'm coming home"? This obviously is saying “unlike Vietnam, we support your work and know its your job to follow orders and fight over there, but we want you home now since this war is really unjustified and useless. We don’t want you to die in vain”.. but I guess I’m the only one that sees that.

I’ve wanted for a long time to put an anti Iraq war sticker or an anti-Bush Administration sticker of some kind on my car. But, I haven’t for 3 reasons. First, and most importantly, I value my privacy and don’t need confrontations (or at worst, I don’t need to be beaten up). I would be labeled “un-American” or “un-Democratic” or something like that. I’ve already been called all kinds of things by people for stuff I’ve said or written about how upset I am with the current Stalinist government we have. The second reason is that I don’t want my sticker to be misunderstood. I didn’t want the Iraq war and I want the troops back home preparing to fight real threats like N. Korea. I want to put a yellow ribbon on my car, but everyone will misinterpret it. The last reason is simple, I haven’t found a sticker that sums up how I feel.

I want to say something like “You dumb fucks, you’re supporting bringing home the troops with that yellow ribbon.. don’t you get it?”. Or I want to say something like “Being an American and living in a democratic society means that I’m supposed to speak up when I don’t agree with stuff”. Or I want an anti Administration sticker of some kind because George Bush isn’t the problem, it’s the people who put him there and are running the government.. He’s just a moronic figurehead with an earpiece connected to Karl Rove.

I better be careful talking about the president. I don’t want the Secret Service visiting me. I saw this thing the other day about this guy who said something like “I’d love to go to DC an show him what a real man is” in a personal email to a friend and a month later the SS was at his door interrogating him.. How sad.. Privacy? Ha. But I digress…

So, the other day I finally saw it.. Right on the back of a big SUV interestingly enough.. but anyway, there it was, a black ribbon saying “Support our troops, Bring them home!”. Ahh. Finally. So I found the sticker and a few other cool ones at a website that claims to be a source for “liberal bumper stickers”. It’s sad that the black ribbon is considered a liberal sticker.. why isn’t it just an American sticker. I bet a ton of the parents of soldiers who are most likely Republicans would like a sticker like this one.. Sad that it all comes down to this liberal/conservative democratic/republican thing.. I mean, I’m probably the most conservative anti-bush democrat you will ever meet. Welfare? Unions? Social Aid? Yea right..

Anyway, again I digress.. The website is at carryabigsticker.com, and I’m buying the black ribbon and a sticker with the famous Howard Zinn quote “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” and I’m putting them on my car. I will let you know if a) I get beat up or b) get rammed in some way. If the SS visits me I may not be able to report anything to you since they probably won’t let me. So, if I disappear, you know where I am…